Our Team 2017-2018
Our Team (2017-2018)
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: Jacob Neumann
Graduation Year: 2019
Major: Math, Logic & Computation
Other interests: Philosophy, reading, education (especially teaching math, logic & theoretical computer science), programming, cooking
Fun fact: I am a firm believer that raspberries are objectively the best fruit, which is a stance I am more than willing to defend.
Name: Nick Roberts
Graduation Year: 2019
Major: Computer Science
Interests: Making cool things with computers, composing and improvising music (mostly piano, but I'm flexible), linguistics and language learning, math visualization
Fun fact: The first program I wrote was for those TI-83 calculators from math class, and I was surprised to find out how much easier it is to write programs for computers than for calculators.
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: 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 (User Interface/User eXperience) 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.
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: Tiffany Ma
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Interests: Robotics, Badminton, Photography
Favorite quote: Live today like there's no tomorrow.
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: Alvin Shek
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Biomedical Engineering and (Electrical and Computer Engineering or Material Science)
Interests: Outside of school, I enjoy dissecting old electronics and making new ones, reusing trash in gardening and aquaponics projects, making 3D models, and playing tennis and badminton. I like making stuff.
Fun fact: I like breeding freshwater shrimp and designing fish tanks.
Name: Kelly Ning
Graduation Year: 2020
Major: Computational Biology
Interests: Apart from my interest in (micro)biology and computer science, I am also very interested in product design and painting.
Fun fact: Wherever I travel, the first stop must be a museum. Indeed, I am really a fan of museums.
Name: Brian Scheuermann
Graduation Year: 2020
Major: Mathematics
Interests: I like to do math – I also like to find time to play soccer and some video games. Teaching has also always been really fun for me and I am excited to be part of Project Ignite again!
Favorite quote: “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you say” – HDT
Name: Henry Nelson
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Computer Science
Interests: Books, Programming, Math
Fun Fact: I shook Barack Obama's hand.
Name: Michael Kronovet
Year: 2021
Major: Business
Interests: I really like to play sports, especially tennis. I am interested in the intersection of hardware and software in electronics, as well as machine learning.
Fun fact: I am an apprentice welder for the formula one race car building team at Carnegie Mellon.
Name: Sarah Yae
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Decision Science
Interests: Flute, Running
Fun fact: I have a turtle named ET back home at New Jersey!
Name: William Fahy
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Chemistry
Interests: Music (I play flute and saxophone), robotics, game design, hiking and cooking.
Fun Fact: I own and play 16 different musical instruments (mostly flutes).
Name: Michelle Sun
Graduation year: 2021
Major: Undecided
Interests: Psychology, Environmental Science, Ultimate Frisbee
Fun fact: I own over 30 scarves that I never wear
Name: David Kim
Graduation year: 2021
Major: Biological Sciences
Interests: Playing Clarinet, reading, writing
Fun fact: I played at Carnegie Hall with my youth orchestra.
Name: Michelle Kim
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Business Administration
Interests: Playing instruments, Listening to music, Dancing anywhere/everywhere, Bingewatching Netflix shows, but I always love to try a new hobby or something out of the ordinary!
Favorite quote: "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." -Walt Disney
Name: Minji Kim
Graduation Year: 2021
Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Interests: I am passionate about developing interactive technology for learning and educating students everywhere. I also like to spend my time drawing, designing, singing, and exploring restaurants with friends.
Favorite quote: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
Name: Oscar Dadfar
Graduation year: 2021
Majors:: Art & Computer Science
Interests: Digital Art, Computational Arts, Physics
Quote: “Fail early, fail fast, fail often”
Name: Sydney Lee
Graduation year: 2021
Major: Biological Sciences
Interests: Art, marine animals
Name: Ali Guzel
Graduation year: 2021
Majors: Materials Science and Engineering; Biomedical Engineering
Interests: I play the violin and tennis. Additionally, like any other basic person, I look at memes.
Unique/quirky thing: I went to high school is Kansas (Yay!)
Name: Yuan Gao
Graduation year: 2021
Major: Computer Science/Computational Biology
Interests: Reading, instruments (piano, guitar, bagpipe-learning), cooking
Fun facts: I'm ok with spiders and other bugs, but I'm terrified of frogs.
Name: Archit Arora
Graduation year: 2021
Major: Information Systems/ minor in Computer Science
Interests: Basketball, Dance, Machine Learning, Virtual Reality
Quote: "There is no elevator to success - you have to take the stairs"
Name: Tyler Sikov
Graduation year: 2021
Major: Computer Science
Interests: Video Games, Cats, Comedy, Programing, Music, Cruising
Fun Fact: I have been on 6 cruises on 4 different lines and I plan to cruise more when I'm older