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RuiZhi (Rebecca) Yu is originally from Chengdu, China, but lives on Long Island, New York. She is currently a rising junior majoring
in Electrical Engineering and pursuing minors in Engineering Physics, Applications of Computing, and Finance at Princeton University. She is the
recipient of a National Merit Scholarship (2007) and Brookhaven National Laboratory Merit Scholarship (2007).
In addition, she was an INTEL semifinalist at a science and engineering fair with her previous research on the study of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam effects in a 2D computer simulated lattice.
In the recent past, she has been a summer intern Habitat for Humanity and a technical intern for MixerLabs. Additionally,
she is currently president of the Undergraduate Engineering Council, Princeton's chapter of
the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS), and Princeton's Club Fencing Team.
She has spent most of her past school breaks doing volunteer and civic engagement work in various places ranging from soup kitchens in Philadelphia to the
Navajo reservation in Arizona. In the future, Rebecca plans to pursue a Ph.D. degree in either Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, or Information Systems.
Finally, in her free time she enjoys playing the violin, tennis, and fencing.
Timothy R. Mersch from Hackettstown, New Jersey. He is a rising senior majoring in Computer Science at the
College of Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. His academic/research interests lie in
bio-inspired computing, more specifically in genetic algorithms. He was Florida Tech's Work Study Student Employee of the Year (2008)
and a current John T. & Martha Hartley Scholar. He belongs to the Phi Eta Sigma Freshman and
Upsilon Pi Epsilon Computer Science
honor societies and competes yearly in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, Southeast Regional.
After acquiring a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Florida Tech, Tim intends to seek employment in the gaming industry, but may return to school
for a Ph.D., if he finds the academic lifestyle more suitable. Finally, in his free time, he enjoys gaming, nature walks,
frisbee, long discussions, and is an avid writer of essays, fiction, and music.
Adina E. Rubinoff from Potomac, Maryland. She is currently a rising junior double-majoring in
Computer Science and Linguistics
with a minor in Mathematics at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.
Her academic/research interests include AI and natural language processing. She is the recipient of a Rush Rhees Scholarship
(2007). In the recent past she has been a summer intern for the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language (CNL) Laboratory
at the University of Maryland(2008) and a research assistant in the University of Rochester's
Phonetics Laboratory (2009). In addition, she is a workshop leader
for the University of Rochester Computer Science department. In the future Adina plans to pursue a Ph.D. in either
Computer Science or Linguistics and probably work in academia. In her free time Adina enjoys reading, hiking,
dancing (especially swing), learning guitar, and listening to music.
Ryan Gonet is from Safety Harbor, Florida. He is currently a senior undergraduate student majoring in
Computer Science at the College of Engineering of the
University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. His interests lie in the field
of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. He is a recipient of the Department of Defense
SMART fellowship (2008) and the
Florida Bright Futures scholarship (2005).
Ryan is a student member of the ACM and a member of Toastmasters.
Ryan will complete his Bachelor's degree in computer science and go on to pursue a Master's degree studying Artificial Intelligence,
after which he will pursue a career in industry. In his spare time, Ryan likes to read fiction, study philosophy and epistemology,
and listen to classical compositions.
Michael C. Koval from Mount Laurel, NJ. He is currently a freshman pursuing a dual-degree in Electrical
& Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.
His current research interests are Machine Learning, algorithm development, and the application of pure mathematics to
computer science research. He is a recipient of the National AP Scholar Award;
the Rutgers Presidential Scholarship,
the highest merit-based scholarship awarded by Rutgers University; and the
Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholar Award.
During his freshman year at Rutgers University, he was the lead programmer for Rutgers International VEX Robotics competition team
and a student member of IEEE. Recently, Michael also has been involved with social networking security research at
his home institution. After receiving his undergraduate degrees, he plans to pursue a Masters degree in Computer Science.
David Foregger stems from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. He is doing a double major in Computer Science
and Mathematics at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and aims to add a
Government major in the Fall. David plans on either pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science or going into game development.
He has been involved in internships in Photonics and the Physical Sciences at
Bell Laboratories for three summers (2006-2008).
He has recently researched the TOR Network and plans to participate in work on
Hybrid Dynamical Systems for Embodied Agents next semester. He served this Spring as the Assembly Series Chair for the
Alpha Delta Phi Society, a coeducational literary society.
He enjoys Ultimate Frisbee, gaming, writing, and freedom. He adores alliteration.
Oriana Wen resides in Plano, Texas. A rising junior, she is pursuing a dual major in
Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University.
At Duke she is involved in the SmartHome, where she and the
Mobile Lighting Controls team recently received the
Cisco Innovation Award for implementing a client-server, base through which
cell phones can control the SmartHome
lighting system. She is also a part of Duke's Visualization Technology Group
and has been working on a dynamic design that will be installed in North Carolina Museum of Life and Science.
Last summer, with the same group, she combined 3D modeling and motion capture to make a controllable avatar of Iron Man,
her favorite action figure. When Oriana isn't working, she can be found scaling mountains with the Outing Club,
camping in Krzyzewskiville with the rest of the Cameron Crazies,
or dining with the Duke Culinary Society.
Julie L. Manuel from Satellite Beach, Florida. She is currently a senior double-majoring in
Mathematics and Statistics with minors in Business Administration and Music Performance at the
University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida.
She was awarded Successful Participant at the 2009 Mathematical Contest in Modeling and was on the
Deans List of the College of Arts and Sciences (Fall 2008). Additionally, she is a member of
Phi Mu Epsilon and the USF Statistics Club as well as a member of the Golden Key and
College of Arts and Sciences honor societies. She is currently the President of the Math Club at USF (2009-2010)
and Recording Secretary of the National Honors Fraternity Phi Sigma Pi (2008-2010).
Furthermore, she works as a tutor at the USF Athletics Center and USF Honors College and
plans to begin working as a Peer Leader next semester. Julie will also begin her Mathematics Thesis
in the fall and plans on graduating in the spring with Honors distinctions in Mathematics and
from the USF Honors College. She plans on working in the field of applied mathematics,
possibly after attending graduate school. Finally, in her free time she enjoys playing the cello,
working out, playing and watching sports, and spending time with her family.
Christopher Usher. Chris Usher was born in the state of Illinois, but has lived in Hilo, Hawaii since he was
five years old. He is currently completing his junior year at the University of Hawaii at Hilo
(UHH), where he is double-majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics.
He is a recipient of the University of Hawaii Presidential Scholarship (2008), and was awarded UHH Computer Science department's
Outstanding First Year Computer Science Student Award (2007). He participates annually in the
ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, Pacific Northwest region, in which his team won first place \
for the Hawaii site in 2007 and 2008. He is also a student member of the ACM. After graduation, he plans on
pursuing a graduate degree in Computer Science, although he may look for employment opportunities instead, in the fields of Software Engineering
or Game Development. Recently, he has all but forgotten the meaning of free time, but when such opportunities do arise, Chris enjoys starting
small game development projects he knows he can never finish, reading all of his favorite tech news sites, listening to various music,
hanging out with his family and friends, remembering that he should practice playing his bass guitar, and failing at various video games.
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Participant Students
