Bruna is a committed leader and advocate for women in STEM fields.

Bruna Osako Rocha arrived in the U.S. with little more than the dream to do something big with her life. Originally from Brazil, Bruna made the difficult decision to pause her education after high school to work as an au pair, despite being far from home in an unfamiliar language and culture. It was a leap of faith that demanded grit, adaptability, and resilience — and it paid off. During that time, Bruna grew confident in herself and saved enough money to go to school in the U.S.

Now, Bruna is an undergraduate at the University of Michigan – Dearborn, studying mechanical engineering. She secured competitive internships with Tesla and Lineage Logistics, which gave her the chance to apply her classroom knowledge of design and data analysis to real-world projects. At Tesla, she worked on the Cybertruck team, helping improve manufacturing tools and reduce production delays. At Lineage, a global cold storage company, she helped to develop dashboards that track maintenance and equipment investments across more than twenty facilities, making it easier for teams to spot trends and make informed decisions.

In addition to her technical achievements, Bruna is also a committed leader and advocate for women in STEM fields. She currently serves as president of the Society of Women Engineers at UM-Dearborn, supporting a network of over 200 students through professional development and community-building events. She also leads the mechanical team for the Michigan Aeronautical Science Association, a student group that designs and launches experimental rockets. With her leadership, the team recently competed at the international Spaceport America Cup and improved their rocket’s flight accuracy using wind tunnel tests and digital simulations. Most recently, Bruna was named Business Director for the Deep Space Initiative, a nonprofit focused on making space exploration more inclusive and accessible around the world.

CEW+ honors Bruna’s unshakable perseverance and names her an Irma M. Wyman Scholar.