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Project Protect Spring 2020 Team Biographies

   

Shivali Aggarwal

Intellectual Property Officer

Shivali Aggarwal is a second-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and is the intellectual property officer for the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Participating in this project allows Aggarwal to be a part of a meaningful opportunity to help her local community diminish the existing issue of elder abuse. Academically, Aggarwal is interested in coding apps and app development. Aggarwal hopes to use this knowledge to become a software engineer and to eventually become an intellectual property attorney working with companies to patent important codes.

Izza Anwar

Team Member

Izza Anwar is a fourth-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering, focusing on software engineering and user UI design. Through the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team, Anwar is working on projects that improve the health and wellness of multi-ethnic/immigrant communities across Merced County. Anwar hopes to use her passion for the humanities and experience in designing to create an exceptional product that makes a positive difference in the community. Through this project, Anwar hopes to strengthen her leadership and communication skills.

Celene Cantrabana

Team Member

Celene Cantabrana is a fifth-year student pursuing a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and is a team member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Cantabrana is interested in a career in the Engineering field that can help people directly; this interest led her to choose this project. Cantabrana hopes to gain as many skills and knowledge from this project as she can. As a team member, Cantabrana will be exposed to professional work that will help with her future career.

Bruce Duong

Team Member

Bruce Duong is a fourth-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering. Duong initially joined this project to further his skills in mobile application development but instead discovered a passion for helping the community at large. Duong finds it motivating and meaningful to apply engineering skills to deliver real-world solutions that make a difference in the lives of others. In addition to academics, Duong is a part of the Library IT team, helping the staff and faculty with all things technology.

Noel Fernandez

Team Member

Noel Fernandez is a fourth-year student pursuing a B.S. in Bioengineering and is a team member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Fernandez has shown interest in genetic engineering and prosthetics. He has not made a decision on what he wishes to emphasize his studies on but is currently pursuing a lab position in a genetics lab. Fernandez plans on using his skills to create and design creative ways to fix things.

Tahea Hossain

Team Lead

Tahea Hossain is a second-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and is the software team lead for the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. This project gives Hossain an opportunity to help the local community and to improve her leadership skills. Previously, Hossain has held a leadership position as the Secretary of the Muslim Student Association. Professionally, Hossain is interested in research within computer science and is seeking to be an intern during the summer.

Kwun Li 

Project Manager

Kwun Li is a fourth-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and is the project manager of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Li joined the team to use his experience in coding to help develop a product where multi-ethnic communities are able to have improved access to healthcare. Academically, Li's interested in a career as a full-stack developer and has been working on numerous personal projects to help prepare him for this career field. Through this project, Li will be able to gain first-hand experience of what it takes to develop a product.

Estrella Martinez Mendez

Team Member

Estrella Martinez is a second-year student pursuing a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Martinez is a member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Martinez joined this project in the hopes to learn how to collaborate in a team setting. Martinez has experience in working in projects that involved making timelines and budgets. Martinez strives to become more comfortable speaking in public and become an expert on what it takes to build an app. Martinez hopes to expand her knowledge of elder abuse.

Amrita Mohandas

Team Member

Amrita Mohandas is first-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and is a team member on the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Mohandas joined the team because it offers her an opportunity to actively participate in meaningfully improving the community by addressing the issue of elder abuse in Merced county. Through this project, she intends on obtaining a greater understanding of how to communicate efficiently with a team, how to collaborate effectively with a client, and how to address a problem from the end-users viewpoint. In the future, Mohandas hopes to deepen her knowledge of computer science by pursuing higher levels of education.

Salvador Rodriguez

Team Member

Salvador Rodriguez is a third-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and is a team member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Being part of this project provides him the opportunity to improve both his problem-solving skills and teamwork. Rodriguez strives to become a game developer after graduating. Rodriguez hopes to have an impact on awareness of elder abuse, along with further improving his software skills.

Sophia Rodriguez

Assistant Project Manager

Sophia Rodriguez is a first-year student pursuing a B.A. in both Political Science and Psychology and is the Assistant Project Manager of the Project Protect Engineering Service team. Participating in this project provides her with a meaningful opportunity to help those who are experiencing elder abuse. Academically, Rodriguez is interested in the fundamental works of the government and how to evenly distribute rights among the people. Rodriguez hopes to receive experience from fighting elder abuse within this project to be prepared for her future career as a civil rights attorney. 

Jahzel Roman-Torres

Team Leader

Jahzel Roman-Torres is a fourth-year student pursuing a B.S.in Mechanical Engineering. Roman-Torres is a member of the Project ProtectEngineering Service Learning team. Roman-Torres hopes to gain hands-on experience with making a difference in a community. Through this project, she will also learn how to interact with customers and learn how a project should be carried out through the usage of the EPICS Design Process. After graduation, Roman-Torres plans on pursuing a career in structural analysis determining the effects of loads on physical structures such as buildings, bridges, aircraft, and ships.

Joshua Stickles

Communications Officer

Joshua is a second-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and the Communications Officer of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Participating in this project provides Stickles with a meaningful opportunity to help the elderly who are facing financial, physical, and emotional abuse. Stickles is interested in this project because of its direct correlation with his major, as this project deals with creating an app to help prevent elderly abuse. Stickles hopes to gain hands-on experience dealing with the business aspect of computer science. In the future, Stickles hopes to become a software engineer for Google.

Hannah Joyce Villasin

Team Member

Hannah Joyce Villasin is a second-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science Engineering with an interest in creating mobile applications that are beneficial to the community. Villasin chose to participate in the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team in order to experience a real-life project that will prepare her for life after university. Villasin wishes to learn how to communicate with clients and to be able to design and build projects according to the client’s needs. Villasin envisions herself working as a software developer after graduating.

Alex Woersching

Financial Officer

Alex Woersching is a second-year student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and is the financial officer of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. This project felt like a desirable project to participate in due to its positive impact on the Merced community. Woersching believes that this project will be a great environment to help build his creativity and give him the opportunity to learn from fellow students. In the future, Woersching aspires to be a software engineer.