Undergraduate Student Highlight: Erika Elston
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Senior electrical engineering major Erika Elston is preparing for a career in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, a path that has been shaped by her coursework and hands-on engineering experience at UMass Amherst.
Elston’s academic interests draw her toward the intricate world of circuits and chips. She particularly enjoyed ECE 244: Modern Physics & Materials for EE, as well as ECE 344: Fundamentals of Semiconductor Devices, which deepened her interest in device physics and circuit behavior. This semester, she is expanding that foundation through courses in ECE 558: VLSI Design, ECE 575: Analog IC Design, and she plans to take ECE 571: Microelectronic Fabrication next. This combination reflects her growing focus on how materials and design principles intersect to produce the complex devices that power modern technology.
That focus carried into her summer internship at BAE Systems, where she worked as a hardware engineering intern in Nashua, New Hampshire. Elston helped assemble and test Interface Test Adapters, verified cable assemblies, and built custom cables for various applications. The experience provided a window into large-scale engineering environments, from following ESD-sensitive handling procedures to reading detailed wiring diagrams. It also reinforced her enjoyment of hands-on technical work, which has been a constant throughout her studies.
Elston’s portfolio of student projects highlights that same mix of creativity and rigor. As part of ECE senior lecturer Baird Soules’ Design Project course in M5, Elston explored vintage computing by programming a 6502-based system to display patterns on an LED grid, writing a Python script to automate the translation of colors into assembly code and reduce testing time. In another project, as part of ECE 315H, the honors colloquium for Signal Processing Methods, she and a partner trained a machine learning algorithm to identify blue jay calls in audio recordings, achieving 95 percent classification accuracy. And in ECE 304: Junior Design Project, she designed a compact, battery-powered embedded system using an ATtiny85 microcontroller, optimizing its power consumption with a watchdog timer to extend battery life.
Outside of the classroom, Elston has found a sense of purpose in building community within the Riccio College of Engineering. As an ECE peer advisor, she holds weekly drop-in hours to help fellow students navigate academic challenges, course selections, and time management. Using skills from ECE 202: Computational Tools for ECE, she also developed a spreadsheet that visualizes advising program data, helping faculty measure outreach and impact. Her service extends to the Dean’s Undergraduate Advisory Group, where she serves as secretary, documenting meetings and representing the concerns of her peers to college leadership.
She is involved in the ECE CEI Committee, where she has been helping organize craft-based community events for women in ECE. The idea for the first event—a bracelet-making session—was Elston’s, which she proceeded to co-organize with ECE academic advisor Emily Krems. The success of that gathering led to a second event, featuring painting and jewelry-making, which drew about 25 graduate and undergraduate participants. Now, with growing enthusiasm among attendees, the event is becoming a regular series.
Elston also contributes to the UMass CubeSat initiative, a new program in the Riccio College of Engineering focused on the conceptualization and development of a satellite for hyperspectral imaging and remote sensing. The team’s early work involves creating and testing a “benchtop” version of a CubeSat on campus. Elston is a member of the Payload subteam, which is currently working on characterizing the performance of a hyperspectral camera—an instrument that captures data across multiple wavelengths for scientific analysis.
Her senior design project ties into this same initiative. Working alongside four other EE students—Miné Ülker, Oliver Hoang, Wes Anderson, and Eric Goossen—Elston is developing a software-defined radio platform for the CubeSat team to use in communications. Still in its early research stages, the project will eventually provide a versatile and adaptable system for sending and receiving data wirelessly.
Across her classes, research, and community roles, Elston’s work demonstrates precision and perspective—whether she is debugging a circuit, mentoring a peer, or helping shape an inclusive environment in engineering. As she looks ahead to graduation in 2026 and a future in semiconductor technology, she continues to find energy in the intersection of design, collaboration, and discovery.