Leilani Morales Vázquez

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Leilani Morales Vázquez grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is an incoming SEAS student at Columbia with interests in biomimicry, sustainability, and computational chemistry. She designed and tested a passive Earth Air Tunnel cooling system for classrooms in Puerto Rico, earning her top honors such as the Yale Science and Engineering Association Award and becoming the first Puerto Rican RISE Fellow, which further cemented her commitment to resilient, low-cost climate solutions. She has also worked with computational modeling, creating and investigating different modifications of curcumin and evaluating predicted PI3K binding.

Beyond the lab, Leilani interned with Arcadis, where she learned about water-treatment procedures, created comprehensive SOP’s, and optimized scheduling by using Gantt charts to consistently deliver to clients. She founded and led her school’s ChemClub, chaired Model UN sessions to mentor younger delegates, and organized community-wide initiatives through the Student Government Association.

At Columbia, Leilani looks forward to collaborating with faculty and peers to take upon nature- inspired systems and technologies, while contributing to the university’s broader missions of engineering for human welfare.