Daiquiri Zozaya proudly presented her poster titled “Shared.Futures: Empowering Art, Inspiring Science through ArtScience” at the Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity (CoNECD) Conference in Arlington, VA at the end of February, marking a significant milestone in her journey as a TN-funded graduate student in the Department of Engineering at The University of New Mexico.

The focal point of Daiquiri’s poster is the ArtScience piece “Build Burque Better,” a collaborative creation between her and artist Manuel Peralta II, stemming from their participation in the 2023 Shared.Futures cohort. “Burque” is a common local nickname for Albuquerque. Shared.Futures, one of the Project Charters of the Transformation Network, is an ArtScience collaborative that unites local scientists and artists to convey scientific perspectives through artistic mediums, envisioning our collective futures. Explore the Shared.Futures website for more information. 

Reflecting on her experience at the conference, Daiquiri shared, “The best part of presenting the poster was being able to represent a piece of Burque in DC! It was also amazing to be in the presence of so many other underrepresented professionals that are actively and continually fighting for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. I have never felt so welcomed, and I was treated so nicely by other engineering professionals and fellow graduate students. I felt seen and valued. … This conference really opened my eyes to all the amazing engineering educators that are fighting for us and it made me really happy and proud. It was a very empowering experience.”

During her time at the conference, Daiquiri also had the opportunity to tour the White House — thanks to Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury — and enjoyed exploring the monuments of Washington D.C.

“I really am just so thankful to be a part of such an amazing group of people. This includes everyone I have worked with under the Transformation Network umbrella, Shared.Futures, and the UNM Engineering Department,” Daiquiri said. “I am grateful for every single opportunity I have been given and I hope that our work helps to inspire someone out there!”

Thank you, Daiquiri, for representing the Transformation Network at CoNECD and for spreading awareness about Shared.Futures and the broader Transformation Network!