“Dr. Castellanos returns to her alma mater after completing a doctoral degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). While at UW, Dr. Castellanos was awarded the Graduate Engineering Research Scholar fellowship, along with the Amelia Earhart Fellowship, a distinguished award given to 35 women in the aerospace field, annually. Her research focuses on addressing the fundamental challenges of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to mitigate damage and assess failure mechanisms. Using computational and experimental methods, her work investigates the degradation of mechanical properties of sandwich composites subjected to extreme environments. She is interested in materials for hypersonic flight vehicles, specifically to prevent environmental degradation and service damage. Dr. Castellanos is a member of the Zonta International, Mascareñas Foundation, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists. She previously interned at the Air Force Research Lab and at the Indiana Manufacturing Institute at Purdue University. During her free time, Dr. Castellanos enjoys painting, reading, and practicing yoga.”