Overview

David Guiracocha is a senior double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Psychology with a minor in Material Science. He joined the Tech Crew in Spring 2023. In the cleanroom, David specializes in photolithography with SU8 photoresist, Physical Vapor Deposition (Electron Beam Deposition, DC & RF Sputtering), and Plasma Ashing on the PVA Tepla plasma asher system. David is currently working on characterizing thin film electron beam deposition of metals through rate and uniformity testing and on the development of photoresist descum recipes for the cleanroom’s plasma asher. David joined Tech Crew to explore emerging nanotechnology fields, with particular interest in nanoscale fabrication and characterization as well as microfluidic device fabrication and its vast applications. He enjoys learning from the VINSE staff and aiding Vanderbilt researchers when possible.

Outside of VINSE, David works in the Bellan Lab for Advanced Materials in Vanderbilt’s Mechanical Engineering department. In his research, he is exploring integrated and off-chip mechanisms for designing and automating microfluidic devices, and he is currently developing a pressure ejection system for controlling neural activity by reliably delivering picolitre volumes of neurotransmitters with millisecond precision. On campus, he is also involved with Vanderbilt Alternative Spring Break, the Vanderbilt Programming Board, and Theta Tau.