Stanford Mentors 2019-2020
Leadership Team
Katie Liu - President
Chemistry
Email: kliu94 @ stanford.edu
The President coordinates the Stanford FAST program by overseeing the leadership team, maintaining partnerships within and outside Stanford, ensuring sustained funding, and dealing with the administrative and legal aspects of FAST.
Alexander Dunlap - Chief Operations Officer
Math
Email: ajdunl2 @ stanford.edu
The Chief Operations Officer is responsible for FAST leadership after the President. They disseminate information from the leadership team, document changes to the structure and logistics of FAST, and deal with administrative and legal aspects.
Joshua Visser - Andrew Hill Chief Program Officer
Chemistry
Email: jvisser @ stanford.edu
The Chief Program Officer is the first point of contact at each high school for both mentors and teachers. They are responsible for keeping track of mentors and students, communicating weekly goals, and referring for help any mentors or students suffering health, psychological, or family problems.
Sasha Zemsky - Andrew Hill Chief Program Officer
Biophysics
Email: szemsky @ stanford.edu
The Chief Program Officer is the first point of contact at each high school for both mentors and teachers. They are responsible for keeping track of mentors and students, communicating weekly goals, and referring for help any mentors or students suffering health, psychological, or family problems.
Cindy Nguyen - James Lick Chief Program Officer
Electrical Engineering
Email: cindyn @ stanford.edu
The Chief Program Officer is the first point of contact at each high school for both mentors and teachers. They are responsible for keeping track of mentors and students, communicating weekly goals, and referring for help any mentors or students suffering health, psychological, or family problems.
Raj Balaji - James Lick Chief Program Officer
Mechanical Engineering
Email: abalaji @ stanford.edu
The Chief Program Officer is the first point of contact at each high school for both mentors and teachers. They are responsible for keeping track of mentors and students, communicating weekly goals, and referring for help any mentors or students suffering health, psychological, or family problems.
Alex Lessenger - Financial Officer
Biology
Email: lessenga @ stanford.edu
The Financial Officer coordinates with funding sources, creates financial projections for fundraising efforts, and files reimbursements for FAST expenses.
Jake Hsu - Development Officer
Chemical Engineering
Email: jakehsu @ stanford.edu
The Development Officer identifies grants and funding sources, organizes the grant-writing process, and forms internal funding partnerships within Stanford University.
Tina Na Narong - Outcomes Officer
Physics
Email: tn282 @ stanford.edu
The Outcomes Officer leads the outcomes surveying team, researches improved outcomes tracking practices, and designs new surveys for measuring FAST's long-term impact.
Josselyn Peña - Director of Mentor Recruitment and Training
Immunology
Email: jkpena @ stanford.edu
The Director of Mentor Recruitment and Training hosts mentor training sessions to prepare new and current mentors to be successful in mentorship. They also host information sessions to recruit future mentors.
Sahil Tembulkar - Outreach Program Research Specialist
Clinical Research Coordinator
Email: stembulk @ stanford.edu
The Outreach Program Education Research Specialist maintains connections with the School of Education and coordinates efforts to improve mentorship, quality of project-based learning, and measurement of student outcomes.
Julie Ko - Director of Communications
Cancer Biology
Email: kojulieh @ stanford.edu
The director of Internal Communications and Social Programming is responsible for maintaining the FAST website, electronically communicating weekly goals to mentors and students before each session, and organizing social events for mentors.
Andy Renteria - Auxiliary Programs Coordinator
Biochemistry
Email: arenteri @ stanford.edu
The Auxiliary Programs Coordinator is responsible for effective integration of undergraduates into the FAST program, including coordinating with current undergraduates to design and carry out effective workshops at all partner high schools.
Sedona Murphy - Auxiliary Programs Coordinator
Genetics
Email: sedonaem @ stanford.edu
The Auxiliary Programs Coordinator is responsible for effective integration of undergraduates into the FAST program, including coordinating with current undergraduates to design and carry out effective workshops at all partner high schools.
Anudeep Mangu - Inventory Officer
Materials Science and Engineering
Email: mangu2 @ stanford.edu
The Inventory Officer is responsible for managing FAST equipment and supplies, including coordinating orders for supplies and proposing purchases of capital equipment based on student needs.
Mentors
Alex Lessenger
Biology
Email: lessenga @ stanford.edu
Alexander Dunlap
Math
Email: ajdunl2 @ stanford.edu
Alex is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Stanford's Math Department. He studies stochastic partial differential equations and other random things. Alex grew up in Mount Vernon, WA, went to college in Chicago, IL, and enjoys hiking, bicycling, and crossword puzzles.
Alisha Piazza
Mechanical Engineering
Email: piazzaa @ stanford.edu
Alisha is a first-year PhD student in mechanical engineering. She is interested in energy generation, transformations, and storage. Alisha is originally from Washington (state) and attended Seattle University for her undergraduate degree. In her free time, Alisha enjoys running and watching TV.
Andy Renteria
Biochemistry
Email: arenteri @ stanford.edu
Andy is a first-year Ph.D. student in the biochemistry department. Before Stanford, Andy studied chemistry and physics at Emporia State University, located in his hometown of Emporia, Kansas. During his time in undergrad, he also coached high school students in speech and debate for four years. Andy enjoys listening to music, going to concerts, and hanging out with friends.
Anudeep Mangu
Materials Science and Engineering
Email: mangu2 @ stanford.edu
Anudeep is a second year Phd student interested in the physics of new materials that are interesting for new technologies. He loves reading fantasy novels, watching TV shows, and going on the occasional hike. He is excited to work with FAST to make some exciting projects!
Cindy Nguyen
Electrical Engineering
Email: cindyn @ stanford.edu
Cindy is a first-year PhD student in Electrical Engineering, interested in the intersection of neuroscience and engineering. She also attended Stanford for her undergraduate degree in Bioengineering, and, before that, she attended Independence High (go ESUHSD!). In her free time, she likes to make Spotify playlists and watch stand-up comedy.
Jake Hsu
Chemical Engineering
Email: jakehsu @ stanford.edu
Jake is a second-year in Chemical Engineering studying biosynthetic enzymes. He grew up outside Portland, OR and was an undergrad at Penn. Outside of science, he likes to play tennis and hike.
Jay Mardia
Electrical Engineering
Email: jmardia @ stanford.edu
Jay is PhD student in Electrical Engineering. His research is (probably) somewhere at the intersection of high dimensional statistics, information theory, and data science. He is extremely excited about getting people excited in applied math. In his free time he enjoys scrolling through the interwebz for meme related dopamine hits and complaining about the (lack of) public transport in Palo Alto.
Joshua Visser
Chemistry
Email: jvisser @ stanford.edu
Josh is a third year PhD student in the chemistry department. He studies the bacterial biofilms of E. coli through interrogation by small molecules. He grew up in Delta, Utah and received his undergraduate education at the University of Utah. Outside the lab, Josh enjoys reading, swimming, and playing board games!
Josselyn Peña
Immunology
Email: jkpena @ stanford.edu
Julie Ko
Cancer Biology
Email: kojulieh @ stanford.edu
Julie is a fourth year PhD student in Cancer Biology, studying the mechanisms of small cell lung cancer metastasis. Julie grew up in Los Angeles and went to MIT for undergrad. Outside of science, she likes to play video games, eat junk food, and think about dogs.
Katie Liu
Chemistry
Email: kliu94 @ stanford.edu
Katie is a third year PhD student in the chemistry department where she studies viral membrane fusion. She moved to Stanford after graduating from Scripps College in 2016. She is originally from Honolulu, HI and enjoys dancing, hiking and going to the beach.
Madeline Chosy
Chemistry
Email: chosym @ stanford.edu
Madeline is a second year PhD student in the chemistry department. She studies bacteria/bacterial biofilms and how we can treat them more effectively. Madeline is from Madison, WI and went to undergrad at Carleton College. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, swing dance, board games, and spending time with friends.
Megan Nantel
Applied Physics
Email: mnantel @ stanford.edu
I’m going into my second year of my PhD in Applied Physics in Jason Hogan’s group. We do experiments based on the technique of atom interferometry which allows us to do precision measurements. We’re both designing projects here at Stanford and in Chicago. I was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada and did my undergrad in Engineering Physics at UBC. I enjoy yoga/Pilates, running, exercise, cooking, and travelling.
Melissa Nakamoto
Chemistry
Email: mnakamot @ stanford.edu
Melissa is a second year PhD student in the chemistry department. She grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii and then moved to the east coast for her undergrad at Brown. In her free time she enjoys making jewelry, cooking, and exploring new places.
Pagé Goddard
Genetics
Email: pgoddard @ stanford.edu
I am a computational geneticist interested in improving diagnosis of genetic disease in underserved groups – namely individuals from URM backgrounds and patients with extremely rare disease. SF native. UCLA alum (Go Bruins!). Swimmer at heart. Bread whisperer. Avid porch gardener. My life goal is to learn to fly.
Pam Cai
Chemical Engineering
Email: pamcai @ stanford.edu
Pam is a second year PhD student in chemical engineering. Her research focuses on biopolymer theory and using biopolymers to synthesize new materials for cell culture, drug delivery, and cell signaling studies. Pam graduated from MIT and is originally from Connecticut. Outside of academics, she really enjoys playing music, running, and cooking.
Rachel Mardjuki
Chemistry
Email: rmardj @ stanford.edu
I'm a second year in the Chemistry department interested in the intersection of chemistry and biology. In undergrad, I worked in an epigenetics lab and an organic synthesis lab, and in grad school I hope to use chemistry to help answer questions in biology.
Raj Balaji
Mechanical Engineering
Email: abalaji @ stanford.edu
Raj is a second-year graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. His current research involves computational studies of electrokinetic flows and related multi-physics phenomena. Aside from that, Raj also enjoys running (long distances, slowly), backpacking (longer distances, even more slowly), cooking (never the same thing twice in a month), and riding his fixie (the clearly superior choice for bicycle gearing).
Sahil Tembulkar
Clinical Research Coordinator
Email: stembulk @ stanford.edu
Sasha Zemsky
Biophysics
Email: szemsky @ stanford.edu
Sasha is a second year PhD student in Biophysics. She studies myosin proteins, and she is interested in how forces generated by individual proteins can lead to larger-scale motion at the cell and tissue level. In her free time, she likes to lift weights. She also walks a lot because she doesn't know how to ride a bike.
Sean Clees
Mechanical Engineering
Email: sclees @ stanford.edu
Sean is a second-year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering. He is interested in combustion and his research is focused on developing laser diagnostics for high-temperature gases. Sean is from eastern Pennsylvania and attended Penn State for undergrad. He is a huge college football fan and enjoys listening to music and cooking in his free time.
Sedona Murphy
Genetics
Email: sedonaem @ stanford.edu
Sedona is a second year PhD student in the genetics department and is studying how genes are regulated via super resolution microscopy. She really likes taking dope pictures with microscopes and being active in the outdoors. Her three-legged cat is probably her best friend.
Tina Na Narong
Physics
Email: tn282 @ stanford.edu
Tina is a third year PhD student in Physics. She is building an experiment to cool and trap ytterbium atoms with lasers. She did her undergrad at the University of Cambridge (UK). Born and raised in Thailand, she has a lot of passion for cooking and ice-cream making. She also spends most of her time outside the lab running, weightlifting, hiking, and swimming.
Vivek Gupta
Mechanical Engineering
Email: vkg9 @ stanford.edu
Vivek is a student at Stanford.