Briana Lino
Tufts University, Biotechnology Engineering
PhD expected 2025
2021 GradSWE Award Winner
While new to SWE, having only found out about it as a graduate student, Briana has joined with full force. In her first semester on campus, she was elected Graduate Financial Officer (GFO) of Tufts GSWE while also collaborating with the leadership team to host a multitude of pandemic-friendly events. In her role as GFO, Briana works closely with the Tufts Graduate Student Council to provide the funding that makes GSWE events possible. In less than a semester she already requested and secured $1750 as a quarterly budget, which is a 15% increase over the largest ever Tufts GSWE budget to date. As a member of the leadership team, Briana has co-hosted and conceptualized several new events to bring together the graduate community, with an impact factor of engaging ~30 students per event. A few memorable events include a Movie Night, self-care kits, and craft kits all of which aimed to address the mental health needs of the graduate community by providing creative and relaxing outlets to decompress.
For Movie Night, Briana helped put together and personally deliver 30 kits with popcorn, candy, stickers, gold star tissue paper, and handwritten movie tickets to make her peers feel like they were at a movie theater in their own homes. In addition to elevating quarantined spirits with a faux-premiere via virtual casting, the 2019 movie Radioactive about Marie Curie’s trials and tribulations as a woman in science led to fruitful discussions allowing the graduate community to come together and vent about and bond over their own personal experiences. Self-care kits consisted of succulents, skin care, sweet treats, fuzzy socks, and more to aid stressed out students in a moment of self check-ins with items that boost wellbeing. From planning, advertising, ordering, assembling, and delivering, Briana in collaboration with the GSWE leadership team, played a key role in distributing a moment of peace to as many Tufts GSWE community members as possible. Graduate students have a notoriously hard time taking breaks with the neverending stress of upcoming assignments and many have not yet cultivated a hobby that reigns in some of these anxieties. The craft kits that Briana has conceptualized and deployed provide a focused opportunity for students to get creative and relax while making practical items to decorate their spaces.
The smashing successes of the events Briana hosted and co-hosted over the course of her first few months in GSWE effectively created a sense of camaraderie and community among graduate students as they got to know each other through the virtual social components of these events. As familiarity grew over attending multiple GSWE events, students became increasingly friendly and vocalized finding a sense of community on campus for the first time since starting a new program (particularly during a pandemic).
After attending the WE20 virtual conference, Briana has also internalized and implemented advice given ranging from inclusion and diversity to professional development which she will continue to act on in future GSWE participation. In one example of how she has already demonstrated applying this knowledge, Briana was chosen to serve as a panelist for a virtual summit entitled “Connecting Across Cultures: A Conversation About Cultivation Passion & Purpose in Career” hosted by Ginling College in Nanjing, China. Speaking to a primarily undergraduate audience, Briana shared her experiences in navigating through college, jobs, graduate school, and GSWE journey while fielding questions of uncertainty from impressionable students. Her words left a high impact on these students, encouraging a group of students to pioneer their own version of SWE after expressing interest in such a community they felt was lacking on their own campus. Briana has since taken on a remote mentoring role and gladly spoken to any students that have reached out with more questions.
Outside of SWE, Briana was selected among the 10 students in her REU program at Northeastern University to present her summer research project on the Mechanisms of UVB-induced Skin Repair in a Regenerative Vertebrate at the National Science Foundation Center for Undergraduate Research Symposium at the NSF Headquarters in Arlington, VA. While Briana was affiliated with the MIT Little Devices Lab, she was invited to present her work on a paper pharmaceutical kit at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center for the Design with the 90% exhibit. In her first semester as a graduate student, she achieved a 4.0 GPA while obtaining the Notation of Development accolade for attending a series of professional development programs to further round out her education.
Briana is a first year Ph.D. student in Biotechnology Engineering at Tufts University researching how to expand the genetic code in yeast to develop drug-like proteins.
Briana is also the current Vice President of the Tufts Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering Society (BEaChES), whose mission is to foster a community between and within the Tufts Biomedical and Chemical Engineering departments, to support the professional development of graduate students, and to reach out to the community in and around Tufts University to promote STEM degrees and careers. In her capacity as Vice President, she has hosted meetings and acted as an inward facing manager of the BEaChES eight person leadership team to plan outreach and community building events and overall been the point-person for welcoming new students into the BEaChES organization. In this role, she is currently organizing Exemplary Engineers, an awards event where she has secured a $500 budget for 24 gift bags with sparkling cider, gourmet snacks, and gold-themed treats to commemorate one student and one faculty member from each of the Chemical & Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering departments that have been voted by their peers for excellency in their academic, professional, and social lives. These types of events function to make students and faculty feel appreciated for going above and beyond in areas that align with the SWE core values of Integrity, Inclusivity, Mutual Support, Professional Excellence, and Trust. Briana is furthermore collaborating with her peers to host bi-weekly game nights, a paint night event, and professional development/outreach events that are expected to take place in the upcoming semester.
Aside from her leadership roles in SWE and BEaChES, Briana has joined the student life committee on the Tufts Graduate Student Council (GSC) and works in one of the graduate student lounges. As a member of the student life committee, Briana has discussed and proposed community building initiatives with the GSC Student Life Chair primarily through craft events that aim to reach graduate students in the Tufts School of Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. As a lounge assistant, Briana ensures the safety of students while providing a space to do homework and friendly face with access to on-campus resources to share. She also regularly participates in GSC mental health break events.
Before starting at Tufts, Briana volunteered with the Boston Athletics Association where she served thousands of runners a traditional pasta dinner the night before the annual Boston Marathon which was particularly meaningful in the years following the Boston Marathon Bombing, restoring a sense of pride and community in her hometown. She also volunteered weekly at the Museum of Science where she taught young visitors and chaperones about topics such as Life Sciences and Engineering Design through hands-on activities and engaging conversations. More recently, she has participated in the “We Care Card'' Campaign where she wrote letters in English, Portuguese and Spanish to let the older adults in the Tufts community know they are cared for, especially while enduring the mental and emotional stressors of isolation.
Apart from her leadership roles in Tufts GSWE and the Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering Society, Briana enjoys hiking, gardening, and sustainable DIY projects.
Tufts University, Biotechnology Engineering
PhD expected 2025
2021 GradSWE Award Winner
While new to SWE, having only found out about it as a graduate student, Briana has joined with full force. In her first semester on campus, she was elected Graduate Financial Officer (GFO) of Tufts GSWE while also collaborating with the leadership team to host a multitude of pandemic-friendly events. In her role as GFO, Briana works closely with the Tufts Graduate Student Council to provide the funding that makes GSWE events possible. In less than a semester she already requested and secured $1750 as a quarterly budget, which is a 15% increase over the largest ever Tufts GSWE budget to date. As a member of the leadership team, Briana has co-hosted and conceptualized several new events to bring together the graduate community, with an impact factor of engaging ~30 students per event. A few memorable events include a Movie Night, self-care kits, and craft kits all of which aimed to address the mental health needs of the graduate community by providing creative and relaxing outlets to decompress.
For Movie Night, Briana helped put together and personally deliver 30 kits with popcorn, candy, stickers, gold star tissue paper, and handwritten movie tickets to make her peers feel like they were at a movie theater in their own homes. In addition to elevating quarantined spirits with a faux-premiere via virtual casting, the 2019 movie Radioactive about Marie Curie’s trials and tribulations as a woman in science led to fruitful discussions allowing the graduate community to come together and vent about and bond over their own personal experiences. Self-care kits consisted of succulents, skin care, sweet treats, fuzzy socks, and more to aid stressed out students in a moment of self check-ins with items that boost wellbeing. From planning, advertising, ordering, assembling, and delivering, Briana in collaboration with the GSWE leadership team, played a key role in distributing a moment of peace to as many Tufts GSWE community members as possible. Graduate students have a notoriously hard time taking breaks with the neverending stress of upcoming assignments and many have not yet cultivated a hobby that reigns in some of these anxieties. The craft kits that Briana has conceptualized and deployed provide a focused opportunity for students to get creative and relax while making practical items to decorate their spaces.
The smashing successes of the events Briana hosted and co-hosted over the course of her first few months in GSWE effectively created a sense of camaraderie and community among graduate students as they got to know each other through the virtual social components of these events. As familiarity grew over attending multiple GSWE events, students became increasingly friendly and vocalized finding a sense of community on campus for the first time since starting a new program (particularly during a pandemic).
After attending the WE20 virtual conference, Briana has also internalized and implemented advice given ranging from inclusion and diversity to professional development which she will continue to act on in future GSWE participation. In one example of how she has already demonstrated applying this knowledge, Briana was chosen to serve as a panelist for a virtual summit entitled “Connecting Across Cultures: A Conversation About Cultivation Passion & Purpose in Career” hosted by Ginling College in Nanjing, China. Speaking to a primarily undergraduate audience, Briana shared her experiences in navigating through college, jobs, graduate school, and GSWE journey while fielding questions of uncertainty from impressionable students. Her words left a high impact on these students, encouraging a group of students to pioneer their own version of SWE after expressing interest in such a community they felt was lacking on their own campus. Briana has since taken on a remote mentoring role and gladly spoken to any students that have reached out with more questions.
Outside of SWE, Briana was selected among the 10 students in her REU program at Northeastern University to present her summer research project on the Mechanisms of UVB-induced Skin Repair in a Regenerative Vertebrate at the National Science Foundation Center for Undergraduate Research Symposium at the NSF Headquarters in Arlington, VA. While Briana was affiliated with the MIT Little Devices Lab, she was invited to present her work on a paper pharmaceutical kit at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center for the Design with the 90% exhibit. In her first semester as a graduate student, she achieved a 4.0 GPA while obtaining the Notation of Development accolade for attending a series of professional development programs to further round out her education.
Briana is a first year Ph.D. student in Biotechnology Engineering at Tufts University researching how to expand the genetic code in yeast to develop drug-like proteins.
Briana is also the current Vice President of the Tufts Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering Society (BEaChES), whose mission is to foster a community between and within the Tufts Biomedical and Chemical Engineering departments, to support the professional development of graduate students, and to reach out to the community in and around Tufts University to promote STEM degrees and careers. In her capacity as Vice President, she has hosted meetings and acted as an inward facing manager of the BEaChES eight person leadership team to plan outreach and community building events and overall been the point-person for welcoming new students into the BEaChES organization. In this role, she is currently organizing Exemplary Engineers, an awards event where she has secured a $500 budget for 24 gift bags with sparkling cider, gourmet snacks, and gold-themed treats to commemorate one student and one faculty member from each of the Chemical & Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering departments that have been voted by their peers for excellency in their academic, professional, and social lives. These types of events function to make students and faculty feel appreciated for going above and beyond in areas that align with the SWE core values of Integrity, Inclusivity, Mutual Support, Professional Excellence, and Trust. Briana is furthermore collaborating with her peers to host bi-weekly game nights, a paint night event, and professional development/outreach events that are expected to take place in the upcoming semester.
Aside from her leadership roles in SWE and BEaChES, Briana has joined the student life committee on the Tufts Graduate Student Council (GSC) and works in one of the graduate student lounges. As a member of the student life committee, Briana has discussed and proposed community building initiatives with the GSC Student Life Chair primarily through craft events that aim to reach graduate students in the Tufts School of Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. As a lounge assistant, Briana ensures the safety of students while providing a space to do homework and friendly face with access to on-campus resources to share. She also regularly participates in GSC mental health break events.
Before starting at Tufts, Briana volunteered with the Boston Athletics Association where she served thousands of runners a traditional pasta dinner the night before the annual Boston Marathon which was particularly meaningful in the years following the Boston Marathon Bombing, restoring a sense of pride and community in her hometown. She also volunteered weekly at the Museum of Science where she taught young visitors and chaperones about topics such as Life Sciences and Engineering Design through hands-on activities and engaging conversations. More recently, she has participated in the “We Care Card'' Campaign where she wrote letters in English, Portuguese and Spanish to let the older adults in the Tufts community know they are cared for, especially while enduring the mental and emotional stressors of isolation.
Apart from her leadership roles in Tufts GSWE and the Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering Society, Briana enjoys hiking, gardening, and sustainable DIY projects.
