Monica is pursuing a Masters Degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC Davis with a focus on controls and automation. She has a passion for growing plants and engineering automated systems. During her undergraduate years, she was president of the chemical engineering club and led the Chem-E-Car team at NJIT. She explored projects ranging from microfluidic medical devices to lead-acid batteries to petroleum processing plants.

Monica has always gravitated towards engineering projects that involved mechatronics and space exploration. At NASA's Kennedy Space Center, she helped investigate the effects of different lighting systems on lettuce growth for potential food production in space. At NASA's Johnson Space Center, Monica worked on UV bioreactors and prototype water monitors to supplement water recovery systems. This sparked her research interests in environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS). At the HRVIP lab, she will continue to explore this field.