PROTEUS
OUR TEAM
RUHI KOPPULA
Founder
"Hi! My name is Ruhi Koppula and I am an incoming freshman at Carnegie Mellon University and the founder of Proteus. From a very young age, I have loved to build, design, and create, all the way from simple DIY projects in my garage to researching and constructing complex prototypes to solve everyday problems. I have also been on a robotics team for the past six years and experimented with numerous programming languages. Additionally, I have had experience teaching younger kids through my dance class and tutoring. I strive to spread my passion in STEM by showing others the beauty of engineering through Proteus."
CIANA JIN
Manager
"Hi, my name is Ciana and I am currently a senior attending Carlmont High School. I love to draw and have been doing it for as long as I can remember, but I love arts and crafts in general and using my hands to create things. I also have experiencing working with children due to having younger siblings but also helping to tutor my friend’s sibling. I chose to join Proteus because of my interest in STEM and I want to help others, especially those who may find engineering challenging, have the same opportunities to learn in a way that is accessible to them."
BRENDA YAN
Research Lead
"Hello. I am Brenda Yan, a current senior at Carlmont High School. I enjoy using my hands to make things, from origami and simple pop-up cards in my earlier years to paper machines, which was when I discovered my interest in engineering. Since then, I have participated in and won awards in the 2016 and 2019 Tech challenge, a program hosted by The Tech Interactive. By joining Proteus and undertaking a research role, I hope to show others that engineering does not have to be complex by leading them to learn and use the core concepts of engineering through simple projects."
CAROLINA MIYAZONO
Outreach Lead/Instruction
"Hi! My name is Carolina Miyazono and I am currently a sophomore at Carlmont High School. Some of my hobbies include playing the clarinet as well as volleyball and soccer. I have previous experience working with kids because of being a youth soccer referee, as well as currently being part of my school's student government. I joined Proteus because I enjoy being able to help people learn more about stem and engineering in general and I would love to help to grow the community."
AMARTYA SINGH
Finance Lead/Research
"Hi, I’m Amartya Singh. I am currently a senior at Carlmont High School. Some of my hobbies include playing the drums and playing video games, and my academic interests include the fields of mental health and finance. I've played the drums for 5 years now and have worked with multiple mental health organizations for 6 years now. At school, my favorite subjects are biology and math. I want to join Proteus to help kids with disabilities foster an interest in engineering, and use that interest and do something great with it."
FINN GRENSTAM
Research
Hi, I'm Finn Grenstam. I'm a current junior at Carlmont High School. My favorite subjects are math and science, and I do gymnastics as a sport. Some of my hobbies include playing chess, jumping on my trampoline, walking my two dogs, playing basketball and soccer, and going out with my friends. I'm interested in engineering, architecture, physics, drawing, design, and coding. Throughout my childhood, my father taught me a lot about engineering. Without that spark of interest at a young age, I don't believe that I would be as curious and inspired by it as I am now. So, I want to give these children a chance to experience a little piece of engineering so that they may come to enjoy it as much as I. I also always enjoying helping or spending time with them, whether it is helping my younger gymnastics teammates, teaching younger kids at my school, or playing with my friends' little siblings.
ETHAN ZHANG
Research
"Hi, my name is Ethan Zhang and I am currently a senior. Some of my interests include playing both piano and violin. I have played piano for over ten years and violin for over seven. I also enjoy playing tennis and am on our high school's tennis team. I joined Proteus so I could interact with kids and introduce them to the wondrous world of engineering as I believe it to be a very engaging field."
DEV PATEL
Research
Hello, I am Dev. I am currently a junior at Carlmont High School. I am interested in robotics, as I am on a robotics team for VEX VRC, where we have won multiple awards at various tournaments. In addition, I am interested in math and science as I find those exciting and valuable for the future. I play an Indian percussion instrument called the Tabla and have been playing for three to four years. Also, I am interested in basketball and although the season ended without me on the freshmen team, I am still trying to train to get on the junior varsity team next year. I also enjoy rock climbing and biking. I want to join Proteus so that I can help other children learn the concepts of engineering and spark their interests to help them gain knowledge and apply it to the fullest potential. I want to help kids gain the tools to improve society and change the world as we know it.
RAOUL ASMAR
Finance
"My name is Raoul Asmar, I am in the 12th grade, and my interests and hobbies are playing video games, building robots, and going on walks. My reason for joining Proteus is to help kids learn and understand STEM and to help them have a bright future."
SHIVALI UPADHYAY
Finance/Instruction
"Hi! My name is Shivali Upadhyay, and I am currently a junior at Leland High School. I have always loved to take things apart and put them back together, which led to my interest in engineering in the first place. I have taken a few engineering classes and have some knowledge in programming languages as well. Some of my outside interests include doing Indian classical music and dance, and helping out younger students in both whenever I can. I am very passionate about STEM— specifically engineering— and am excited to be able to spread my love for the field through introducing what constitutes engineering to others."
Kevin Yang
Research
Hi, my name is Kevin Yang. I am currently a senior at Carlmont High School. I’m really passionate about wellness and STEM, and am interested in the intersection between the two. In my free time, I love to find ways to uplift myself and those around me, learn new things, practice introspection, and exercise. My curiosity and desire to use my skills to help others leads me to research disabilities and STEM topics at Proteus to provide children with various disabilities the opportunity to develop their interest in STEM. I see the children that we mentor applying the STEM experience they have developed to innovate solutions addressing the issues that their community faces.
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