Category: Alumni

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Manuela Murillo Sanchez ’21

Manuela Murillo Sanchez

Manuela Murillo Sanchez graduated form Southern Methodist University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics. She was also a Logistics Coordinator at the Maguire Center for Ethics, President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at SMU, Tunes for Texas volunteer, and Second Century Scholar.

She was born in Bogota, Colombia and moved to Houston, Texas as a young child. She is driven by her passion for learning, but beyond that she strives to find areas in which she can apply her knowledge for the betterment of her community. Her current community focus area revolves around the STEM access, support, and development pipeline within minority communities. Under her vision, she spearheaded the robust SHPE SMU community service program involving mentorship, STEM workshops, and Math tutoring for students from underprivileged areas of Dallas. Due to her active support of the Hispanic community in Dallas, she was awarded the prestigious SHPE DFW (Professional Chapter) Hispanic Leadership Award.

Manuela was a project manager for the Hunt Institute where she translated scholarly research into driving local and global impact.

Manuela was drawn to work at the Institute because “of the opportunity to transfer my skills and knowledge into real-world impact and solutions,” seeing the Institute as “an opportunity to work with like-minded peers across SMU to create a tangible difference.”

While not working at the Hunt Institute, she built professional experience through co-ops and internships, either serving as an Engineering Data Analyst at BMW in Spartanburg, South Carolina, or working for Global Operations for the largest world’s largest companies, AT&T.

After graduating from SMU, Manuela has been working as an Associate Consultant at Bain and Company.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Cole DeYoung ’20

Cole DeYoung

Class of 2020

Undergraduate Program Manager

Engineering Management, Information and Systems major

Economics Minor

SMU Discovery Scholarship

Founders Scholarship

INFORMS VP of Finance

“I love my major and that it challenges me and I know that what I’ve learned at SMU and through my work experience will enable me to do something great, but that won’t matter to me if I’m not passionate about the work I am doing. What inspires me, what feeds my soul, is working with people. I am lucky I found the Hunt Institute because I finally get to apply the technical business side of me to something that I am deeply passionate about.”

Cole DeYoung graduated from Southern Methodist University studying Engineering Management, Information and Systems and Economics. She served as the VP of Finance for the SMU chapter of INFORMS and as a Project Manager here at the Hunt Institute.

Cole’s EMIS major teaches math and computer science skills, optimization techniques and business principles. She uses this breadth of skills in her various work experiences. Cole worked as a Reliability Engineering Intern for Abbott Nutrition her freshman year, as a Business Excellence Intern for Abbott Diagnostics her sophomore year and will be working for a Management Consulting firm in New York City this summer.

It is Cole’s lifelong passion for helping others that brought her to the Hunt Institute.

“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.” ― Leo Buscaglia

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Jaclyn Soria ’20

Jaclyn Soria

SMU Class of 2020

Journalism and Spanish major

Advertising minor

Jaclyn graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.A. in Journalism and Spanish and minor in Advertising. As a Miami native, Jaclyn enjoys being immersed in different cultures and has participated in study abroad programs in countries like Spain and the United Kingdom.

Like the Hunt Institute itself, Jaclyn is committed to fostering a world to better the human condition and has realized this goal with her work at the institute. She believes that innovation, together with the written word, gives the Hunt Institute the means to create a better tomorrow.

As the previous VP Recruitment of the Iota Sigma chapter of Alpha Chi Omega, Jaclyn was very involved in various committees for her sorority.  After completing her undergraduate studies at SMU, she is currently working as a Copywriter at Miami Advertising School.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Kelly Little ’19

Kelly Little

Class of 2019

Research Analyst

Major: Health and Society

Minor: Biology

Second Century Scholar and Honor Roll

Kelly Little graduated from SMU majoring in Health and Society and minoring in Biology. She was a recipient of the Second Century Scholarship at SMU.

Kelly has worked as a medical assistant in a top New York Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery office for the past two summers. She was also a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and was the 2018 Philanthropy Chair of the Gamma Phi Chapter at SMU. As the Philanthropy Chair, Kelly established a brand-new fundraising event that doubled the amount of money raised by the Chapter, when compared to the previous year. She organized over 10 different volunteer and fundraising events for the Gamma Phi Chapter and partnered with foundations such as the Akola Project and Reading is Fundamental.

At the Hunt Institute, Kelly worked as a Research Analyst on various projects. Her research interests are public health, nutrition, sustainability, and underserved populations both globally and locally.

After graduating from SMU, Kelly is currently attending Pace University’s Lenox Hill Hospital Physician Assistant Studies Program.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Ryan Brook ’19, Hunt Institute Associate

Ryan Brook '19, IT Business Analyst & Project Manager at Hunt Consolidated

Ryan Brook ’19 joins the Hunt Institute as an Associate, bringing his experience in project management and the ability to overcome various challenges through innovative solutions.

Ryan Brook graduated in May of 2019 from SMU with a major in EMIS and a minor in Business Administration & Mathematics. Ryan is originally from Denver, Colorado. He was also an SMU Discovery Scholarship & Founders Scholarship recipient.

While at SMU, Ryan worked as an Undergraduate Project Manager in the Hunt Institute where he applied his knowledge from both the Lyle School of Engineering and Cox Business School to assist student researchers with their projects. In addition to contributing as a project manager, he mentored younger students in project management training and helped to shape a project management handbook for the Institute. His goal was to help projects define the scope, timeline, and budget so undergraduates would be better equipped to execute their projects successfully. While he is not a technical engineer, Ryan believes that he can contribute to the Hunt Institute mission by assisting others with their projects.

After leaving SMU and the Hunt Institute, Ryan continued his work in Project Management with Hunt Consolidated, Inc. in Dallas. Ryan was recruited into Hunt to help rebuild their internal office of Project Management and was able to apply his skills and lessons learned from his time with the Institute doing the same. Over the past two years, Ryan has worked in many different areas within IT as a Business Analyst, Technical Project Manager, and Pseudo Developer, helping the business identify weaknesses and needs while providing roadmaps and application solutions. Hunt was faced with many unforeseen difficulties over the past two years, and Ryan was able to help the business stay nimble and adapt to the ever-changing landscape. Having overcome various challenges, Ryan has now resumed work as a Project Manager, implementing enterprise-wide SAAS solutions and continuing his growth in the specialization of IT Project Delivery.

In addition to school and his work with the Hunt Institute, Ryan was a member of Lyle Ambassadors, a group of students that assist with recruitment and retention. Ryan has a passion for helping other people succeed, especially in the areas that he has struggled through before. He continues this work by taking his skills into the professional workspace as an IT Business Analyst & Project Manager at Hunt Consolidated.

After working as a professional in the industry, we asked Ryan Brook what he felt about impact work. He said, “Impact work is important to me because for me, it is a choice, and I hope that one day it can be a choice for everyone. The beauty of life is in what we choose to do with what we are given, and helping people…is what I choose to do.”

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Wilkie Stevenson ’20, Hunt Institute Associate

Wilkie Stevenson '20

Wilkie Stevenson ’20  joins the Hunt Institute as an Associate, bringing with him his passion for mechanical engineering in solving societal problems.

Wilkie is an Associate at Capco where he works as a mechanical engineer as a full stack developer monitoring and supporting the Texas Electrical Grid specializing in efficiencies that increase customer satisfaction by working to eliminate discrepancies between environments. Capco is a global management and technology consultancy dedicated to the financial services and energy industries. He graduated from SMU with a BS Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Management & Entrepreneurship Specialization major from Lyle School of Engineering in 2020.

As a student at SMU, he spent the majority of his college employment as an Undergraduate Research Analyst for The Hunt Institute where he worked on various projects over the years that supported local education in communities around the world. These roles allowed him to grow his computer science, technical, leadership, and design skills through real-world experiences. Before graduating from SMU, he filled two patent-pending applications on products he designed and created. 

Wilkie continues to support the work at the Hunt Institute through his dedication to the STEM Up initiative designing a sufficient computer lab focusing on offline access to digital educational content for rural areas without access to infrastructure like electricity and internet. His dedication to impact work has touched many projects including Map INDallas (formerly called Map4Good), Evie-in-a-box, database structure for the Blockchain Hub, and the continued progress and development of the rural STEM Up initiative. 

He holds the level of Eagle Scout in The National Eagle Scout Association which is the highest achievement attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scout of America.

When asked what his motivation is for doing impact work he replied, “What motivates me is making education more accessible”

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Anna Grace Carey ’19, Hunt Institute Associate

Anna Grace Carey '19

Anna Grace Carey ’19 joins the Hunt Institute as an Associate, bringing with her a passion for marketing and giving back to the Institute as an alumna of SMU and the Hunt Institute.

Anna Grace is a Marketing Specialist at Sendero, a management consulting firm in Dallas. Prior to joining the marketing department, she worked as an Associate Consultant at Sendero where she led various organizational change management initiatives in IT departments at two Fortune 500 companies. She graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist University in 2019 with majors in journalism, fashion media, and political science; and minors in law & legal reasoning and history of visual & performing arts.

Outside of the office, she is a member of the Genesis Young Leaders Board of Directors and volunteers through the Junior League of Dallas. She enjoys writing, traveling, and spending time with Henry, her energetic Goldendoodle.

During her time at SMU, Anna Grace worked at the Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity as the Communications Team Lead. She created the communication strategy and edited blog posts for the Hunt Institute Digest. She also developed the Sages & Seekers Podcast with the Hunt Institute for her honors distinction thesis in the SMU Division of Journalism. The goal of the podcast is to facilitate conversations about community and resiliency.

While at SMU, Anna Grace also completed research on the Supreme Court and copyright law.  She contributed to “Give Me a ©: Refashioning the Supreme Court’s Decision in Star v. Varsity into a More Complete Copyright Protection for Fashion Designers,” a paper written with Professors Jared Schroeder and Camille Kraeplin. This work was published in the UCLA Entertainment Law Review. Additional honors and awards include membership in Pi Beta Kappa and Kappa Tau Alpha, the Outstanding Senior in Writing & Editing award for the Division of Journalism, and the John Goodwin Tower award for leadership in political science.

When asked what her motivation is for doing impact work she replied, “Nothing is more rewarding than doing work in the impact space. Contributing to initiatives that move us towards a more sustainable, inclusive and conscientious future is such a gift.”

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Gabrielle J. Gonzales ’20

Photo of Gabrielle J. Gonzales

 

 

 

 

2020

Research Analyst, Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Majors: Electrical Engineering with the Biomedical Specialization

Minors: Philosophy

I just started working with the Hunt Institute this semester to work on our Hydrogen Powered Fuel Cell Project that will hopefully work in conjunction with other sustainable projects and communities like Evie, our mobile urban farming unit.

Gabrielle graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in Electrical Engineering – Biomedical Specialization, with a goal of going into the Biotechnology. She has always been interested in science and medicine. After deciding against medical school in High School, she found a way to unite many of her interests in Engineering and Biology.

While at SMU, she was involved in Not On My Campus, Society of Women Engineers, Engineering Without Borders, SMU Ballroom, Loyd Commons Purpose Committee, Intermural Sand Volleyball, Mustang Corral (Freshman Orientation) Leader. Before joining the Hunt Institute, Gabrielle worked as a Student Ambassador out of the Engineering Office for Recruitment, Retention, and Alumni Relations.

Gabrielle had worked with the Hunt Institute since her freshman year through organizations like Engineering Without Borders, housed in the Hunt institute facilities. She has volunteered with communities in Dallas through Plant Lab, a committee of Engineering Without Borders. Plant Lab works with local communities in South Dallas located in some of Dallas’ food deserts and pockets of poverty. She also got involved with International Esperanza Project, an organization based out of Dallas who works with rural communities in Guatemala to provide free comprehensive medical clinics with staff from Guatemala and The U.S. and offers low-cost, donor aided solution for clean water and well ventilated high-efficiency wood burning stoves for cooking and heating.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Sienna Dugan ’20, Hunt Institute Associate

Sienna Dugan, Hunt Institute Alumna

Sienna Dugan ’20 joins the Hunt Institute as an Associate, bringing with her a passion to provide resources to countries and regions that lack medical care.

Sienna Dugan is a Medical Coordinator of One World Surgery, formerly an Epidemiologist for the Texas Department of State Health Services, and an Epidemiologist for the Tarrant County Public Health department. Previously, Sienna worked in the Hunt Institute as an Undergraduate Research Analyst. She continues to volunteer to support other Undergraduate Research Analyst as a mentor.

In the late summer of 2021, Sienna began her role as a Medical Coordinator of One World Surgery on location in Honduras. One World Surgery works to transform lives by providing access to high-quality surgical care globally. OWS funds and operates a world-class surgery center located on the ranch of our partner, Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ which is home to over 500 abandoned and disadvantaged children. At OWS are dedicated to helping patients lacking the resources and access to receive world-class surgical care, as well as empowering hundreds of physicians, nurses and volunteers in the US contribute to make a positive impact in global health.

Since 2012, Sienna volunteered on multiple medical mission trips to China, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Ethiopia as well as her hometown, Los Angles, California working alongside medical professionals to help save the lives of children with no other options.  At an early age, Sienna and her family started to host kids in their home as they were in the US receiving life saving surgeries.  Whether it was holding her phone over the operating table so Dr. Gopi Manam could finish stitching up the hole in two year old Selina Hewiot’s beating heart when the power went out in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, or talking her family into hosting 3 year old named Erica from Guatemala with, not a cleft palate, but a double cleft face and hydrocephalus tumor because no one else would take her into their home and care for her during her extensive surgeries, her experiences have shaped her into a caring and compassionate advocate for social justice.

When asked what motivates her to do impact work she replied, “I believe the best way to lift yourself up is to lift up those around you. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than being able to work in a field where my job is helping others accomplish their dreams.”

Sienna Dugan ’20 is alumna of Southern Methodist University and the Hunt Institute. While a student at SMU, she worked as a Research Analyst in the Hunt Institute to develop an international poverty alleviation program in order to help promote a resilient humanity and was influential in piloting the program by working on a research project that promoted health in the refugee camps in Rwanda titled Assessment of Rwanda Refugee Camps in the Context of the Villagization Process. She co-authored Bridging the Gap in Diagnostics a broader impact report on the subject of a low-cost and portable point-of-care device for humanitarian and health applications. In addition, she served as the Philanthropy Chair of her sorority, Pi Beta Phi, as well as spending time on a water reallocation program designed to benefit the underprivileged community of the Piuris people, a Native American Pueblo in Taos, New Mexico. Sienna holds a Bachelor of Arts in Health and Society and a minor in Global Development and Psychology.  She was an Engaged Learning Fellow and a recipient of the Caroline M. Jones Scholarship, the Cowels Scholarship, and the Opportunity Scholarship.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Cydney Kay Snyder ’19

Photo of Cydney Kay SnyderClass of 2019
Research Analyst, STEM Education
Majors: Human Rights, Public Policy, Political Science
Minor: Economics
Cornerstone Scholar
Honors College
Engaged Learning Fellow

Cydney Snyder graduated from Southern Methodist University with bachelor’s degrees in Human Rights, Public Policy, and Political Science. She is also a Cornerstone Scholar, an Engaged Learning fellow, and a member of SMU’s honors program.
 
Cydney is from Celina, Texas – a small, rural community, an hour outside of Dallas. While she worked on education research projects throughout her time at SMU, Cydney became passionate about STEM education after watching her brother struggle through the college application process. She has developed a STEM camp for rural communities, using place-based pedagogy. Cydney hopes that this camp provides students in rural communities more exposure to STEM as well as educates students on the applications of STEM in their everyday communities.
 
Outside of the Hunt Institute, Cydney had many leadership positions on campus. She served as the treasurer of the SMU Human Rights Council, and is the Vice President of Philanthropy for Alpha Chi Omega, and served as an Orientation Leader this past summer.
After graduating from SMU, Cydney earned a Master’s of Education from the University of Missouri-Saint Louis and is currently working as a Teaching Fellow at Ewing Marion Kauffman School.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.