1. Rachel Guarriello 1

2.  Penn State University  The Schreyer’s Honors College  Getting involved with research at Penn State  My work with Dr. Liu’s group  About me 2

3.  There are about 45, 000 students at Penn State University Park ◦ About 39, 000 Undergraduates, and about 6, 000 Graduate/ Med/ Law students  1 out of every 127 people in the U.S. is a Penn State graduate  There are over 800 Student clubs and organizations at Main Campus 3

4.  THON is one of the largest events on Campus. ◦ It’s a 48-hour dance marathon that benefits Pediatric Cancer research ◦ It is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world Thon 2011 4  Popular sports on campus include football, basketball, baseball, and many more.

5.  I am a member of the Schreyer’s Honors College at Penn State ◦ There are many benefits to being a part of the Honors College such as special housing, scheduling, classes, events, and scholarships  Only 300 students are admitted to Schreyer’s each year through a special application process.  A 3.4 out of 4.0 GPA is required each semester to remain in the Honors College  Schreyer’s provided me with a research travel grant to come here. 5

6.  I applied for a research position through the WISER (Women in Science and Engineering Research) program at Penn State  WISER is run by the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, a small division of NASA  Dr. Liu chose to accept me and another freshman, Christina to join his research group. 6

7.  Christina and I have been working with Maddie to prepare for a FeZr project.  We will be testing the hardness of various alloys to create a hardness profile based on precipitation and age-hardening.  In preparation, Christina, Maddie and I have completed XRD (X-ray diffraction) training and worked on grinding, polishing, and various aspects of optical microscopy as well as researching the various aspects of FeZr alloys. 7

8.  I am an Undergraduate Student studying Materials Science and Engineering  I am entering my Sophomore (2 nd ) year at Penn State  I am planning on graduating with a Bachelors degree in Materials Science and a Minor in Energy Engineering ◦ The Energy Engineering minor focuses on alternative energy sources such as bio-fuels and renewable energy sources 8

9.  In addition to my Studies, I am a member of many organizations on campus: ◦ Class Representative for Materials Advantage ◦ Member of the College of Earth and Minerals Sciences Student Council ◦ Member of Professional Organizations such as Association for Women in Science, Nittany Chemical Society, and Women in Science and Engineering ◦ Also a member of the Penn State Thespians, a performing arts group on campus  I have also played the piano for 15 years 9

10.  I currently live in Bethlehem PA, a small city to the east of Penn State ‣ I have 2 younger siblings, my sister Marissa and my brother David, and 2 dogs named Cooper and Bailey. 10 My siblings and me on the Penn State Lion with our dogs