Our Team 2016-2017
Our Team (2016-2017)
Who are the Project Advisors?
Our Project Advisors are Carnegie Mellon students who have a passion for their work and who are excited to inspire students in the Pittsburgh community. They have a wide range of specific skills gained through their own project based work at CMU. They are a wonderful and enthusiastic group of people who can't wait to get to work with you! .
Executive Board
Name: Eric Reeder
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Interests: When not working on radical projects with high school students, Eric can often be found working on designing/building an electric racecar as president of CMU's Formula SAE racing team. Eric is also a Resident Assistant in a freshman dorm at CMU and relishes in serenading his residents on the banjo.
Fun fact: People always tell me that I'm tall. However, what most people don't know is that being 6'6" means that I am taller than 99.846% of the population!
Name: Jacob Neumann
Year: 2019
Major: Math
Other interests: Philosophy, computer science, electrical engineering, music
Fun fact: All finite enumerable axiom schemes are either incomplete or inconsistent, or both, so everything I'm studying in school is made up.
Name: Adam Dickter
Graduation Year: 2017
Major: Neuroscience
Interests: Adam actively researches face perception in a neuroscience lab and also enjoys Netflix and running.
Fun fact: If his plans for medical school don’t pan out, he plans on opening a bakery and spending his life waking up at 5am each morning for the divine purpose of making baked goods.
Name: Sara Adkins
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Music Technology and Computer Science, minor in Sound Design
Interests: Sara really likes to play guitar,,viola and other instruments, but she also enjoys building robots that can play instruments. She is careful to always program her robots to a musical skill level that is lower than hers so that her own creations do not render her musical abilities obsolete. When she isn't practicing guitar or teaching robots music, Sara can be found playing a moody dark elf named Rholla in her Dungeons and Dragons campaign, reading, or eating breakfast food.
Fun fact: I have read the entire Harry Potter series 17 times.
Project Advisors
Name: Jonathan Merrin
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Computer Science
Interests: Jonathan is increasingly interested in Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Reality (augmented and virtual). He is also pursuing a minor in Game Design. He dreams of someday making an augmented reality game with true AI.
Fun fact: Jonathan is an avid storyteller and is terrified of water.
Name: Grant Schwabacher
Graduation Year: 2019
Major: Mechanical Engineering/Engineering and Public Policy
Interests: Grant currently wants to pursue a career in the renewable energy field. Grant is a peer tutor and wants to pursue some renewable energy (bless wind bless) related research. Grant enjoys spending valuable time playing video games (#worth) and watching/reading anime/manga (respectively).
Fun fact: I helped plan a budget of a large amount of money (in the millions) and part of my interest in renewable energy stems from anxiety caused by all those “end of the world” documentaries!
Name: Ben Kaplan
Graduation Year: 2019
Major: Decision science
Other Interests: I like video games, including Minecraft and Overwatch. I enjoy playing pool and am a member of the Pool Club here at CMU.
Fun fact: I'm a third degree black belt in Jiu Jitsu
Name: Ashley Wong
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Mathematics and Computer Science
Interests: I love cats, music, video games, and hedgehogs.
Fun fact: I don't raise my hand in class because people often times feel extremely uncomfortable with my double-jointed arm. And also teachers think I broke it.
Name: Kevin Apolo
Graduation Year: 2017
Major/Minor: Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Physical Computing
Interests: Robots, especially flying ones. Poetry. A couple of sports like tennis, volleyball, racquetball, squash and soccer. Cooking. Music is a big part of my life, I've taught myself the guitar, bass and ukulele and dabble with a couple of others. I also dance, love to go to concerts, and music festivals. I like to work on small robotics or music DIY projects in my spare time. I also love to travel, hike, camp, and explore. I'm also big into video games (especially Overwatch at the moment) and shows of all kinds.
Catch Phrases: "True Chains", "That's Dope", "You should try to have fun all the time."
Name: Aiko Kyle
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Physics and Computer Science
Other Interests: Dancing, biking, yoga, Star Trek, Emacs, linux.
Fun fact: I spent a summer working in a lab above the most accurate atomic clock in the world which wouldn't gain or lose a second in 15 billion years - greater than the estimated age of the universe.
Name: Aditi Dhabalia
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Architecture
Interests: I love dancing and I've been doing it for over 6 years now! Reading, playing badminton, watching a good tv show/movie.
Fun fact: I love babies and I can't stop looking at them when I see them!
Name: Akshat Prakash
Graduation Year: 2020
Major: Computer Science
Interests: I love mimicry. I love to copy people and animal speech patterns. I like barking like a dog, screaming like a money, chirping like a bird, talking like my favorite Bollywood actors, and even some of my friends and professors! XD
Fun fact: My room number is the same as my birthday!!! Room no. 201, birthday 2/01
Name: Alex Jackson
Graduation Year: 2019
Major: Physics and Ethics, History, and Public Policy
Interests: Black and White Photography, Yoga, Modern Philosophy, DnD, Education reform, Teaching, and Curriculum writing in the field of science, Music performance and production,
Fun fact: I collect vintage cameras as a hobby and so far the oldest I own is from 1918.
Name: Angela Rubin
Graduation Year: 2020
Major/minor: Viola Performance (music)/ mathematics
Interests: Angela loves building things, swimming, solving problems, and painting!
Fun fact: In addition to playing the viola, Angela also plays the ukulele, harmonica, and recorder.
Name: Brian Scheuermann
Graduation Year: 2020
Major: Mathematics
Interests: Outside of school and Project Ignite, I enjoy a lot of sports, mainly soccer, and have also gotten into chess. I played piano throughout high school and like to listen to most all genres of music. I've tried to get involved in some new activities since I've gotten here - some of which include buggy and Moneythink.
Favorite Quote: "I was determined to know beans" – Thoreau
Name: Chris Ng
Graduation Year: 2020
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Interests: I love to produce electronic music, well any type of music and I go to a ton of concerts. I am also a pusher on the SDC buggy team! I'm trying to learn the flute, although it's rather hard...
Favorite quote: "Goosebumps never lie"
Name: Dhruva Byrapatna
Graduation Year: 2020
Major: Chemical Engineering
Interests: Dhruva is also a member of Tartan Sports Analytics on campus. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, riding his bike, playing fantasy football, and watching and writing about NASCAR.
Rhetorical Question: Do you know how hard it is to find NASCAR fans in the northeast? I'm the only one I know.
Name: Jake Zimmer
Graduation Year: 2020
Majors: ECE (and possibly robotics)
Other Interests: I love robots, working with my hands, skateboarding, and rock climbing.
Fun Fact: I only own three pairs of pants.
Name: Jayanth Bharadwaj
Graduation Year: 2020
Major: Computer Science/Minor (planned) in Human-Computer Interaction
Interests: I love video games and learning more about the world of science.
Name: John Choi
Graduation Year: 2017
Major: BCSA Bachelor of Computer Science and Arts
Interests: Robots, more robots, and even more robots. I might just actually be a robot.
Quote: "Never give up, never surrender!"
Name: Joseph Zoller
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Mathematics
Interests: Joseph enjoys mentoring freshmen here at CMU in underrepresented groups as part of the COMPASS program. When he is not planning for Math Club's Booth for Spring Carnival as one of the Booth Chairs, Joseph spends his free time playing the guitar to relax, and occasionally serenading his friends or dorm-mates.
Fun fact: I'm left-handed, but only for writing and for swinging sports (baseball, tennis, etc.).
Name: Michael Mong
Graduation: 2020
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Interests: I enjoy Mechanical Design, Ceramics, 3-D printed art, basically creating new and wonderful things.
Fun Fact: I have too many penguins on my desk.
Name: Natalya Buchwald
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Information Systems and Social & Political History
Interests: Natalya is a firm believer that educational technologies are revolutionizing the entire learning experience. Her long term goal is using her interdisciplinary skills in the classroom. For now, Natalya hopes to gain more knowledge in UI/UX design and collaborate with others. Outside of schoolwork, Natalya can be seen running around Pittsburgh with her cross country team.
Fun fact: Natalya has been to Hong Kong over ten times. She eventually wants to work there.
Name: Nick Roberts
Graduation Year: 2019
Major: Computer Science
Interests: Nick is in front of a keyboard a lot, but not just the computer kind -- just as often, you'll find him in front of the piano kind. Keyboards aside, Nick splits the rest of his time between being a teaching assistant for an introductory computer science course and trying to learn how to cook more things than spaghetti sauce.
Fun fact: Although he has never met Guy Fieri personally, Nick has worked for a blood relative of the mayor of Flavor Town.
Name: Valerie Senavsky
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: BSA in Chemistry and Music Performance
Interests: I love the outdoors--skiing, hiking, and climbing trees included!
Fun Fact: I'm actually obsessed with cranberries and ginger.