Influential Woman · Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Laser Design, AI and SaaS, Biotech, Finance

Cassidy Vetrovec

Undergraduate Researcher, SYBORGS, University of Florida

Gainesville, FL 32601

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree High School Graduate (2022) Degree Bachelor's Degrees in progress at University of Florida (expected 2027) Member SEI (Student Member) Member Cyborgs Research Laboratory at University of Florida Member IEEE

Her Story

About Cassidy

I'm currently an undergraduate student at the University of Florida studying mechanical and aerospace engineering, and I've been working in technical fields for about 4 years since 2022. I work in many different fields and tend to take from aerospace and mechanical and branch off into as many places as I can, including optical and laser design, biotech, and finance. Right now, I'm working for Aquest, a laser design company, and also for the University of Florida. I'm also co-founder and CEO of my own startup, Vetrovec and Barshavsky, which is focused on AI integration for medical and business communications. We're designing our own language learning models and AI to help companies and businesses with translation and taking live calls, and we have our own patented technology that we're submitting via provisional patents. Everything's set to commence this summer. My projects mostly focus on laser design, AI, and biotech design, specifically creating different reactors. Some projects involve simulating low-gravity environments, others involve planetary colonization. If I'm going to be honest with you, anything and everything is my area of expertise - there's not a second of my day that doesn't go towards working and learning more. The fundamental path unifying everything is complex dynamic systems, and that's how I approach all of these different fields and how I'm able to keep up with all of them. I'm a member of SEI and part of the Cyborgs Research Laboratory here at UF. I'm set to graduate with two bachelor's degrees in about a year, in 2027.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Cassidy

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I think it's really important to embrace your own femininity, even when it's difficult. I've been subjected to misogyny in my field and I've been seen as unintelligent and incapable. I think this pressures women into abandoning their womanhood at times, but that's not where confidence comes from. Confidence and empowerment comes from an actualization of yourself and taking ownership. There's a certain sentiment today that successful women find success by being like men, but whenever I work with women, I really try and encourage and inspire them to see that you don't have to abandon your femininity to be successful. We definitely live in a society where that's really hard to see, but I've learned to look past it and support myself and to be high achieving.

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