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STEM Ambassadors

The STEM Ambassador Program began in 2016 as a training program for a small cohort of University of Utah scientists. Since then, we have grown to work with over 170 graduate students, post-docs, faculty, staff, and undergraduate students. Scroll down to learn about the scientists who have participated. Contact us if you would like to reach out to a STEM Ambassador.

Note that many Ambassador bios were uploaded when the Ambassador joined the program and may not be current.

Tom Becnel

Photo of Tom Becnel

Tom Becnel works with Dr. Pierre Giallardon. His overzealous love of tinkering with the household appliances forced his parents to ship him off to the University of Utah, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. Tom is now working with SCI and AirU to develop a low cost, ultra low power particulate matter sensor to further aid in monitoring pollution in the Salt Lake Valley. With thousands of these sensors deployed in the valley, AirU aims to create a dense pollution map that is available online as an open source project. Tom likes to explore Utah’s wilderness with his fiancé, Dayana, and his chocolate lab, Moose.