Pursuing a Passion in STEM

PHOTO: Davis High graduate Ana Ebrahimi does a gymnastics pose alongside a colleague.

By Ava Giavannettone

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff––

Ana Ebrahimi received her PhD in Mechanical engineering in 2018 and is now working in science policy for the National Institute of Health. She is passionate about justice issues and bringing science into more government policies.

Ebrahimi attended Davis High school and graduated in 2008. Although Ebrahimi didn’t exactly know what she wanted to be when she grew up as a high school student, she did have some ideas. She had always loved math and science and knew she wanted to be some type of engineer.

Ebrahimi says she shared her love for math with her mother, as well as her interest in engineering with her father; who was a civil engineer for the Department of California Transportation.

Ebrahimi also enjoyed many things in high school that didn’t have to do with academics. She was a gymnast and the track and field club president growing up. She was the director of the pep band. “I watched her light up the crowds as pep band director during football games,” her best friend Caroline Hirst said.

Ebrahimi said that gymnastics was part of what got her into physics in high school. “I loved learning how to manipulate your body to change your performance,” she said. As she grew older, she learned more about how much physics and math were involved in her sport.

Although her studies were critical to her, she also remembered how much fun she had at DHS and the many memories and friendships that were made. “I’m still friends with a lot of people from high school actually… and I really loved the people I grew up with,” she said. 

In high school, Ebrahimi had the idea that she would teach when she grew up, and went into college thinking the same. In college, she took multiple teaching courses but realized in grad school that she didn’t want to be a professor. 

Ebrahimi found a passion in grad school for justice issues and is now ensuring resources are accessible to all. Currently, she works in the “Neurological Disorders and Stroke” department of the National Institute of Health, where she helps distribute grants to biomedical researchers around the country.