From Georgia Southern to Tesla

Georgia Southern graduate Gracia Dardano graduated last December and two months later had a job at Tesla.

Dardano is an associate manufacturing engineer at Tesla’s new cell battery engineering facility in Austin, Texas. Originally from El Salvador, Dardano earned her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and then started her new job Feb. 8. The Honors College graduate conducted her honors thesis research on airborne nanoparticle filtration under the mentorship of Aniruddha Mitra, Ph.D., P.E., professor of mechanical engineering. In the project, she helped analyze the effects of nanoparticles on the health of workers in welding shops and construction environments.

“Gracia is an extremely talented and committed individual, yet very friendly and social,” Mitra said. “She is an asset to any research group. I am not surprised that she landed up with such a nice job.”

Before she graduated with a 3.99 cumulative GPA, Dardano served as the president of the local student chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).