Category: Student Story

Nora Mortali is a senior bioengineering major from Walpole, MA also minoring in Spanish Studies.   Nora was first involved with PEER&WISE through our academic resources (tutoring, test bank) and is currently an undergrad student intern under her mentor, Brittany Sanders.  She works with GE’s Next Engineer Greenville program.  Over the summer, she will be working as a Quality Assurance Intern at Third Pole Therapeutics in Massachusetts.  In the fall, Nora will begin working towards her Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering at Clemson University.  Her advice for others is to “Never be afraid to get to know your classmates and professors. Bioengineering is a challenging field but having people to lean on makes it easier!”  We appreciate everything Nora does for the PEER&WISE community and cannot wait to see what her future holds!

Sarah Johnson is the current WISER graduate assistant.  She first got involved with PEER&WISE through one of our Girl Scout Day events during her high school career.  She began her time at Clemson as a WISE mentee and then continued as a WISE mentor for the rest of her sophomore, junior, and senior year.  Sarah will be graduating in May with her Master’s of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering and then she is off to Jacksonville, Florida to begin a new career.   She will be working as an associate IPS engineer in the Orthognathic division of KLS Martin.  While there, she will be creating patient-specific surgical solutions (plate and screw systems) and walking surgeons through each step of the jaw surgery for optimum patient outcomes.  Sarah would like to let everyone know that bioengineering is not easy, but thanks to the help from PEER&WISE, it was possible.  She wants to remind everyone that asking for help is definitely okay and always worth it!

Julio Rodriguez is a third year junior at Clemson, majoring in electrical engineering.  He was born in Washington but grew up in South Carolina and is from Easley, SC.  Julio is a first generation student, meaning he is the first in his family to attend a college or university.  He is very active in student life and is the current president of Clemson Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.  In his free time, he enjoys playing and watching soccer.  His favorite memory at Clemson so far has been attending the SHPE National Convention in Orlando in the fall of 2021.  Julio got involved with PEER&WISE through PWE the summer before his freshman year.  He met many people and made friends that he is still close with today.  He also serves as a PEER mentor and a PEER math plus tutor for middle school students.  After finishing college, he hopes to work in designing integrated circuits.  He would also like to facilitate in resourcing and improving public schools in the United States and he would like to travel the world. Julio chose to major in electrical engineering due to its innovative field that is always improving.  His career has disciplined him to learn new things daily and it has humbled him to always strive to be better than he was the day before.  Julio says the most important thing he has learned is that hard work will always beat talent, especially in engineering.  Despite the stress school causes, he is thankful and has enjoyed every second at Clemson.  The diversity across campus has opened his eyes to how different but still similar everyone is.  His advice to others is, ” You dictate your own path to success, so either step up or get stepped on.”

Caroline Peak is a junior Bioengineering major with a concentration in Biomaterials from Aiken, South Carolina. She was born in Pennsylvania and was raised all over the East Coast, and in her free time, loves to play random intramural sports with friends and spend time with a book. She first got into contact with PEER & WISE the summer of her sophomore year and was offered an internship position for her junior fall. Caroline currently manages the PEER & WISE social media pages, and you can find her at the main desks in both the Office and Annex. Her college journey began with the EUREKA! summer research experience for rising Honors College Freshmen, and ever since, she has fallen in love with research. She has been working in a Bioengineering research lab ever since her freshman year, working on a novel culture chamber that subjects engineered heart-like tissue to physiologic conditions mimicking heart tissue outside the human body for therapeutic use. After she graduates from Clemson, Caroline plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at a research-intensive university. Caroline’s advice for others is to actively search out ways to be involved on campus. She says if she did not go out of her comfort zone to pursue opportunities, she would not be where she is today.

Skyler Holland is a sophomore electrical engineering major from Hampton, South Carolina.  She was born and raised in the Lowcountry and in her free time, she enjoys playing softball or tennis and going to the beach every chance she gets.  Skyler is currently in her second year at Clemson majoring in electrical engineering with a minor in biological sciences.  She hopes to work in medical research after graduating and to help people with the advancement of medicine.  Her story with PEER & WISE began in middle school when she attended Project WISE for two summers.  There, her love for electrical engineering was sparked.  She fell in love with every aspect of it and it made her curiosity grow.  After completing Project WISE, she then took several engineering courses through high school, learning the basics of SolidWorks, building circuits on breadboards, and coding.   Once getting accepted into Clemson, she was in contact with Beth Anne Johnson about becoming more involved with Project WISE.  Over her freshman year, she stayed in contact with Beth Anne and Mrs.  Serita Acker and was involved in virtual Project WISE.  The summer before her sophomore year, she applied for a work study position in the PEER & WISE office and since then it has turned into an internship.  She cherishes this internship and is so thankful for all of the great people and opportunities it has brought into her life.  Her advice for others is to never be afraid of being curious.  For her, electrical engineering sparks her curiosity and makes her want to know more.  Knowledge is ever-growing and being curious is how many inventions and innovations have been made.

Preston Pettway is a sophomore industrial engineering major from Anderson, South Carolina.  He graduated T.L. High School as a two sport athlete, playing both football and basketball.  During his free time, he enjoys playing basketball, video games, and hanging out with his friends.  His older brother and father both attended Clemson University and his brother, Kendal Pettway, was also involved in PEER&WISE.  Preston participated in the PEER&WISE summer program and is also a PEER mentor presently.  His future goals are just to make a difference and be a role model for the younger generations of his family.  He wants to make the best of every opportunity presented to him and one day work a job which he loves and enjoys doing.  His advice for others is “life goes on, you may be caught in a moment but life is still going to move whether you want it to or not.”

Kylie Rawls is a senior mechanical engineering major here at Clemson University.  She has been a part of the PEER/WISE community since her freshman year.  Currently, she is a WISE mentor and helps new WISE members transition into life at Clemson.  She will graduate in May and is currently searching for a job that she likes.  Before coming to college, she was firm in the fact that she wanted to become an engineer; however, at the time she was unsure of what type of engineering she wanted to do.  While she was still in general engineering, she switched between three different engineering majors before finally finding her place in mechanical engineering.  Her advice for all students is that it is perfectly okay if you are unsure of what you want to do right now or even if you change your mind along the way, everything will work out in time!

Elizabeth Gianino
Tutor (MATH, PHYS, CH)

Major: BioEngineering

Graduation: Dec 2021

Future Career Plans: “I plan to work for a large medical device corporation, somewhere out West as a research scientist and project manager. ”

Biggest Impact of PEER & WISE: “PEER&WISE has been an incredible experience for me over the past two years. It provided me the opportunity to enhance my tutoring and mentoring skills that are needed as a professional engineer and manager. I received a lot of help and guidance during my time as an undergraduate and I am grateful to pass it down so that we can continue to spread knowledge, leadership, and kindness in the Clemson and greater community. ”

Words of Wisdom: “Success isn’t measured by your outcomes but by how well you responded to your individual path it took to lead you to greatness. “