community updates

UPDATES AND KUDOS

we asked past cohorts of Fellows to share “class notes” about themselves and others — submit yours at bit.ly/UIF-updates

Amadin Agho of IUPUI celebrated his first year at Apple and the second successful year of his consulting startup, Argona Partners.

Arjun Chakravarthi Pogaku from Madanapalle Institute of Technology & Science was admitted into grad school at Asia University, Taiwan with a full tuition scholarship, to work on Artificial Intelligence, Block Chain Tech & Internet of Things.

Camila Buenaventura Marquez of Universidad de los Andes took part in a coding bootcamp in London and developed a first prototype of a hiring app for women in tech.

Carly Kasiki and Jake Coddington from Southern Illinois University created and co-taught an honors course last semester called “Innovations in Sustainability,” which was fully accredited and had 13 students enrolled.

Ceren Kocaoğullar and Mine Hazal Şenol of Koc University held a Mental Wellbeing Week during finals as well as a panel for first-year students called UIFTalks: Inspiring Women Students.

Charan Sai Pala of Madanapalle Institute of Technology & Science started grad school at the University of Maryland College Park.

Ethan Ellert of George Mason University graduated with his Masters from University of Michigan (P.S. Ethan, Jade says you’re awesome).

Ethan Moengchaisong is working on the startup Idium (shout-out by Sachal Jogi).

Felipe Gárate of Universidad del Desarrollo attended the Hesselbein Global Academy for Leadership and Civic Engagement (shout-out by Lisa Dinh).

Harsha Teja of Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology held several design thinking workshops for a total of 500 people.

Jade Garrett, a graduate of George Mason University, won a HeroX Prize with her partner for Robotic Oil Tank Inspections.

KC Christopher of Grand Valley University led the first Future of Design Thinking at Great Lakes Institutes of Higher Education Convening (shout-out by Magann Dykema).

Kamal Nimmagadda was named a “Student Icon” at his school for outstanding impact in change making, and started graduate school at the University of Southern California (shout-out by Srikar Naredla).

Kenneth Brewer was named to La Salle University’s Board of Trustees (shout-out by Laurie Moore).

Khyati Agarwal finished her first year as a software engineer at Paytm. Krishna Chaitanya Velaga of Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology is pursuing a Master of Design in Social Design from Ambedkar University Delhi.

Lisa Dinh of Columbia University prototyped a “design your life + neuroscience” course with a focus on students with disabilities.

Luke Kennard and Tim Smith of Utah Valley University presented at an Engaged Learning and Leadership Conference for their senior projects.

Maria Fernanda Sagastume of Florida Institute of Technology was selected to attend the KEEN conference in January with a group of faculty members at Florida Tech.

Menlo College Fellows hosted the school’s first TEDx event on September 21 with the theme “This is America,” including a talk by CCNY Fellow Mahmoud Khedr.

Mo Adesanmi of Texas A&M University was selected as a Delegate and Presenter at the One Young World Summit 2019 to speak on how modern energy companies are working to be part of the solution to the growing climate problem.

P. Bhanu and the UIF team at K L University held a Week of Welcome (WOW) in which they engaged with first-year students over 3 days.

Pavan Kumar Gandi and Boddepalli Jeevan Kumar of Aditya Institute of Technology and Management organized a design thinking workshop, leading induction programs for first-year students to work on their goals and working with the administration for a better learning experience.

Pragnya Vemulapalli of RVR & JC College of Engineering started an MBA at IIM and was been selected as Junior coordinator of Entrepreneurial Passion and Innovation Club.

Richard Anderson of IUPUI lead a team in Indianapolis to acquire funding to start an artist/musician makerspace, Soundspace (shoutout by Amadin Agho).

Shalin Jyotishi, a graduate of University of Georgia, hosted a design thinking workshop for the International Monetary Fund this summer focused on turning ideas into action. He was also selected as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper — young thinkers and doers committed to making the world a better place to work and live.

Sierra Bonn of Wichita State University was named Miss Southwest 2020, where she was able to share her UIF project “Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead!” with the entire state of Kansas.

Sindhu Bhonsle of Madanapalle Institute of Technology & Science received the best engineering student award in the State of Andhra Pradesh by ISTE (shout-out by Charan Sai Pala).

Srikar Naredla of R.V.R. & J.C. College of Engineering hosted “The Innovator’s Toolkit” workshop for freshmen, and was appointed as a part-time design thinking faculty at his school.

Suswetha Kolluru has been hired as Project Coordinator at Centre for Internet & Society (shout-out by Krishna Chaitanya Velaga).

Tara Rahmani of Milwaukee School of Engineering hosted a design thinking workshop in St. Petersburg, Russia (shout-out by Kurt Dawiec).

Zheng Dai (George) and his team at Peking University organized the first student leading design thinking bootcamp both in Peking University and in China in 2018 with 100+ applicants and 20 participants. They were awarded “team of excellence” by China-US Youth I&E Center of the Ministry of Education in China (only 7 teams were awarded in the country).