ECE Celebrates Women’s History Month

The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering celebrates Women’s History Month with a spotlight on several amazing ECE Florida faculty, staff, and students.

Shannon Chillingworth

Manager, Academic Support Services

Shannon Chillingworth
Recent Honor: 2022 UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Staff Award for Excellence in Leadership

What is the best advice you ever received?
Put kindness first, particularly when considering yourself.
Who or what inspires you?

My kids. They make me a better person.
How do you hope to inspire the next generation of UF students?
I want students to know that it is okay to ask for help. There is always a path forward, even when you are in the waiting place.
What is one of your favorite hobbies?
Knitting! The pandemic gave me an opportunity to rediscover this great hobby.

Yenessa Avalos-Maldonado

ECE Undergraduate student

Yenessa Maldonado
Internships:
Recent—NVIDIA, ASIC Verification Intern
Previous—Intel and AMD, Pre-silicon Verification Intern

Service: President of WECE (Women in Electrical and Computer Engineering)

What is the best advice you ever received?
Just be your best self, keep close to your family and friends, and everything else will work itself out one way or another!
Who or what inspires you?
Leaders who genuinely care about their people and celebrate their accomplishments.
How do you hope to inspire the next generation of UF students?
By encouraging others to follow their “gut instincts”. Regardless of the obstacles, I hope students still take initiative to pursue their individual interests, without doubts about their skills/abilities. Self-care and mental health is also something I value and hope other students do as well! Overall, I love giving advice and enjoy being involved in a student organization to help inspire the next generation of engineers.
What is one of your favorite hobbies?
I enjoy playing video games, especially when it’s competitive! I’m currently playing more of an open world game and I am blown away by the experience so far!

Tuba Yavuz

Assistant Professor

Tuba Yavuz
Recent Honor: National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2020
Lab: Systems Reliability Lab at UF ECE
Research Interests: Formal methods, software engineering, and system security. Improving the reliability and security of systems through rigorous and more scalable analysis techniques. Developing ways to detect weaknesses in complex software and application programming interfaces (APIs) and designing simpler, more secure software frameworks.

What is the best advice you ever received?
Do not give up on your dreams.
Who or what inspires you?
Sincere words, thoughts, or actions. My Ph.D. advisor’s enthusiasm for his research inspired me in developing my own research interests.
How do you hope to inspire the next generation of UF students?
I want to inspire students to learn more about systems programming so they can contribute to the development of a workforce with sufficient secure coding skills.
What is one of your favorite hobbies?
I love crocheting, especially creating my own designs.

Kelsey Horace-Herron

ECE Graduate student

Kelsey Horace Herron
Start-up Company: Resonance Signatures, LLC
Member: Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World
Research Interests: Authenticating medicine and detecting illegal substances in mail packaging using Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR) spectroscopy. This is a safe, non-invasive technique that can be used without protective clothing and special training.

What is the best advice you ever received?
I actually have two!!!
1. Do not ever stop learning and growing as a person
2. Nothing is impossible – the word itself says “I’m possible”. If you can imagine it, you can make it, now go and do it!!
Who or what inspires you?
Dr. Patricia Era Bath!!! Not only is she the first African American woman to be granted a patent for an invention in the medical field, but she is the genius behind laser eye surgery. She invented an improved device for laser cataract surgery called Laserphaco Probe, which she patented in 1986.
How do you hope to inspire the next generation of UF students?
Along with the next generation of diverse UF students, I hope to help close any minority gaps on campus.
What are your favorite hobbies?
Hanging out with friends, reading, and of course cheering on UF sport teams!! Go Gators!!!