Dr. Mandy Bratton serves as the Executive Director of the UC San Diego Center for Global Sustainable Development. The Center is home to the award-winning Global Ties program and the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) Global Changemaker Scholars Program. These programs inspire students to collaborate with communities to co-create innovative solutions to urgent adaptive challenges, such as those represented by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the NAE Grand Challenges. Mandy also serves as a Director of the UC San Diego Changemaker Institute. She is an Ashoka U Change Leader and was instrumental in making UC San Diego an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus – one of only 45 worldwide. She served as the Principal Investigator for SISTERS, a National Science Foundation-funded project to design and study the impact of an after-school STEAM program for 5th and 6th-grade girls facilitated by undergraduate mentors majoring in STEM. Before coming to UC San Diego, Mandy earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and served as a senior faculty member in Psychology and Human Development and Interim Associate Dean at Prescott College for the Liberal Arts, the Environment, and Social Justice. Mandy has sailed around the world three times with the Semester at Sea Global Studies Program and serves as president emeritus of its alumni association. She holds an academic appointment as a Continuing Lecturer and her primary interests as a scholar, teacher, practitioner, and global citizen include sustainable development, gender equality, leadership, ethics, and creating positive social and environmental change.
Albert holds a BA in Mechanical Engineering from UCSD and is interested in the intersection of renewable energy, sustainable development, and social equity. He applied for the Global Changemaker Scholars Program to learn how human-centered design creates lasting and impactful projects while working alongside like-minded individuals. SDGs 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and 13 (Climate Action) interest him because they are the pillars for sustainable and equitable population growth—meeting the energy demands of today while developing the framework for the future. Albert is pursuing a graduate degree at Carnegie Melon University. He reports that the skills developed through the program have been vital in widening his worldview as he strives to become a socially conscious engineer.
Laura Charria
Laura graduated with a degree in Cognitive Science and is excited to apply design thinking in different areas, one of them being healthcare. She is interested in advocating and being an ambassador for health equity around the world. She advocates for mental wellness and is passionate about looking for ways to improve the physician/patient relationship. Inspired by the turn of events happening around the world right now, she plans on inspiring others to take action to advocate for issues that matter to them the most. Laura is currently a Tech Cloud Consultant with Oracle in Boston.
Alexis Garcia
Alexis graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He chose clean water as a focus, and in the future, he wants to work in a water treatment facility. Then, he wants to create more affordable water treatment processes to improve access for under-resourced communities. Alexis currently works as an engineering technician at Wildcat Discovery Technologies.
Daniel John
Daniel graduated with a degree in Biotechnology with a minor in Political Science. He joined Global TIES in his first year and was a member of the Cruz Roja project. He went on to serve as an undergraduate TA in the program. Daniel is the 2023-24 recipient of the prestigious Strauss Scholarship. He founded a non-profit designed to improve refugee disparities in San Diego. Daniel is currently a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sydney, where he is working on improving medical care in developing countries. In his free time, Daniel enjoys hiking, playing spikeball, watching sports, and reading
Teodora Moisa
Teddy Moisa is from Irvine and graduated with a Human Biology and Business Psychology degree. As a Global Changemaker Scholar, she addressed challenge 13: climate action. While still in high school, Teddy had the opportunity to draft a bill proposal on an environmental issue relevant to her congressional district and present it to her congressional representative. She built on that work as an undergraduate researcher at UCSD's Climate Psychology and Action Lab. Teddy is currently a House Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania and hopes to pursue a graduate degree in environmental policy and eventually become a policymaker herself.
Dora Ogbonna
Dora Ogbonna graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree with a Chemistry minor. The Sustainable Development Goals and Grand Challenges she was interested in addressing as a GCSP scholar were SDG 4- Quality Education and NAE GC 5 - Engineer Better Medicines. These challenges relate to the areas she wants to pursue in her career. Dora is currently an MD/PhD student at UCSF. In the future, she wants to carry out research in the use of biomaterials as therapeutics or vaccines. She also aspires to teach others, as she feels that access to education is paramount.
Trisha Satish
Trisha Satish graduated with an undergraduate degree in Bioengineering with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She went on to earn a Master of Science degree at UCSD, also in Bioengineering. As a grad student, Trisha helped direct the Global Changemaker Scholars Program. She is passionate about addressing reduced inequality and good health and well-being, as these two goals go hand in hand and can be achieved through bioengineering. Trisha is currently a clinical research scientist with Abbott Labs.
