My Story

My name is Delucia Lepore and I’m studying Mechanical Engineering at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering. I’m originally from Rye, New York, located just 25 miles from the heart of New York City. I was drawn to Duke because of its incredibly innovative and collaborative atmosphere which is fueled by its unrivaled school spirit and devotion to every student. When I arrived on campus my freshman year, I saw that this brilliant energy didn’t falter when it came to the engineering program.

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Through my first ever engineering class on campus, I connected with a Project Team and Client in the Duke Nursing School, tasked with creating a medical education device that would change how nurses were taught to interact with patients. A few short months later and a deep dive into the design process, my team and I developed a finished product –– The Temperature Controlled Prosthetic Skin for Medical Manikins.

On top of my Mechanical Engineering major, I’m also planning to complete the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Certificate program. Ever since the fall of my freshman year in 2019, I’ve been driven to learn how to continue creating products that positively impact people around me.

​Outside my coursework and projects, expressionist painting is the coin of my realm. At Duke you can often find me cutting up empty cardboard boxes as I fashion my own canvases or begin my latest sculpture. I also love to travel the world; I enjoy visiting family in The Netherlands, Germany, and Italy, but my favorite trips so far have been to Iceland and Switzerland. I hope to soon be able to explore South Africa or New Zealand.

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I believe my greatest attributes are my teamwork and leadership skills –– organization and compartmentalization have always come naturally to me, but not at the expense of my creativity and eagerness to test the limits. ​