Summer 2026 Research Spotlight: Mackenzie Kawashiri ’27 Explores Advanced Cooling Technologies for Electronics

From smartphones and laptops to the data centers that power artificial intelligence, today's electronics generate significant amounts of heat. Finding better ways to keep these systems cool is critical for improving performance while reducing water and energy consumption.

Mackenzie Kawashiri '27, a mechanical engineering major with a concentration in biomedical engineering at the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering at Loyola Marymount University, spent six weeks this summer researching advanced cooling technologies designed to improve how heat is removed from electronic systems.

Led by Mahsa Ebrahim, associate professor of mechanical engineering, the project is part of Seaver College's signature summer research program, which pairs undergraduate students with faculty mentors for an immersive, hands-on research experience during the summer semester.

Kawashiri worked as part of a six-person research team investigating how tiny droplets of liquid interact with heated surfaces. The team focused on two complementary projects: a microdroplet analysis experiment and a spray-cooling experiment. Together, the studies aim to identify the most effective ways to cool hot electronic components while minimizing energy and water use.

"By studying how sprayed droplets interact with heated surfaces and how quickly they evaporate, we hope to better understand how to maximize cooling while minimizing water usage," Kawashiri said. "This research could lead to more efficient and environmentally friendly cooling technologies!"

At the start of summer, the research team's main goal was to improve and finish building both experimental setups so they could start collecting data. "For the microdroplet experiment, we incorporated a more advanced sensor that allowed us to more accurately measure what happens when a tiny droplet lands on a hot surface," Kawashiri said. "For the spray-cooling experiment, we used a new sensor wafer that could better track temperatures across a larger heated area."

"Along the way, we learned how to build circuits that connect temperature sensors to spray nozzles and how to write software that reads temperature data and controls when the spray turns on," she said.

Kawashiri's work focused on instrumentation and sensor integration. "I built a circuit enabling a silicon wafer with 13 temperature sensors to simultaneously record temperatures across a heated surface in real time," Kawashiri said.

She also analyzed microscale temperature sensors used to measure cooling from individual microdroplets and conducted calibration experiments to ensure the sensors produced accurate temperature measurements.

Much of her work centered on understanding how to operate and characterize sensors that had never before been used in the lab's microdroplet experiments.

"A large portion of the summer in our lab was spent building and refining the experimental setups rather than collecting data," Kawashiri said. "Before this, I hadn't fully considered this stage as part of research, but I came to realize it is just as important as data analysis. Experiments first need to be designed and built before any meaningful data can be collected."

The experience also showed her that successful research requires a wide range of skills beyond data collection and analysis.

"I contributed as a designer, circuit builder, calibration tester, literature reviewer, and data analyst, all within the same project," she said.

Working alongside Professor Ebrahim and fellow student researchers gave Kawashiri the opportunity to contribute to every stage of the research process. Through the experience, she developed technical skills in electronics, sensor integration, experimentation, and data analysis.

For Kawashiri, one of the most rewarding aspects of the summer was the collaborative environment within the lab. "I am grateful to have such a great research mentor, Dr. Ebrahim, and such a fun team of people working alongside me," Kawashiri said.

"My most fond memories from this summer have been the day-to-day experiences with my lab group, whether it was laughing together when our spray-cooling setup malfunctioned and sprayed one of my research partners, or competing to see who could eat more sushi during a group outing to an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue and sushi restaurant."