By Adrienne Sylver
As a child, Melissa Venedicto dreamed of becoming an orthopedic surgeon, but as an undergraduate at FIU, she became so intrigued by the materials used in prosthetic devices that she pursued a major in biomedical engineering. It was in a biomaterials class that she found her true passion ― materials research.
At the time, Venedicto didn't fully grasp the real-world applications of her calling. It wasn't until lab experiences and an internship in FIU's NASA CRE2DO program intertwined that she found there were endless career possibilities in the space sciences. Venedicto discovered the power of atomically-thin materials, or 2D materials ― versatile and applicable to both electronics and biomedicine, both fields of interest to her.
Today, Venedicto is a Ph.D. student in FIU's College of Engineering and Computing. She hopes to pursue a career with NASA or in a related industry lab. As part of the NASA CRE2DO program, she loves speaking to youngsters about science and engineering. Community outreach and education are a recent addition to the program.
