#SoCaltech: Daniel Mukasa

“I met Wei Gao [a Caltech assistant professor of medical engineering] at visitation after I’d been accepted to Caltech as a graduate student. I specifically asked to meet professors who did any work with medical engineering whatsoever and would want to work with someone with a materials science or physics background. I had initially gotten interested in combining medical technology with physics and materials science because my uncle, who is a professor, does work in medical engineering, specifically to help the nation of Uganda, where my family is from. I saw a lot of his work and was really interested in how very innovative technology that would not be used necessarily in America can make a dramatic difference in developing countries. I wanted to follow that path, and I was introduced to Wei Gao, who does work on low-cost, sweat-based diagnostics. If you can apply that type of technology in a developing country, you can make a substantial change to life expectancy just by being able to monitor people's health statistics and provide preventive care.”

Daniel Mukasa is a graduate student in materials science. He was an undergraduate at Oberlin College when he was introduced to Caltech through the WAVE Fellows program, which aims to foster diversity by increasing the participation of underrepresented students in science and engineering PhD programs.

#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.