Meet the Five Bioengineering Undergraduate Huntington 100 Recipients

Paloma Figueroa is originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, though she primarily grew up in Dallas, Texas. She’s had the privilege of engaging in research as part of Assistant Professor Mona Minkara’s COMBINE Lab. Her involvement began with the UPLIFT program and continued through a National Science Foundation REU, a Peak Ascent Award, and two directed research studies in bioengineering. Her work focuses on leveraging computational techniques to explore the interactions between MBL and tuberculosis. Beyond the lab, she serves as Co-President of Innovators for Global Health, a Northeastern student organization dedicated to advancing global healthcare access through bioengineering and medical device innovation. Their mission also emphasizes building sustainable partnerships with healthcare professionals and communities in Ghana. Through this role, Paloma has had the incredible opportunity to travel to Ghana, deliver medical device solutions, and strengthen relationships with their partners. She is deeply grateful to the Bioengineering Department for equipping her with the resources and support to pursue these opportunities!

Adam grew up in Buffalo, NY, before coming to Boston to get closer with biotech and leading bioengineering research. He currently works with Professor Timothy Lannin on modeling temperature effects in chromatography, where they also have a capstone team working on device prototyping to take advantage of such effects. Adam also participates on E-Board for Sigma Xi and is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the Scientific and Engineering Honors Research Societies respectively, where he’s been privileged to be able to interact and work with so many wonderful people and bright minds. Looking forward, Adam is currently applying and excited to pursue a PhD in Bioengineering to further his research endeavors.

Jose is a computational biologist and dedicated global change-maker committed to using machine learning to advance precision medicine and democratize access to quality healthcare for underserved communities, including his home country Peru. He began his academic journey at Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia (UTEC) in Lima, where he studied systems biology and modeled gene regulatory circuits to produce antifungals and antioxidants for food preservation. At Northeastern, Jose conducted research at the Lu Computational Systems Biology Lab and The Institute of Experiential AI, analyzing gene expression profiles in the mammary glands of mice and studying the effects of alternative splicing in cancer cell lines. His passion for computational oncology and healthcare was ignited during his first co-op at Revolution Medicines, where he developed a graph convolutional neural network integrating genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics to predict gene dependency scores and propose combination therapies. This passion was furthered by his selection to the prestigious Computational Biology Summer Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he created a self-supervised contrastive learning graph autoencoder to identify spatial domains in the tumor microenvironments, and was honored as a 2024 NK & Irene Cheung Family Intern. Most recently, Jose has been investigating clinical biomarkers for the new oncology-focused projects at Blueprint Medicines. Throughout his journey both in academia and industry, Jose noticed the lack of Latinx/Hispanic representation in leadership roles. He has actively dedicated his time at Northeastern to uplift his community by holding leadership positions in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Engineers Without Borders, as well as mentoring first-generation Latinx students through the PODER program. His commitment to global impact was ignited through his work with CISV International, a global non-for-profit organization that aims to inspire a more just and peaceful world, where he continues to hold national and international positions.

Maggie Saalman is from Westchester County, NY. Throughout her time at Northeastern, she has focused on accessible engineering, contributing to Tatum Robotics by developing American Sign Language (ASL) patterns and studying language structure to create a translation engine for a hand-signing robot. By testing this engine and assisting with in-person user and ergonomics evaluations, she helped develop a signing robot designed to empower DeafBlind users and bridge critical communication gaps. This dedication to inclusive technology extends to her capstone project, where her team applies biomechanics and human-centered engineering to design prosthetics for para triathlon athletes, advancing accessibility in adaptive sports. Maggie’s coursework at Northeastern and hands-on experience in the Action Lab have further deepened her understanding of human movement and biomechanics, enabling her to make meaningful contributions to both the signing robot and the triathlon prosthetic.

Katie is a fourth-year Honors Bioengineering student from Dallas, Texas with a concentration in Biomedical Devices and Bioimaging and a minor in Global Health. She is the co-president of Innovators for Global Health (IGH), a student organization that aims to improve global access to healthcare through medical device design and innovation, specifically through partnerships with health facilities and universities in Ghana. Katie is also a member and choreographer for the Northeastern University Dance Company (NUDANCO) and has completed two co-ops during her time at Northeastern— first at the Traverso Laboratory (BWH, MIT, HMS) and second at Sage Product Development.