{"id":24964,"date":"2026-09-04T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T04:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/computing.mit.edu\/?p=24964"},"modified":"2026-09-04T08:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T12:56:14","slug":"student-spotlight-isabel-duran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/computing.mit.edu\/news\/student-spotlight-isabel-duran\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Isabel Duran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>This interview is part of a series of short interviews from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Each spotlight features a student answering their choice of questions about themselves and life at MIT.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Isabel Duran, a junior majoring in Course 6-5 (Electrical Engineering With Computing), keeps a packed schedule: You may spot her giving tours around campus for MIT Admissions, but she\u2019s also co-lead for <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/ewb-usa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Engineers Without Borders<\/em><\/a><em> Farm and Irrigation, treasurer for the MIT chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, secretary for <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/web.mit.edu\/lucha\/www\/about.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>MIT LUChA<\/em><\/a><em> (La Uni\u00f3n Chicana por Aztl\u00e1n), and an active member of Alpha Chi Omega.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Q: <\/strong>Tell us about a teacher from your past who had an influence on the person you\u2019ve become.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>A: <\/strong>My high school chemistry teacher, Dr. Sharp, changed my life. She was funny and freakishly all-knowing \u2014 both about school gossip and complex science \u2014 and her class was one of my first introductions to what I would consider serious science. Beyond being my role model, she encouraged me to get involved in STEM competitions and introduced me to an incredible support system that I still consider close friends. Without her, I would not have even applied to MIT!<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Q: <\/strong>Who\u2019s your favorite artist?<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>A: <\/strong>Last summer, I had the opportunity to see&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.natalialafourcade.com.mx\/en\/music\">Natalia Lafourcade<\/a> live. The entire concert was acoustic, some parts even a cappella, and the rhythm, melodies, and lyrics felt like home. She\u2019s a Mexican folk artist, and I grew up listening to her music. In addition to the absolute genius of her songs, they\u2019re deeply woven with a lot of my core memories.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Q: <\/strong>What is your favorite obscure, endangered, or unpopular animal?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>A: <\/strong>I have a little bit of a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/animalfactguide.com\/animal-facts\/quokka\/\">quokka<\/a> obsession. Quokkas are derpy marsupials inhabiting Western Australia. Something about their eyes indicates innocent mischief, and I think they\u2019re my spirit animals.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Q: <\/strong>What is the best bad movie?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>A: <\/strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_California_Christmas\">A California Christmas<\/a>\u201d is the best bad movie. My whole family has grown to enjoy a Hallmark-esque masterpiece around the holidays, and this was one of the first ones we watched.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Q: <\/strong>If you suddenly won the lottery, what would you spend some of the money on?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>A: <\/strong>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KbrSVX1-b8k\" target=\"_blank\">hotel-type pancake machine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Q: <\/strong>If you had to teach a really in-depth class about one niche topic, what would you pick?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>A: <\/strong>Ever since physics class in high school, I\u2019ve really loved magnets. I find them cool from both a conceptual perspective \u2014the math and physics of them are fascinating, even if mysterious \u2014 and an applications perspective. Maglev trains? Huge magnets for fusion? Tiny magnets for killing cancer? Epic. I would love to teach a class about magnets, and I would really enjoy learning more, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This interview is part of a series of short interviews from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Each spotlight features a student answering their choice of questions about themselves and life at MIT.&nbsp; Isabel Duran, a junior majoring in Course 6-5 (Electrical Engineering With Computing), keeps a packed schedule: You may spot [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1039,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"explore":[23],"class_list":["post-24964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","explore-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Student Spotlight: Isabel Duran - MIT Schwarzman College of Computing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/computing.mit.edu\/news\/student-spotlight-isabel-duran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Student Spotlight: Isabel Duran - MIT Schwarzman College of Computing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This interview is part of a series of short interviews from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). 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