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Ezer Angeles Team Leader Ezer Angeles is a fourt- year Computer Science and Engineering major and the coding team leader of the Project Protect Engineering Service-Learning team. Ezer joined the team to use technology to solve educational and language barriers for people that have trouble communicating with doctors about the medical issues they have. Ezer has a strong passion for software engineering and hopes to have a career in the tech industry after graduation. One day, Ezer hopes to become an Android/iOS developer so that he may aid society in every aspect with the use of mobile software. |
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Izza Anwar Assistant Project Manager Izza Anwar is a fourth-year Computer Science and Engineering major at UC Merced. She is currently an assistant project manager on the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning Team. Izza chose Project Protect because she is passionate about helping underserved communities across California and recognizes that the Project Protect app is a great way to do that. She hopes to use her passion for humanities, and her background in design and computer sciences to create an exceptional launch for the app. Through this project, Izza plans to strengthen her leadership and communication skills. |
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Sidharth Babu Team Member Sidharth Babu is a second-year Computer Science and Engineering major focusing on software engineering and machine learning. Sidharth joined Project Protect because of its use of React Native in designing an app to improve access to healthcare for the multi-ethnic communities in Merced County. Through this project, he plans to not only hone his web development skills in real-life applications but also to better understand how to expand existing software to meet the changing needs of key demographics. After graduation, Sidharth plans to pursue a career in software engineering with a focus on developing scalable, automated solutions and services to the world! |
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Karan Chahal Procurement Financial Officer Karan Chahal is a fourth-year Earth Systems Science major and the Procurement Financial Officer of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learningteam. Chahal is working with Healthy House, to improve the health and well-being of cultural and ethnic groups in Merced. Chahal was interested in being a part of Project Protect because he wanted to give back to his community. Chahal is an active member of Hermanos Unidos at UC Merced. Chahal is currently employed by UC Merced as a recycling/composting intern and hopes to use the skills that he’s acquired on the job to propel his career in sustainable science when he graduates. |
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Valeria Cortez Team Member Valeria Cortez is a first-year student pursuing her Computer Science and Engineering major, focusing on software engineering. Cortez is on the Project Protect team because it involves coding material that can benefit Cortez inthe future. Cortez helped code an app during her senior year of high school. She was able to present her project in front of various companies in one day. Cortez's professional goals are to be able to work with Google or Apple companies and to further explore technology to see how it can be improved to make the communities stronger. |
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Jose Duran Intellectual Property Officer Jose Duran is a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering Student and the Intellectual Property Officer of Project Protect. Jose enjoys being part of a project allowing him to bridge the communication gap between doctors and patients from different cultures and backgrounds. At a younger age, he witnessed the lack of medical communication for his mother. His prior experiences are why he was very encouraged to join Project Protect. Duran is interested in pursuing a computer design career. This will allow him to use his skills that he has developed throughout his years at UC Merced and help the community. |
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Noel Fernandez Communitation Officer Noel Fernandez is a fourth-yearBioengineering major and is the communications officer for Project Protect. Fernandez is a student that always likes to be busy and is constantly at work, the gym, or in class and studying. Fernandez joined Project Protect due to a personal interest in the combination of the medical field and engineering and how it is being used to create an app for the community. Fernandez is deciding on entering the agriculture industry to focus on GMOs or the mechanical aspects of farming or entering into the biomedicalfield of prosthetics and robotics. |
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Daniel Garcia Team Member Daniel Garcia is a first-year Mechanical Engineer major and a member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Garcia joined the team to use technology to solve education and language barriers for communities that have trouble communicating with doctors about the medical issues they have. Academically, he is interested in researching how to manage an app and fix the problems that arise. One day, Garcia hopes to become an engineer so that he can help his community to persevere and grow by being able to detect failing machinery or equipment and fixing them. |
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Gerardo Garcia Team Member Gerardo Garcia is a second-year Mechanical Engineering student currently taking part in the coding section of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning Team. Garcia’s interest in problem-solving through the field of engineering was found through Engineering Service Learning. Garcia found himself motivated to be a part of this project due to his personal experiences closely related to the problem Project Protect aims to solve: helping families better communicate with, and understand medical services. Through this experience, Garcia would be one step closer to his goal of creating change in his community through the field of engineering. |
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Heidy Gomez Project Manager Heidy Gomez is a second-year Mechanical Engineering student and the project manager of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Academically, she is interested in learning how to make mechanisms that will benefit her community. Gomez chose to be in the Project Protect team because she gets a chance to work with a non-profit organization. The organization focuses on helping multi-ethnic and elderly people combat the struggle that comes with language and cultural barriers between the patient and their doctors. Gomez hopes to gain skills that will motivate her to help out the community as much as possible. |
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Gustavo Jimenez Team Leader Gustavo Jimenez is a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering student and the team leader of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning Team. This project has allowed him to give back to the community by providing free medical resources to multi-ethnic groups within the Central Valley. Jimenez has experienced similar issues with medical professionals not being able to communicate successfully with their clients. Therefore, he plans to have an easy to use application that would break the language barrier between clients and medical professionals. Jimenez plans on using his engineering skills to obtain a career in the bicycle industry. |
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James Nguyen Team Member James Nguyen is a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science and Engineering. Nguyen is a member of the software team on the Engineering Service Learning project, Project Protect. Previously, Nguyen was on the Engineer Service Learning Unmanned Arial Systems team and helped establish a proof of concept but changed to Project Protect in search of new interests. Nguyen is passionate and fascinated about app design and familiar with many programming languages; Python, C/C++, Java, and SQL. Nguyen hopes to apply his knowledge of coding into finishing and delivering the Healthy Host App. |
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Aaron Taflinger Team Member Aaron Taflinger is a first-year Computer Science and Engineering major and a team member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning Team. Taflinger is working to write code for the Project Protect app for helping underserved communities in Merced for the non-profit organization Healthy House. Aaron is passionate about pursuing his degree in Computer Science and Engineering and hopes to have a career in building and designing computers after graduation. By coding for the app, he hopes to gain valuable skills and real-world experiences that will serve as a foundation for his career. |
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Gabriel Zepeda Team Member Gabriel Zepeda is a fifth-year Biological Engineering major and a member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. He is currently researching a biosensor with Dr. Spencer, a Bioengineer image analyst. Zepeda is also a member of Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity, and holds the potential new member educator chair. Zepeda joined the team to see what students could do with coding programs as he lacks experience in that field. Academically, Zepeda is interested in chemical engineering and finds solving chemical-related issues is fascinating. One day, Zepeda hopes to become a chemical engineer that synthesizes medicine for a large population. |
