Current Undergraduate Students

Anthony Q. Nguyen
anthoqn3@uci.edu
Project(s): PICARD

Anthony is a current undergraduate student studying Computer Science and Mathematics. He is working on writing embedded software and testing the printed circuit board for PICARD. Outside of school, he likes to rock climb.

Deon Nguyen
deonn1@uci.edu
Project(s): PICARD

Deon is an undergraduate electrical engineering student on the electrical team for PICARD. He is working on testing and prototyping the pcb board for the PICARD bottle. His interests include embedded systems, circuit design, and wireless communication.


Undergraduate Alumni

2024

Alejandro Jaime Ochoa
ochoaaj1@uci.edu
Project(s): PICARD

Alex is an undergraduate student majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He is also an assistant for the PICARD research project working within the mechanical sub-team mainly focusing on the design and additive manufacturing components of the project.


2023

Manasi Deshpande
manasid@uci.edu
Project(s): PICARD

Manasi is an undergraduate student studying electrical engineering with a specialization in digital signal processing. She is on the electrical team for PICARD, working on the development and testing of the printed circuit board and writing firmware for the integrated circuit.

Kelly Quyang
Student Assistant
hongyio@uci.edu

Kelly graduated from UCI with B.S. in Pharmaceutical Science who worked under Professor Sergio and Patricia Lim. She assisted in managing the ETAD website and the recruitment process for the CS 199 capstone course. In her free time, she enjoys baking and watching TV shows.


2022

Prem Kishor Gorde
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): FoodSmart
pgorde@uci.edu

Manasi is an undergraduate student studying electrical engineering with a specialization in digital signal processing. She is on the electrical team for PICARD, working on the development and testing of the printed circuit board and writing firmware for the integrated circuit.

Sara Bibiana Vélez Rivera 
sara.velezr@autonoma.edu.co

Sara graduated with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and Electronic Engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales (Colombia) and interned as a researcher at the University of California, Irvine. She was part of the software engineering research group in the bioengineering research line, and she is working on the development of computerized training for the maintenance of cognitive functions in elderly adults in unity.

Jensen Lim Leong
Student Assistant
jlimleon@uci.edu

Jensen graduated from UCI with a B.A. in International Studies Major. He worked mainly with the Adobe Suite to help with any graphical needs.


2021

Abdulaziz Alabduljalil
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
asalabdu@uci.edu

Aziz graduate June 2021 as a Computer Science and Engineering student. He has a passion for backend development and electrical, software, and structural design, with solid experience in all. Aziz is part of the software team on PICARD, with the job of connecting users and their pill bottles to their portal and the database online.

Yuhui Chen
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): FoodSmart
yuhuic6@uci.edu

Yuhui Chen was a current undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science. Yuhui was a research team member of FoodSmart, focusing on application development and data scraping/management. He is familiar with full-stack websites and iOS and Android application development.

Justin Huynh
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): FoodSmart
huynhj11@uci.edu

Justin majored in Computer Engineering. He was currently working on the Food Smart project with Dr. Sergio Gago and Patricia Lim to assist in website and application development. In his free time, he enjoys photography and playing basketball.

Jessy (Juehui) Li
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): VR Lab Tutor
juehuil@uci.edu

Jessy is a 3rd year Computer Science major student. She is interested in an integration of technology, art and education. Working as part of the VR Lab Tutor team has been a great experience for her, as it fits in her interest field perfectly. In her spare time, she enjoys all kinds of music, trying out new sports and hanging out with friends.

Sicong Ma
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PET, PICARD
sicongm1@uci.edu

Sicong was a Mechanical Engineering major student. He managed ETAD’s 3D printing station. He is familiar with the production process of FDM 3D printing, including CAD design, 3D printer troubleshooting and maintenance, and post-processing.

Ishana Patel
shanap@uci.edu

Ishana graduated from UCI with a B.S. in Computer Science. She is part of the CHRIS team, where she focused on front-end web development. Her interests include full-stack web development, database applications, and data analytics.

Vikram (Vik) Rajan
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
vjrajan@uci.edu

Vikram is currently a computer science major. He has a solid technical background, and has a strong passion for software development. He has contributed to the development of PICARD’s web application. He has interests in many diverse fields and looks forward to learning more.

Ervie Tubig
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): VR K-12
etubig@uci.edu

Ervie is a student double majoring in Computer Science & Computer Game Science with a particular interest in computer networks and VR. Game development is his passion and he desires to be engrossed in all aspects of it. He hopes to pursue a career in the game development industry as a software engineer and then to return back to pursue a Master’s degree in Business Administration to start up his own game studio. He was a part of the VR-K-12 development team which is developing an educational VR game that is aimed towards encouraging kids into STEM fields under Dr. Sergio Gago.


2020

Arman Amjad
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PET
aamjad@uci.edu

Arman is a student in the Computer Science major. He was a software developer for a research project called Bash the Beast, which is a 2D Unity board game that helps diabetes patients learn more about dealing with their condition. When he’s not coding, he enjoys cooking, traveling and hanging out with friends.

Jason Almaraz
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): VR Lab Tutor
joalmara@uci.edu

Jason is a student in the informatics major at UCI looking to specialize in human computer interaction while also pursuing a minor in management. He is an aspiring UX designer based in Orange County who is fascinated in seeking and providing the applications to fit the needs of individuals in a useful and proactive manner. When Jason is not studying or working at Alien Descent Virtual Reality, he likes to keep up with basketball (Go Lakers!), the latest street fashion and discover new music.

Minhyeong (Billy) Joe
minhyeoj@uci.edu

Minhyeong Joe graduated from UCI with a B.S. degree in Computer Science. He is passionate about developing websites with beautiful UI and comfortable UX. While specializing in web development, he is also interested in Artificial Intelligence, specifically in self-driving vehicles and smart home automation. During his free time, he likes to spend time playing guitar, video games, or board games.

Sujin (Elvin) Kang
Program Analyst
Project(s): CHRIS, MPC, PMUI
soochink@uci.edu

Sujin Kang is an enthusiastic software developer, instructor, and researcher. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from UCI. He worked as a researcher at Calit2 and he also worked at Western Digital as a Firmware Engineer. He has many years of teaching experience in various courses, such as the Certified Data Science course by UC Berkeley and USA Computing Olympiad preparation courses. He was working under Dr. Sergio Gago-Masague as a program Analyst, helping develop applications related to ETAD projects.

Catherine Kung
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PET
kungc1@uci.edu

Catherine graduated UCI majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Informatics. She is particularly interested in artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction and intends to specialize in intelligence systems. She was also a member of the Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP) and worked on PET under the guidance of Dr. Sergio Gago where she specifically works on the frontend portion of the project.

Huilai Liu
Student Research Assistant

Project(s): VR K-12
huilail@uci.edu

Huilai graduated UCI with a major in Computer Science interested in visual computing. He developed an educational VR game in the project team VR K-12.

Luis Luna
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): VR K-12
lfluna@uci.edu

Luis has graduated  UCI with a major in Computer Game Science with a specialty in AI. He developed an educational VR game aimed to encourage kids into STEM under Dr. Sergio Gago’s supervision. He focused mainly on software engineering, level and system design, and Unity development.

Yunlu Ma
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
yunlum@uci.edu

Yunlu graduated with a major in Computer Science. She was working on the PICARD project with Dr. Sergio Gago and Patricia Lim to help develop the software part of PICARD’s website and mobile application.

Tiffany Nguyen
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): FoodSmart

Tiffany is a 3rd-year undergraduate student majoring in Informatics with a specialization in Human-Computer Interaction. Passionate about technology, design, and human behavior, she hopes to pursue a career in either UX Design or Product Design/Management. She is currently part of the Food Smart project team and helping in the development of an application aimed to bridge the gap between food insecurity and food waste. When she’s not designing or coding, she likes to read UX articles, develop her photography and editing skills, curate Spotify playlists, and thrift.

Jesus Salazar
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
jaayala@uci.edu

Jesus is a Software Engineering major developing the website for the PICARD project. His responsibilities include creating a portal allowing patients to record and visualize their pain and heath information.

Yizhuo Wu
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
yizhuw1@uci.edu

Yizhuo Wu graduated as a computer science student at UCI. Currently he is a part of the  PICARD software team and participates in the development of the PICARD
mobile application using Unity and PICARD website using Python, Django framework, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Michael Zhang
Student Research Assistant

Project(s): VR K-12
jialiaz3@uci.edu

Michael graduated with a major in Computer Science and Engineering. He worked on the VR K-12 project to create VR content for educational purposes for kindergarten to 12th grade children. His main focuses are project design, art and programming. He likes reading, playing the piano and working out at the gym.

Weiyan (Wayne) Zhu
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): VR K-12
weiyanz@uci.edu

Wayne is an international student who comes here to learn more about game development. Programming, Design, Art, Audio, Writing… he likes almost all parts of game development, although he is not good at most of them. In the future he will become an independent game developer.


2019

Ahmed Gorashi
Software Developer
Project(s): PMUIPET
agorashi@uci.edu

Ahmed graduated UCI as a business economics major with a minor in informatics. Alongside this, Ahmed was the co-founder and president of the new Machine Learning Club at UCI and an external relations member for the IEEE@UCI club in which he focused on company outreach and sponsorship deals for the club. In his free time, he enjoys developing applications using artificial intelligence and learning more about mobile IOS development.

Ling Jin
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): Trader Joe’s
lingj6@uci.edu

Ling Jin graduated with a Computer Science major degree. She is interested in cooking, reading and traveling. She developed the Trader Joe’s project with Dr. Sergio Gago and Patricia Lim to help more students have better meals with limited budget and time.

Ho-Ren Kang
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
horenk@uci.edu

Ho-Ren graduated UCI studying Computer Science with a specialization in Systems and Software. He is particularly interested in the medical industry which is a big reason why he was on the PICARD software team. He helped develop the mobile application for iOS and Android platforms.

Jonathan Lim
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): CHRISPMUIMy Happy Blood
cylim1@uci.edu

Jonathan graduated UCI with a major in electrical engineering. He has a keen interest in computer science. He worked as an undergraduate student researcher under both ETAD and CalPlug, where he focused mainly on mobile and website applications, data analysis, and visual programming.

Linh Ly
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
linhul@uci.edu

Linh graduated from UCI majoring in Mechanical Engineer student with a minor in Management. She worked on PICARD to develop a smart pill bottle that regulates pill usage. She primarily focused on the mechanical features and design of the device.

Jackson Tsoi
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PET
jtsoi1@uci.edu

Jackson graduated UCI studying Computer Science. He has an interest in studying machine learning, data analysis, and data visualization. He enjoys exploring places and trying out new foods, basketball, and photography.


2018

Faustino Aguirre
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PMUI
faustina@uci.edu

Faustino graduated June 2018 as a Computer Engineering student with a minor in Computer Science. He was involved with the PMUI project as a software developer during the 2016-2017 school year, presenting the project at the research symposium at the end of the year alongside the rest of the team.

Alejandro Carbajal
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PET
carmona2@uci.edu

Alejandro has graduated with a computer science major degree. He was part of the PET project and is working on the backend aspect of it. He enjoys playing soccer, basketball and going to concerts. Alejandro was also working on the website for Provost Enrique Lavernia’s lab.

Imran Chowdhry
Software Developer
Project(s): PMUI
ichowdhr@gmail.com

Imran was working for the Computer energy study, also known as PMUI (Power Management User Interface). He has written scripts to help analyze data, documented the software to receive approval, and conduct field studies for the research project that includes conducting surveys, installing software, transferring data, and removing the software. Imran is an informatics major and his interest lays in AI, machine learning, and hanging out with friends!

Viola Fu
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
jiananf2@uci.edu

Viola graduated UCI majoring in Informatics. She worked on PICARD to design a mobile application and website for the smart object. Her primary focus was the UI/UX aspect of the project.

Fabian Garcia
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PMUI
fabiag1@uci.edu

Fabian Garcia studied Computer Engineering at UCI. During Winter and Spring Quarters of 2017, he worked on PMUI as a research assistant.

Sean Kim
Student Research Assistant

Project(s): VR K-12
seantk@uci.edu

Sean graduated as a Computer Game Science major within the University of California, Irvine. He worked under the Calit2 VR K-12 Project focusing on the game’s design and production.

Yuhua (Lydia) Liu
Software Developer
Project(s): Bash the Beast
yuhual5@uci.edu

Yuhua graduated from UCI majoring Computer Science. She was working on the Diabetes game project developing a 2D board game using Unity and C-sharp.

Apurva Jakhanwal
Software Developer
Project(s): PMUI
ajakhanw@uci.edu

Apurva graduated UCI pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science. She was also part of the Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP) and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) where she worked on various teams to build efficient programs such as promoting energy efficiency in computer desktops by improvising the power manager user interface and developing an algorithm to find an optimal solution to match roommates. Her experience includes the use of D3js; libraries from HTML, CSS, and Javascript; Python; Arduino; Photon, and more. She is now working at Microsoft as a Software Engineer. 

Christian Morte
Software Developer
Project(s): EMMA, PET
cmorte@uci.edu

Christian graduated from UCI with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering. He has a huge passion for developing web/mobile applications. His pastimes include basketball, guitar, and eating all sorts of food. He is currently working at Google as a Software Engineer.

Derrick Quach
Software Developer
Project(s): Bash the Beast
derrickq@uci.edu

Derrick graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences at UC Irvine and is now working on his second baccalaureate for Computer Science. He worked as a software developer for Calit2 under the project, Bash the Beast.

Meme Trinh
Administrative Research Assistant
memet@calit2.uci.edu

Meme graduated UCI in June 2018, with degrees in International Students & Social Policy and Public Service. She worked as an Administrative Research Assistant for ETAD, where she focused on assisting in the current projects and students teams. In addition, she created and published content for the ETAD website.

Harry Wong
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): Bash the Beast
cheukhw@uci.edu

Harry graduated with a degree in Computer Game Science at the University of California, Irvine. Passionate about video games, he used the Unity3D game engine to develop games about diabetes under the supervision of Dr. Gago.

Tina Wu
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PET
tdwu@uci.edu

Tina graduate from UCI June 2018. pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health. She has presented project updates to the Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP) at UCI’s Calit2 and at the 2018 Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) at UCI.

Xiaoyan Yang
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): Bash the Beast, Energy Channel
xiaoyay2@uci.edu

Xiaoyan Yang graduated UCI as a Computer Engineering major. She worked on the Energy Channel project and assisted in research for diabetes noninvasive health monitoring.


2017

Sijia (Alicia) Liu
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): Pain Buddy
sijial1@uci.edu

Sijia graduated UCI with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. While working as an Undergraduate Student Research Assistant at Calit2, she focused on the back-end software development of the Pain Buddy 3D game. She also focused on assisting the database revision of the 3D game.  

Tyler Stevens
Software Developer
Project(s): Pain Buddy
tpsteven@uci.edu

Tyler Stevens graduated from UC Irvine in June 2017 with a B.S. in Computer Engineering. As a student researcher at CalPlug from 2014 to 2017, he led the initial development of the Pain Buddy Unity3D client for Android and implemented its survey and statistics collection systems. Tyler now works as a software engineer for ICU Medical. In his spare time, he enjoys playing volleyball and programming games.


criscong

Cris Cong
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): FoodSmart
congj1@uci.edu

Cris majored in computer science & mathematics. His strongest programming language is Java and most of his experiences revolve around web development. He is also interested in developing mobile apps. Cris takes on the role of team leader in Food Smart. His most recent research focuses on collecting real-world food data, migrating them to our backend database, and integrating these data onto our website.

Peijun Gao
peijung@uci.edu

Peijun was a second-year math major student. He worked on the software end of PICARD. His interests include machine learning, data management, and data analytics.

Kavi Raj Mathur
Student Research Assistant, User Experience Designer
Project(s): PET
mathurkr@uci.edu

Kavi is a student majoring in Informatics with a specialization in Human-Computer Interaction. He extremely interested the fields of interaction and visual design, and also has experience with project management within the esports community. He was a part of Dr. Sergio Gago’s PET project, where he is assisting with user testing and redesigning its user interface.

Jing Li
Student Research Assistant

Project(s): VR Lab Tutor
jingl27@uci.edu

Jing has graduated from UCI. She is interested in gaming and designing. She’s was developing a VR tutorial using Blender and Unity about clean lab equipment.

Simón Carrillo Rueda
sicaru89@gmail.com
Project(s): PICARD

Simon graduated in B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. in Intelligent Systems from the University of Malaga (Spain). He has experience working in Machine Design and Smart Systems. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis, video games or board games.

Farnaz Safaei Takhtehfouladi
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): FoodSmart
fsafaeit@uci.edu

Farnaz graduated as a Computer Science major. She was working with Dr. Sergio Gago and Patricia Lim on the FoodSmart project and also as an Intern in Applied Medical. In her free time, she practices some coding challenges. 

Dung Tran
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
dungqt1@uci.edu

Dung graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering with a specialization in embedded system. He is currently conducting research under  Dr. Sergio Gago’s supervision for the PICARD project. In the PICARD project, Dung designs the power system and writes the hardware drivers.

Chaoyi Wang
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): FoodSmart
chaoyiw1@uci.edu

Chaoyi graduated with a major in Computer Science major. He enjoys exploring the unknowns in his spare time. He was working on Trader Joe’s Meal Planner with Dr. Sergio Gago and Patricia Lim.

Rachel Weber
Student Research Assistant
Project(s): PICARD
weberrv@uci.edu

Rachel studied software engineering and has graduated now. She is especially passionate about cybersecurity. She spends free time playing hacker games and learning new programming languages.

qianzhao

Qian (Felicity) Zhao
Software Engineer/
Project(s): FoodSmart
qzhao9@uci.edu

Felicity is graduated with Computer Science degree and loves to challenge herself in the FoodSmart research team. She is passionate about data mining and full-stack development.