Ricky Alamillo

My name is Ricky Alamillo, I graduated in 2010 from UCSB with the Matthew Tirrell Award for Distinction in Undergraduate Research, June 2010 as well as the College of Engineering Hynes-Woods Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Activities, May 2010.  During my time at UCSB I participated in many CSEP and related education and research programs from freshman through senior year.   With the SIMS summer bridge program, I was a Participant, Academic Peer, Resident Assistant, and ultimately the Coordinator.   Through these programs I have been able to participate in research with: Dr. Samir Mitragotri’s, Anubhav Arora, Drug Delivery Group in Chemical Engineering (Jan 2007-June 2008) researching Transdermal Drug Delivery using Chemical Permeation Enhancers; Dr. Raul Quijada, Dr. Brian Peoples, Departamento de Ingenieria Quimica y Biotechnologia, Universidad de Chile Polymers and Catalysis Lab. (Summer 2008 ) researching the Optimization of Synthesis of Silica Nanosphere and the Effect of Particle Size on Nanocomposite Materials; and Dr. Susannah L. Scott, Brian Vicente, Heterogeneous Catalysis Lab researching Heterogenous Catalysis for tandem alkane dehydrogenation and Olefin Metathesis.  I was even able to publish a paper:

V.N. Dougnac, R. Alamillo, B.C. Peoples, and R. Quijada, “Effect of particle diameter on the permeability of polypropylene/SiO2 nanocomposites,” Polymer, 53, 13, 2010.

I am currently a graduate student at University of Wisconsin Madison Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering where I have been awarded a Graduate Engineering Research Fellowship, August 2010 to June 2014.  I plan to finish graduate school and get a postdoc at another top university in the US or abroad. I see myself entering either academia or a government lab.  

My advise to you – take risks and don’t fear failure!