Sofia Altieri Correa was born in Lliçà d’Amunt in 2001. She graduated from Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) in 2023, obtaining her B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering. During her junior year, she received a Mobility Scholarship to study at University of California, Irvine for one academic year.
In her senior year, Sofia started her research on medical imaging, with a particular focus on brain Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners and conducted her Bachelor Thesis on the characterization of “IcoBrainPET Scanner” and studying the X-ray sensing capabilities in Pet detectors.
During the final semester of her undergraduate studies, she was award a scholarship at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. She worked in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and its application in developing innovative technologies for detecting high-risk rupture-prone plaques in patients with carotid and coronary atherosclerosis.
In 2023, Sofia received a Balsells Fellowship, to pursue a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Under the guidance of Professor Naomi Chesler, her research focuses on enhancing cardiovascular health by integrating mechanical engineering, vascular biology, and advanced imaging tools.
Outside of her academic pursuits, Sofia enjoys traveling, immersing herself in diverse cultures, surfing, hiking, and sharing these experiences with friends.
Marc Quiroga Sueiras was born in Barcelona in 1999. He graduated from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) obtaining a double BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering.
In parallel to his undergraduate studies, Marc worked as an R&D engineer at the world’s largest manufacturing plant, Volkswagen AG, located in Wolfsburg, Germany. After a year, he returned to Barcelona and joined Dassault Systèmes as an Industry Process Consultant. Over the course of two years, he provided training, mentorship, and technical consulting for cloud solutions, primarily focusing on CAD software such as Solidworks and Catia, as well as PLM software, to companies across the EMEA region.
In 2023, Marc was awarded a Balsells Graduate Fellowship to pursue his PhD in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. His main research interests include CAD, mechanics, robotics, and product development.
In his spare time, Marc enjoys playing basketball, reading about tech companies and startups, listening to entrepreneurship podcasts and improving his coding skills.
Pere Vergés Boncompte was born in Barcelona in 1998. In 2020, he graduated from UPC’s Facultat d’Informàtica de Barcelona (FIB), obtaining a B.S. degree in Computer Engineering, specialized in computation. In 2022, he received his M.S. degree in Research and Innovation, specialized in computation, also from UPC-FIB. While pursuing his Master’s, he was awarded the Balsells Mobility fellowship to complete his Master’s thesis at UCI. While pursuing his Master’s, he worked at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Workflows and Distributed Computing as a Research Engineer. In 2023, Pere was awarded a Balsells Graduate Fellowship to continue his research for his Ph.D.
His main research interests focus on hyperdimensional computing, machine learning, distributed computing, and natural language processing.
In his spare time, Pere likes practicing outdoor sports and cooking.