COLUMBIA-EGSC.GITHUB.IO - Key Persons

Amulya Elamanchili Hi! I am a MS student in Biomedical Engineering with an expected graduation date in December 2023. I am greatly interested in the entrepreneurship and startup space in medical device innovation. I grew up in Hyderabad, India and graduated from Georgia Tech with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. Before Columbia, I taught abroad at the National University of Ireland. In my free time, I love to bake, run and go on hikes (I am currently training for a full marathon, wish me luck :)).Please don't hesitate to reach out to me at social-chair@egsc.seas.columbia.edu for any questions, comments, and concerns. I'd love to hear any ideas or feedback so that I can ensure you have the best graduate student life! Ajay Vanamali I did my undergrad at the National Institute of Science and Technology, India in ECE. Being the president of the student body, my team and I successfully organized the Techno-Cultural Symposium. Post that, I spent some time working in the semiconductor industry for CoreEL Technologies and Intel, where I gained domain knowledge and experience in various areas of ASIC and FPGA, like RTL design, Verification and Validation. During my career, I also actively participated in volunteering and other social activities. Apart from this, I love running, reading books and travelling.

Howard Nicholson III is a second-year graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering M.S./Ph.D. Program. Born and raised in Maryland, Howard graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a minor in music. At Columbia, Howard works under the mentorship of Dr Clark Hung in the Cellular Engineering Laboratory to understand how physical and chemical stimuli impact cells and tissues in order to incorporate these forces in strategies for developing functional tissue substitutes of clinical relevance. He is also interested in investigating how bias and racism may lead to inequity in healthcare and biomedical innovation.

Hi, my name is Jacob and I'm a second year BME Ph.D. student co-advised by Dr. Alex Dranovsky and Dr. Andrew Laine. My research focuses on using deep learning methods to study how early life stress and aging alter brain-connectivity at the whole-brain level with cellular resolution. I grew up in the Bay Area, California, and recently completed both my undergrad. and master's in the BME department at Columbia. Outside of research and class, I've been on the Columbia ski club for 5 years and spend time building things as a superuser in the Columbia Maker Space. I've also co-founded a startup, Colonai, that uses deep learning to detect and localize colorectal cancer in colonoscopy videos in order to reduce the miss rate that's 24% of tumors in current practice and that recently took 1st place in the Columbia Venture Competition Tech Track. Feel free to reach me at j.nye@columbia.edu if you have any questions, feedback or ideas for SEAS!

Hi all, my name is Kim Kroupa and I am your EGSC President!

Sen. Cheng Gong is a Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. candidate in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Cheng enjoys using the art of optics to solve healthcare and life sciences problems, and is attracted by lab-to-market biomedical innovation. As a University Senator, Cheng seeks to foster connections across schools and with the wider Columbia community. On the University Senate, Cheng co-chairs the Student Affairs and External Relations and Research Policy committees, and serves on the Executive Committee. He is a University Senate Representative to two committees of the Board of Trustees: 1) the Committee on Public Affairs of the Trustees of CU; 2) the Committee on Student Life of the Trustees of CU. He also chairs the Ph.D. Council of Columbia University. Aside from school, he is a certificated wine taster and enthusiastic about gourmet food from different cultures, rolling in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gym, and visiting galleries & museums.

Vanessa is an M.S. candidate in Biomedical Engineering from Nagoya, Japan, and Shanghai, China. She is an aspiring scientist in biomaterials, tissue engineering, and health equity. Vanessa's current research at the Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering focuses on using engineered cardiac tissues to model and understand myocarditis in lupus patients. Having served as the BME department representative in the Fall of 2022, Vanessa has come to appreciate the role of EGSC in advocating and supporting Columbia students. She looks forward to serving as the Interschool Chair with the goals of building a community amongst Columbia graduate students and fostering multidisciplinary discussions to tackle 21st-century problems. In her free time, Vanessa can be found playing classical music, trying new restaurants, and exploring New York City.