Andrea Marie Martinez, a 2014 graduate of the University at Buffalo, is currently pursuing her PhD in electrical engineering. In the Energy Systems Integration Lab, she is working to characterize the extent of aging of dielectric elastic actuators before failure due to partial discharge activity. Her work has potential impact in energy harvesting, robotics, and medicine due to the potential of biomeimetic actuators. She has had multiple publications and awards, most notably the University at Buffalo’s Undergraduate Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creativity and the UB STEM’s Trailblazer award for her impact on the world around her.

Andrea is passionate about STEMinism, which focuses on increasing the number of young women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; and in reaching out to elementary and high school students to stress the importance of higher education. She also participates in the Science is Elementary program, a collaboration between National Grid and UB to expose young children to science from as early as kindergarten by conducting experiments with them.