Gaining Insight - About Us

Gaining Insight

The 2020 Computational Modeling Workgroup consists of rising seniors from 4 states across the USA - Washington, Georgia, Connecticut and California. Students designed and completed projects related to computational modeling with the online guidance of scientists, programmers, and educators within or connected to Systems Education Experiences at ISB. Learn more about these students and their projects using the links below.

2020 Computational Modeling Workgroup

Abdullah Naveed | Akshata Aravind | Alex Tanimoto | Alexander Tsao | Amay Bansal | Anika Gupta | Anjali Katta | Anya Sharma | Anya Shukla | Arjun Subramanian | Betemariyam Gessesse | Caitlin Jago | Claire Zhang | Danielle Lavitt | Diego Garcia-Camargo | Ella Wiegman | Eric Daniel | Esperanza Gonzalez-Toribio | Everett Lee | Fiona Wang | Gaia Yun | Gavin Kendal-Freedman | Grace Shen | Hannah Jiang | Hyunwoo (David) Lee | Ishan Bhattacharjee | Joanna Agana | Kimberly Liu | Linda Yan | Margot Lavitt | Natalia Furmanczyk | Neethi Belur | Patrick Stiles | Ramya Arumilli | Rasa Audejaitis | Riddhi Bheda | Riya Kulkarni | Smriti Sankaran | Tej Shidhaye | Vincent Wilson

Joanna Agana

Hi there! I am currently a senior at Holy Names Academy. I'm interested in public health, research, racial justice, and the interplay between society and preventive medicine. I hope to pursue an interdisciplinary career that unites these interests and allows me to inspire and engage with my community. The focus of my project is understanding how certain social determinants affect the quality of care that certain individuals receive from the U.S. Healthcare System.

My Project: How does the U.S. Healthcare System affect you?

Akshata Aravind

I am a hardworking senior attending Eastlake High School in Sammamish, Washington, who consistently demonstrates passion and creativity. I am eager to develop my breadth of knowledge on biotechnology, biology, data science, and medicine, and I aspire to continue in the direction of generous community service through science in an artful way. My passion for molecular biology and computational methods led me to develop my project on the complex systems of gene regulatory networks.

My Project: Gene Regulatory Networks in Halobacterium

Ramya Arumilli

Hi! I am a senior at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, WA. I am interested in public health, specifically maternal and reproductive health. My project is focused on modeling how state legislation and prison policy affect the menstrual health of imprisoned individuals in the United States.

My Project: Menstrual Health

Rasa Audejaitis

I am a senior at Holy Names Academy in Seattle Washington. I will be attending the Barnard College of Columbia University as a part of the Class of 2025. I am interested in all things genetics and immunology. The development of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine brings these two aspects together, however this information can be very complicated. My project is focused on making that information more accessible to the younger population.

My Project: Understanding the Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine

Amay Bansal

I am a rising senior at Eastlake HS. I am interested in data science and in the environment, so my project is about using Python to analyze how different nutritional and environmental factors affect lipid production in algae to create carbon neutral biofuels.
My Project: Algae Biofuels
My LinkedIn | My Github

Neethi Belur

Hello! I am a rising Senior at Eastlake High School, striving to pursue new opportunities in the world of medicine and beyond. I am especially interested in the bridge between computational modeling and systems medicine. I'm excited and ready to solve real problems through solution and goal-driven systems involving the cyclical issue of opioid addiction.

Project: Opioid Addiction

Ishan Bhattacharjee

I am a rising senior at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, California.

I am interested in computational modeling as well as biology and want to pursue my research further in college.

I am passionate about metastatic cancer and my project's purpose was to document ways that metastatic cancer spreads in our bodies as well as using analytical methods to determine which cancers spread the fastest. I used programs such as Cytoscape and Ruby to conduct my research. I was able to conclude that liver cancer spreads the fastest through my research!

My Project: Metastatic Cancer (Link Coming Soon!)

Riddhi Bheda

Hi! I am a rising senior at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, California. My interests lie within the pharmaceutical fields, especially in pharmacokinetics and drug discovery/development. The purpose of my group's project is to use computational modeling tools to model the effects of the opioid epidemic.

My Project: Opioid Addiction

Eric Daniel

I am a senior at Roosevelt High School in Seattle, WA. I am interested in the systems interactions at the molecular and cell level in biology. I am passionate about understanding and working to solve large problems such as cancer. Because of these interests, my project focuses on differential expression and functions of genes in Glioblastoma cells.

My Project: Glioblastoma Expression

Natalia Furmanczyk

Hi! I am a Senior at Bellevue High School in Bellevue, Washington. My interests lie in interdisciplinary studies involving both biochemistry, math and engineering. My project focuses on the internal impacts of COVID-19 on the body. Through the use of systems thinking my aim is to people the general public comprehensive model of the various systems being affected by the virus.

My Project: Mapping COVID-19

Diego Garcia-Camargo

I am a senior at Seattle Preparatory School in Seattle, WA (Class of 2021). I am deeply interested in systems thinking and it's applications to modeling populations over time. For my project, I decided to model the multitude of factors influencing the cultivation of algae for biofuel production.

My project: Algae Biofuels

Betemariyam Gessesse

I am a rising Senior at Bellevue High School with an interest in biological/molecular behavior and the engineering efforts of bio-medicine. I hope to one day contribute to the efforts in enhancing our lives from a healthcare standpoint.

I started here! Systems

Molecular Biology | Protein Interactions

Esperanza Gonzalez-Toribio

I am a senior at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. I've always wanted to be a scientist since I was little and this workgroup has brought me a step closer to my goal. I love anything related to science, but I my true passion lies in cancer research, chemistry, astronomy and activism. I participated in two projects: one about gene-editing technology and how it can be used as cancer therapy, and another one about the social determinants that affect how one could possibly be treated by the U.S. healthcare system.

CRISPR, CAR-T cells, Leukemia (Link Coming Soon!)

How Does the U.S. Healthcare System Affect You?

Anika Gupta

I am a senior at the Quarry Lane School in Dublin, California. I am very interested in genetic editing, specifically in relation to healthcare, and my project illustrates the mechanisms through which CRISPR, a new gene editing tool, may aid in treating cancer. I am also very passionate about prescription drug misuse education.

Project: CRISPR, CAR T cells, Leukemia (Link Coming Soon!)

Caitlin Jago

I am a Senior at Holy Names Academy in Seattle, Washington. Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to be a scientist but thought I had to choose a specific discipline. At ISB, I've developed an interest in studying many fields including chemistry, biology, and computational modeling to look at the problem of climate change with a systems approach. My project models the impacts of a proposed sustainable West Seattle Bridge design on the surrounding environment.

My project: West Seattle Bridge

Hannah Jiang

Hi! I'm Hannah, a senior at the Bush School in Seattle, Washington. I'm currently exploring how Data Science and AI can aid the city of Seattle, hence why I've applied these topics to solve conflicts in traffic, inequality, and now crime. My project uses important computational and statistical skills to determine when and why certain areas in Seattle experience high crime rates.

My project: Modeling Crime Data

My LinkedIn | My Github

Anjali Katta

I am a senior at Interlake High School in Bellevue Washington. I am interested in reproductive health and pathology. My project is centered around modeling menstrual health in rural areas where traditional practices, educational and economic disparities lead to unhygienic conditions and severe health issues such as UTIs.

My Project: Menstrual Health

Gavin Kendal-Freedman

I am a rising senior at Eastlake HS. My interests lie in Science and the Environment, so I decided to do a project on how environmental and nutritional factors affect the production of lipids in algae, to create carbon-neutral biofuels.

My Project: Algae Biofuels

Riya Kulkarni

I am a rising senior at Tesla STEM High School in Redmond, Washington interested in the intersections between computer science and biology as well as the applications of data science and machine learning. The purpose of my project is to conduct network analysis, such as fixed gene enrichment, to identify pre-built pathways or networks that are enriched in a set of mutated or differentially expressed genes in colon cancer.

My Project: DEG Network Analysis (Link Coming Soon!)

Danielle Lavitt

I am a senior in the IB program at Ingraham High School in Seattle, Washington. I'm a curious person with a passion for learning, especially when it comes to the environment, biology, math, and computer science.

I elected to explore the fascinating world of the human microbiome, specifically the dynamics between mother and infant gut microbiota.

My Project: Dynamics of the Infant Microbiome

Margot Lavitt

Hi! I'm a senior in the IB program at Ingraham High School in Seattle, WA. I love to learn new things especially relating to STEM. I am fascinated by the microbiome, the dynamics of the infant microbiome, and the intersection of biology, math, and computer science!

My Project: Dynamics of the Infant Microbiome

Everett Lee

Hello! I'm a rising senior at Wilton High School in Wilton, CT. I am interested in computer science, specifically data science and machine learning, and the application of these computational methods on science and the world. In my project, I analyzed datasets containing bioinformatics about environmental and nutritional factors affecting lipid and biomass production in algae to create carbon neutral biofuels.

My Project: Algae Biofuels

Hyunwoo Lee

I am a senior at Interlake High School in Bellevue, WA. I'm interested in computational and mathematical approaches to problems in biology. My project is about Racial Disparities in the spread of COVID-19.

My Project: Racial Disparities and COVID-19

Kimberly Liu

I am a senior at Lakeside School in Seattle, WA. My interests lie in the intersection between the natural sciences and computer science, but also using data to understand and model systems. The focus of my project is the relationship between government policy and the spread of COVID-19 in each state.

My project: COVID-19 Government Policy Effectiveness

Abdullah Naveed

I am a rising senior at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, CA interested in computer science and data science, especially their medical applications.

My computational modeling project is on lung cancer.

Smriti Sankaran

Hi! I'm a senior at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington. I'm very interested in the intersections between biology, data science, and computer science and their application to the prediction and prevention of various diseases. The purpose of my project is to model the biomarkers indicative of lung cancer.

My Project: Subtypes of Lung Carcinoids

Anya Sharma

Hi! I'm a senior at The Overlake School in Redmond Washington. I am especially interested in cancer research, so my project maps the effect that micro nutrients have on cancer patients undergoing different therapies.

My Project: Micro nutrients and oncology

Grace Shen

I'm a senior in the IB Program at Inglemoor High School and I strive to understand real world issues in many areas of study, one of which is medicine and health! My project centers around the opioid epidemic which plagues countless communities within the United States. Our goal is to help people better understand the opioid epidemic through systems thinking.

My Project: Opioid Addiction

Tej Shidhaye

Hi! I am a rising senior at Johns Creek High School in Johns Creek, Georgia. I have a great passion for helping others as much as possible, especially through science and biology. I am interested in pursuing a career in biological research, specifically cancer research. I find that systems thinking is key to problem solving, so the focus of my project is to model the systems involved with how CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology helps with CAR T-cell therapy for cancer patients.

My Project: CRISPR, CAR T Cells (Link Coming Soon!)

Anya Shukla

Hi! I am a rising senior at Lakeside School in Seattle, WA. I'm interested in neuroscience and cognitive science, as well as how we can apply our knowledge of the brain to deep learning and AI. My project involved the analysis of RNA-sequencing data from an study related to Alzheimer's; Alzheimer's disease is one of my neuroscience-related areas of interest. I then created a step-by-step tutorial so others can replicate and learn from my analysis.

My Project: Analyzing Alzheimer's RNA-seq Data

Patrick Stiles

Hi! I'm part of Kamiak High School's Class of 2021, and I'm interested in the field of computer science. For my project, I modeled and explained how the risk factors for strokes interact, in order to help people understand a very scary but common occurrence.

My Project: The Risk Factors of Strokes

Arjun Subramanian

I am a senior at West Sound Academy in Poulsbo, WA. My computational modeling project with ISB centered around data analysis associated with single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) and COVID-19 patients' gene expression data. In the future, I hope to use systems biology to uncover novel patterns of gene expression to address diseases.

My Project: scRNA-Seq with COVID-19 Gene Expression Data

LinkedIn | Github

Alex Tanimoto

I am a rising senior at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington. My interests lie in computer science and data analysis. I decided to do my project on the differential expression of gene transcripts through heat mapping and cluster analysis, exploring the example of the infection transcriptome of the bacteria B. pertussis.

My Project: RNA-Seq of the Infection Transcriptome

Alexander Tsao

I'm a rising senior at Redmond High School in Washington. I'm interested in providing aid to people facing adversity and using medicine to do so. I've been exploring molecular biology and chemistry, so my project is about insulin production, ATP regulation by insulin and c-peptide, vasodilation and how this process is affected by diabetes.

My Project: Modeling Insulin and Diabetes

Fiona Wang

Hi! I'm a senior in the Cambridge Program at Juanita High School in Kirkland, WA. My curiosities and passions lie within the medical field, particularly in neuroscience and metabolic disorders. For my project, I decided to model the insulin-glucose regulatory system and the effect of high blood glucose levels on different body systems.

My Project: Modeling Insulin and Diabetes

Ella Wiegman

Hi! I'm a senior in the IB program at Ingraham High School in Seattle, Washington. I am fascinated by the intricate systems that make up the world around us, especially the intersections between biology, computer science, art, and the environment.

Project: Dynamics of the Infant Microbiome

Vincent Wilson

Hello! I am a rising senior at Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington. My interests are multi-disciplinary: not only am I interested in combining Biology and Computer Science for research, but I'm keen on presenting my findings in an engaging and informative way with skills I've learned as an editor of my school newspaper. My project focused on the ecological effects of the pandemic by measuring changes in bird sightings during the pandemic.

My Project: Correlations between Covid-19 Policy and Great Horned Owl Sightings

Linda Yan

Hello! I am a rising senior at Bellevue High School. Outside of school, I enjoy running, creating art, road tripping with friends, and re-reading the Harry Potter series. Prior to becoming a part of the 2020 ISB Computational Modeling Work Group Cohort, I was a student intern and ambassador for the ISB Project Feed 1010 program. Currently, she is also the Social Media Lead for Helpful Engineering and a member of the Seattle Made Youth Board.

My Project: Mapping COVID-19

Gaia Yun

I'm a senior at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, Washington. I'm interested in the intersection between health and journalism. My projects were a profile on Steve J. Mooney, a social and spatial epidemiologist, and an animated site about vaccines.

My Projects: Dr. Steve J. Mooney, Epidemiologist | How Do Vaccines Work?

Claire Zhang

Hello! I am a senior at Holy Names Academy in Seattle, WA. I'm interested in making science more accessible through education in fields like computer science and biology. My project introduces users to R programming and data analysis using a dataset on heart disease.

Project | GitHub | LinkedIn

Learn more by clicking the links within each student's profile. Contact us at see@isbscience.org or through LinkedIn with questions.

Funding to support the development of these activities and experiences was provided by the National Science Foundation Award DBI-1565166 & 0640950. The content of these pages was created by students for students with the help of teachers, scientists and the Jones Family Foundation. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ISB, NSF or JFF.

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