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  The UC LEADS program has given me an invaluable opportunity to discover myself as a researcher. The program has enabled me to prove to myself that I can do the work required of a graduate student and be a competitive graduate school applicant. Furthermore, I learned a considerable amount of independence, practical knowledge and research skills. I learned how to work on a research project independently, wade through research articles for pertinent information and take gathered data and draw a conclusion. Moreover, during my research experiences I was able to discover my passion for thermofluids.


I am majoring in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in thermo fluids. I am currently the president of Chicanos and Latinos Engineers and Scientists Society.



The Health Effects of Combustion Generated Ultra fine Particles
Angelina Padilla*, David Baston**, Bing Guo*, Michelle Werner***, Cort Anastasio***, Michael Denison**, Ian Kennedy*
* UC Davis Department of Mechanical Engineering
** UC Davis Department of Environmental Toxicology
*** UC Davis Department of Atmospheric Science

Dioxin-like compounds, including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, are generated in combustion processes and can be adsorbed and transmitted by particulate matter such as soot particles generated in the combustion processes. Transformation and/or transportation of the dioxin-like compounds carried by soot particles in the earth's atmosphere can affect toxicity levels and have subsequent health effects. In order to discover the effect of the atmosphere on polyaromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins transformed by reactions induced by sunlight and other factors in the atmosphere, samples were generated under specific, controlled, combustion conditions and were analyzed prior-to and after an atmospheric aging process. In the atmospheric aging chamber, soot samples were exposed to controlled levels of ozone, ultraviolet light, nitric oxides, humidity and a specified pH-value. All of the samples were analyzed by means of a bioassay and their corresponding toxicities were compared. The bioassay demonstrated evidence of dioxin-like activities in the samples generated in this experiment.

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Turbulent Mixing: Optimizing downstream development of a passive scalar
Angelina Padilla, Jesus Ruiz-Plancarte, John LaRue
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine

Premixers with fuel injection help burn fuel cleanly and efficiently in gas turbine combustors. However, currently there isn't a guide indicating the optimal diameter of the injection ports and the spacing between them. By systematically measuring different variations of these two, the optimal combination that minimizes the horizontal mixing distance can be discovered, improving the device's efficiency. The premixer is modeled by a wire mesh grid with heated segments downstream of a turbulence grid in a low-speed wind tunnel. The goal of the study is to determine the effect of the size of the heated segment and the separation between them on the mixing of the heated and unheated air as a function of downstream distance. The approach consists of measuring the time resolved velocity and temperature using hot wire anemometry and small diameter resistance thermometry (cold wires).

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