Laia FerrerLaia Ferrer Argemi was born in Terrassa in 1990. In March 2014, she graduated from the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Industrial i Aeronàutica de Terrassa (ETSEIAT) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), obtaining the degree of Aerospace Engineer. During 2012 summer break she worked in Ultramagic SA as intern engineer.

From September 2013 to February 2014, she received a Balsells Mobility Award to complete her senior project (PFC) at the University of California Irvine, where she did research on passive feeding in electrospray thrusters for CubeSat’s electric propulsion.

In the summer of 2014, she was awarded the Balsells Fellowship to pursue graduate studies in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests are electric propulsion and space missions.

In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, reading and team sports.

 

Jose Carlos FONTJosé Carlos Font Trinchant was born in Palma de Mallorca in 1992. From February to July 2014, he received a Balsells Mobility award to conduct his senior project at the University of California Irvine under the guidance of Professor W. A. Sirignano. He developed a CFD code for solving a film vaporization and burning problem.

In July 2014, he graduated from Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Industrial i Aeronàutica de Terrassa (ETSEIAT), majoring in aerospace vehicles. He was part of the Terrassa Rocket Team during the course 2011-2012.

In the summer of 2014, he was awarded a Balsells Fellowship to pursue his MSc in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California Irvine.

He enjoys riding his bike, practicing judo, cooking and traveling.

 

Marc-Arnold HAUPTMarc-Arnold Haupt Giró was born in Figueres (Girona) in 1991. He graduated in Industrial Engineering from the Escola Politècnica Superior (EPS) of the University of Girona.

He conducted his senior project at the Architecture and Technology of Computers Department of the same University where he analyzed the technical viability of an automated robotized system to peel the skin of meat products.

In 2014 Marc was awarded a Balsells Fellowship to pursue graduate studies in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine.

His main research interests are in robotics and artificial intelligence.

He enjoys beach volleyball, discovering new places, and meeting new interesting people.

 

Marc JULIA CARRILLOMarc Julià Carrillo was born in Barcelona in 1990. In June 2014, he graduated from UPC’s Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona (ETSEIB), obtaining a degree in Industrial Engineering with specialization in electronics. He had previous international experience, as he had been living in Zurich (Switzerland) for almost two years before completing his degree.

In September 2012, he went for an exchange semester at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) in the frame of the UNITECH program, in order to work on his management skills. Afterwards, he worked as an intern for 6 months for Optotune, a high tech start-up company from the Zurich area that developed tunable polymeric lenses with many applications in optical devices. At Optotune, he was in the department of Application Engineering, helping to adapt the products of the company to the specific needs of each customer.

He carried out his senior project in the Corporate Research Center of ABB in Baden-Dättwil (Switzerland), where he was in charge of the Automation of a High Voltage Laboratory. This included designing and building the communication interfaces between the different elements, programming a PLC and a Touch Panel, and writing a manual to facilitate the use and future improvements of the control system of the Lab.

In 2014, Marc was awarded a Balsells Fellowship to pursue an MS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the University of California, Irvine. His main research interests are control and systems design.

He enjoys travelling, sports and all kind of outdoor activities, like biking, surfing, skiing or hiking.

 

Adria SegarraAdrià Segarra Torné was born in Barcelona in 1992. In 2014, he graduated from UPC’s Escola Tècnica i Superior d’Enginyeries Industrial i Aeronàutica de Terrassa (ETSEIAT), obtaining the degree of Aerospace Engineer. He was a member of the “Trencalòs Team”, collaborating in the design of a cargo radio-controlled aircraft to take part in the worldwide academic competition “Air Cargo Challenge”. During his senior year, he received a Balsells Mobility Award at the University of California, Irvine, to work under the mentorship of Professor Dimitri Papamoschou, on mixing enhancement on turbofan engines using helical shock-induced separation.

The same year, he was awarded a Balsells Graduate Fellowship to pursue an MS degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. His main research interests are aerodynamics, aircraft design and space propulsion.

He enjoys playing the guitar, playing rugby, traveling and spending time with friends.

 

Marc SORIANOMarc Soriano Baliarda was born in Barcelona in 1990. In July 2013, he graduated from the Institut Químic de Sarrià (IQS) of Ramon Llull University, obtaining a degree in Industrial Engineering.

From September 2012 to December 2013, he was a mechanical engineer in the department of Virtual Validation at Fiat Powertrain Technologies, where he worked on structural simulations for automobile combustion engines.

From January to June of 2014, he was a Visiting Researcher at the University of California Irvine where he conducted research with Professor Lorenzo Valdevit. His research focused the fatigue behavior analysis of a nitinol prosthetic heart valve.

In the summer of 2014, he was awarded a Balsells Graduate Fellowship to pursue an MS degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests are solid mechanics, mechanical analysis and bio-materials applications.

In his spare time he enjoys travelling, playing sports such as climbing or surfing, and reading.

 

Ramon YLL PROUSRamon Yll Prous was born in Sabadell in 1992. In September 2014, he graduated from UPC’s Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeries Industrial i Aeronàutica (ETSEIAT), obtaining the bachelor’s degree in Engineering in Industrial Technology. He completed his undergraduate senior project at the University of California, Irvine where he was awarded a Balsells mobility fellowship to work under the mentorship of Professor Jacob Brouwer studying the water variation effect on H2-CO mixtures over a Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell patterned anode.

In the summers of 2012 and 2013, he worked for PROEN Projectes Eginyeria S.L., a Catalan engineering company where he, among other things, developed certifications in order to classify buildings energetically and to propose improvements to them so as to be environmentally friendlier.

In 2014, he was awarded with the Balsells graduate fellowship to pursue an MS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. His main research interests are smartgrids, zero net energy buildings, fuel cells integration, and energy storage.

His hobbies are playing basketball and any other team sport, backpacking and hiking, and hanging out with friends.