Sophia Benkirane, M.S. Student

Research Interest

Sophia’s research focuses on two main areas: the nondestructive evaluation of novel 3D-printed continuous composite structures and an innovative class of impact-mitigating, shock-tolerant foams for sports, civilian, and military applications. She is leveraging our state-of-the-art terahertz-based technologies for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of free-standing polymers and composites, to develop reliable and practical in-situ evaluation methods for the 3D printing process. To achieve this, she will utilize both conventional and machine-learning algorithms for advanced analytics. In parallel, Sophia is also forging a new path in advanced foams with superior properties for extreme loading scenarios, which she is demonstrating using our comprehensive characterization facilities.

Education

• B.S. Biomedical Engineering, University of California, San Diego – San Diego, CA – June 2025

Experience

• Engineering Intern, Left Coast Engineering – Escondido, CA – June 2024 – September 2024