Research Experiences for Undergraduates 2018-Participants

Research Experiences for Undergraduates 2018

Benjamin Anker

Central New Mexico

Bio: Freshman in Computer Science, particularly interested in cellular automata. If I'm not studying I'm probably rock climbing.

Maddie Barrie

Michigan Technological University

Bio: I am an environmental engineering major in Houghton, Michigan, but I originally come from Las Vegas. In Houghton I participate in all things winter because this year alone we’ve had 261 inches of snow (I have forgotten what the sun looks like). As a member of Engineers Without Borders, my team is working on a water distribution system for a town in Panama. In my research I’m interested in climate change mitigation strategies and their application to the most victimized and underdeveloped areas.

Megan Bromley

Arizona State University

Bio: Megan Bromley is an incoming senior at Arizona State University, where she studies Astrobiology and Creative Writing. She is also active in the Sun Devil Marching Band as a piccolo player and is a poetry editor for Superstition Review-- a semiannual online literary magazine that attracts authors from around the world.

Naika Dorilas

Florida Atlantic University

Bio: Hello, my name is Naika Dorilas. I am going into my senior year at Florida Atlantic University, and I am a mathematics major with a minor in computer science. I am very excited to learn and grow as a researcher in the SFI community because this is the field I want to dedicate my career to. Outside of academics, I volunteer at a horse ranch and with special needs children.

Nicolas Gort Freitas

Minerva Schools at KGI

'Bio: Nico is a rising senior at Minerva Schools. He studies natural and computational sciences, concentrating in biology and statistics respectively. Nico’s interests range from systems and synthetic biology to linguistics and information theory. He is passionate about discovering new ways to model interactions in biological systems and their evolution. In his free time Nico enjoys hiking and dancing tango, and is keen on learning languages and playing folk versions of rock songs.

'url: www.ngort.com

Seung Yeon Han

St. John's College

Bio: Hello, I'm Seung Yeon Han from St. John's College. You can call me Yona. I'm studying Liberal Arts in the college. Looking forward to meeting y'all! :)

Edward Huang

University of California, Berkeley

Bio:Edward is a third-year applied mathematics student at UC Berkeley with a concentration in computer science. Previously, he worked on undergraduate research in evolutionary ecology and radiobiology. His current research interests include neural networks, signal processing, and modeling complex systems. Apart from his studies, Edward serves as an ambassador for the outdoor brand Klattermusen and leads instructional rock climbing and mountaineering trips with other students.

URL: www.github.com/eghuang

Alyssa Johnson

New Mexico Highlands University

Bio: I'm originally from Santa Fe, NM, and now study Mathematics and Sociology at NMHU in Las Vegas, NM. In particular, I'm interested in the sociology of our built environment, and issues such as climate change resilience, environmental justice, and housing policy. I've also done non-profit work in sustainability and climate change education. Currently, I'm living in and restoring a historic home, I sing in NMHU's Madrigal Choir, and I enjoy reading works of fiction and of creative nonfiction.

Mahima Kumara

Yale University

Bio: I'm a sophomore at Yale University, and I'm interested in applying math to social/economic systems as well as to environmental science. I'm also studying education, and I love to play piano and sing.

Terran Mott

Grinnell College

Bio: My name is Terran Mott, I am mathematics and economics major at Grinnell College from Golden, Colorado. I'm interested in behavioral economics and human social systems. In my free time, I run cross country for Grinnell and enjoy spending time in the mountains.

Mike Neuder

University of Colorado Boulder

Bio: I am a Computer Science and Math major from University of Colorado at Boulder. I spend most of my time working, climbing, playing chess and reading.
Personal url: https://github.com/michaelneuder

Oluwasunmisola Ojewumi

Minerva Schools at KGI

Bio: Hi! I'm Oluwasunmisola, and I'm from Nigeria. I am a Freshman at Minerva Schools at KGI, and I intend to do a double major in Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. I also enjoy writing, reading novels and craft making.

Alexander Ortiz

Northwestern University

Bio: I'm a third-year mathematics major at Northwestern interested in applications of math to problems in complexity science.

Jaeweon Shin

Rice University

Bio: I'm a sophomore majoring in math at Rice University. I'm interested in understanding our society through quantitative methods. Look forward to meeting yall!

Sahana Subramanyam

Azim Premji University

Bio: Sahana is majoring in Economics at Azim Premji University, India. She is currently researching how regressive social structures like caste emerge from certain micro-behaviours. Apart from her research, she enjoys illustrating.

Keming Zhang

St. John's College

Bio: I am a junior at St. John’s College and study in the Great Books Program. I am interested in the application of mathematical and physical methods to social sciences. I am also quite interested in education and enjoy volunteering as a tutor.

REU Alumni Fellows

Cate Heine - Centre College to MIT

Bio: My name is Cate and I'm finishing up as a math major at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. I like apples, mountains, crossword puzzles, and hanging out with my dog. I'm excited to begin pursuing a PhD at MIT in the fall in Social & Engineering Systems, using quantitative methods to analyze social systems. I'm especially fascinated by cities--the way that they change, grow, and affect peoples' lives.

Xiaofan Liang (left in photo) - Minerva Schools at KGI

Bio: I am a junior at Minerva Schools at KGI with a background in both Computer Science and Sociology. I am passionate about computational social science and the social impacts of technologies on minorities. I work on the topic of Institutional Complexity and Efficiency - How Universities Scale with Chris and Marion as my mentors and Ryan as my project partner for almost a year now, starting from my REU experience last summer. Despite the love and hate, sweat and tears that involved, I find researching analogous patterns across social, biological and physical system fascinating and my next target are to model immigration flow patterns and see how its dynamics is different from data or other types of agents. Besides academics, I love playing basketball and currently work on a coding education software for a Hong Kong NGO serving migrant youth, and design unplug card games to teach people basic coding concepts.

Ryan Taylor (left in photo) - Arizona State University

Bio: My name is Ryan Taylor. I entered the sustainability major at Arizona State University to study important global problems, which led me to complexity science and its overlapping set of universal ones. I sense that complex systems approaches will make much-needed theoretical contributions to politics and economics, not just in academia but in practice. Populism here and abroad makes me believe that big changes are possible by 2025, let alone 2050. So while all this is happening, I'm trying to ask helpful questions and avoid taking myself too seriously. I'm going into my senior year. I was an REU last summer! They're letting me come back to work with Xiaofan Liang and our awesome team of mentors on a project about university scaling. I grew up in New Mexico and love it here. Looking forward to meeting everybody.