Meet the Team
Learn more about our Desert WAVE AUV team! Hover over a member's card to learn more.
Andrea Schnoover
Andrea is a junior studying Software Engineering with a minor in Astrophysics. Aside from managing the project, her work focuses to integrate both acoustic and positioning sensors as part of the AUV navigation system and researching methods of inter-vehicle communication.
Project Manager
Isabella Bushroe
Isabella is a third-year student in Engineering with a focus on Mechanical Systems. She is Desert WAVE’s scrum master and a member of the mechanical team. She helps manage the project in general and uses SolidWorks to design mechanical components of the robot, like the projectile launcher. She has helped write and edit both technical design reports for RoboSub.
Scrum Master
SkyLynn Young
SkyLynn Young is a sophomore who is currently attending ASU Polytechnic School for Robotics Engineering with a minor in Sustainability. Before going to school, she served four years in the navy as a mechanical engineer, which inspired her to pursue this degree in Robotic Engineering.
Programming Team Member
Paulina Garibay Jaquez
Paulina is the team's public relations officer and entering her 4th year in Robotics Engineering at ASU. She had been involved with FIRST FTC competitions since her junior year of high school. Her goal as an engineer is to someday work on electric and/or autonomous cars.
Public Relations Officer
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Amanda Mietus
Amanda is a sophomore studying Mechanical Engineering at ASU. In high school, she participated in the FIRST Robotics Competitions and taught LEGO robotics classes at the local library in order to usher in a new generation of engineers. While a member of Desert WAVE she hopes to expand on her knowledge of robotics and mechanical design.
Mechanical Team Member
Bridget Koehl
Bridget Koehl is a sophomore studying Mechanical Systems Engineering at ASU and she is a member of Barrett Honors College. She had almost no previous engineering experience before joining Desert WAVE, but she learned a lot as part of the team last year and is now passionate about encouraging young women to pursue careers in STEM.
Mechanical Team Lead
Samantha Nieto
Samantha is a junior studying Human Systems Engineering. Asides from being the Co-Public Relations officer, she is also a part of the programming team. Samantha is also an officer for ASU's SHPE chapter and is a Fulton Ambassador for the Fulton Schools of Engineering. Her goal as an engineer is to someday work with technology and education.
Public Relations Officer
Natalie Figueroa
Natalie Figueroa is a Barrett Honors junior majoring in electrical engineering and physics. Apart from working on electrical tasks, she works as a research aid in two separate laboratories focusing on thermochemical heating components and meteorite particle studies.
Electrical Team Member
Madelyn Monar
Maddie is a third year student in the robotics engineering program at Arizona State University. She is specializing in the electrical aspect of robotics engineering and is pursuing a secondary focus in manufacturing engineering. Besides DesertWAVE, she is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers and Adventurers Wanted at ASU
Mechanical Team Member
Elaina Ashton
No bio entered.
Electrical Team Member
Sam Ehrle is Desert WAVE’s electrical team lead for the 2021 competition year. She is also a member of the software team and competed in the 2019 and 2020 competitions. Sam is a third year student studying Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University. Her career goal is to continue working on autonomous vehicles.
Brooklyn Johnson
Brooklyn is a junior studying Mechanical Systems Engineering and is a part of the mechanical subsection of the Desert WAVE team. Apart from this she is a Fulton Ambassador, an ASU tutor, and is involved in the Grand Challenge Scholars Program where she explores the intersection of the engineering and health sectors.
Mechanical Team Member
Laura Roty
Laura is a third-year Barrett Honors student majoring in Human Systems Engineering looking to gain more background in various fields of engineering. She hopes to expand her technical skills and become well-versed in many aspects of both the psychological field and engineering field.
Outreach Coordinator
Neha Balamurugan
Neha is a sophomore studying Computer Science at Arizona State University. She is very interested in exploring Autonomous Vehicle technologies through programming. Within the team, she is currently involved with integrating the Subsonus with the robot.
Programming Team Member
Cecilia La Place
Cecilia is a 4th year Ph.D. student in Engineering Education with a B.S./M.S. in Software Engineering. Cecilia channels her learnings and excitement from running ASU's yearly MLH hackathon, sunhacks and researching hackathons in her PhD into being a happy code monkey working on machine learning within the programming team.
Programming Team Member
Morgan Strube
Morgan is a member of the electrical team and a sophomore studying Electrical Systems Engineering. In the future, she hopes to either become an Imagineer with the Walt Disney Company or work building semiconductors.
Programming Team Member
Anusha Vaidya
I'm a Graduate student pursuing Master's in Computer Engineering. Currently, I'm part of the programming team of Desert WAVE and my main interest revolves around Robotics, Computer Vision and Deep Learning.
Programming Team Member
Melanie Schoonover
Melanie is a sophomore studying Computer Science. Through her time with Desert WAVE, she will gain practical experience troubleshooting both the software and electrical/mechanical components of the AUV. She hopes the challenges will better prepare her for the obstacles she will face in the industry.
Programming Team Member