I was born in Fier, Albania, and moved to United States in 2000. I attended Boston English High School, where I graduated as salutatorian in 2002. I received a full scholarship from Boston University, where I majored in Physics and Mathematics. After graduating in 2006, I worked as a staff scientist at EIC Laboratories Inc in Norwood, MA. There, I worked on the Advanced Materials division and helped develop new narrow bandgap semiconductors such as CdS_xSe_1-x and Pb_1-xMn_xTe for THz sources/detectors and investigated new layered wide bandgap semiconductors such as GaSe and GaTe as room temperature gamma-radiation detectors. After more than two years with EIC Labs, I began pursuing my PhD studies at Boston University in the Materials Science and Engineering division. As a graduate student, I have been working as a Research Assistant in the Femtosecond Infrared Spectroscopy Laboratory under the supervision of Professor Shyam Erramilli. I have been working on developing a label-free ultrasensitive spectromicroscopy method using high power mid-IR Quantum Cascade Lasers. Besides work in the lab, I am also very involved with many leadership activities. I am the president of two of the largest graduate student societies, Optical Society of America chapter and Materials Research Society chapter, where I have helped organize educational outreach programs, speaker/lecturer programs and participated in student leadership conferences. Last year, I met with members of Congress in Washington D.C. to advocate sustained funding in science and engineering. I am the recent recipient of the Herbert J. Berman “Future of Light” award that recognizes cutting-edge student research in photonics with promise for beneficial impact on society.