Lisa Miele

One day I will create the products that change the way people live their lives.

I am currently pursuing my passion in Engineering Design and Entrepreneurship at the Pennsylvania State University. As a Schreyer Honors College Scholar majoring in Industrial Engineering and minoring in Engineering Entrepreneurship, I am confident in my academic achievement and design experiences.

Specific to Engineering Design, my participation in group projects have fostered my innovative mindset, knowledge of the design process, and 3-D technical skills. In my honors Engineering Design class, I worked with a team of students from Penn State and Marrakesh, Morocco to develop a concept for a thin-filmed solar panel that could be used to provide electricity to libraries in lower-income regions of Morocco. During this sustainability assignment we communicated internationally to establish costumer need, modeled our design ideas in SolidWorks, and presented our design to a panel of teachers and students. This project was my first glimpse at global engineering, something that I later pursued.

Seeking adventure, I spent last summer surfing the Bay of Basque in San Sebastian, Spain designing a surfing accessories for local surf schools. During this study abroad program, I teamed with students from the University of Michigan and Tecnun Universidad to develop and 3-D print our prototypes. Our final design, a safety bracelet that alerts surfers when the tide has pulled them too far away from the group, was presented to professional surfboard designer, Johnny Cabianca. This rewarding experience forever changed the way I view product design.