E4E 2016 Summer REU

2016 REU group photo

This summer we are hosting 12 students from all around the USA, Brazil, and China, as part of our the 2016 summer REU program. Our students are working on a diverse array of projects, including development of a new underwater 3d visualization system, dynamic path planning for aerial robots, robust 3D coverage estimation, the aerial radio collar tracker, machine learning for bioacoustics, and 3D reconstruction for archaeological surveys.

Title Photo from San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research Presentation (left to right): Ryan Kastner, Irina Tolkova, Kaue Zoia, Tara Tripp, Lisa Bauer, Daniel Knapp, Rachel Herrera, Curt Schurgers, Seoyeon Sim, Quentin Gautier, Nicholas Gonzalez, Ethan Slattery, Daniel Webber, Andrew Hostler, Hongyi Zhao, Dimitri Schreiber, Antonella Wilby, Nathan Hui. Not pictured: Eric Lo

2016 REU Group Photo

We were so on top of things this summer, we took two group photos! Photo from Torrey Pines Gliderport.

Meet our 2016 REU students by reading their bios below!

Summer 2016 REU Students

Lisa BauerLisa Bauer, Johns Hopkins University

Lisa is a senior Computer Science and Cognitive Science major. This summer she worked on developing machine learning algorithms for a project on whale call classification. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, ballroom dancing, and reading.
 
 
 
 
2016 Nicholas Gonzalez
Nicholas Gonzalez, Harvey Mudd College

Nick is a senior CS major at Harvey Mudd College. He worked on the path planning for robust 3d coverage project this summer. In his free time he enjoys climbing and canyoneering.
 
 
 
 
 
 
e4e_herreraRachel Herrera, Princeton University

Rachel is a senior studying Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This summer, she worked on the design and testing of the Stereo-Imaging Diving Rig for Madagascar. After graduating from college, she doesn’t care much what she does as long as it’s in San Diego. In her spare time, Rachel likes baking cookies, running, and watching old movies.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016 Andrew Hostler
Andrew Hostler, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Andrew is a rising Senior at Cal Poly SLO studying electrical engineering with a focus in embedded systems and underwater technology. His major engineering experience is in building Underwater Remote Operated Vehicles for education and research. This summer he worked on the Spherecam, designing ultrasonic signal capture hardware for the Intel Edison processor. In his free time Andrew enjoys hiking, surfing, swing dancing, and building underwater robots to forcefully take over the ocean with a hidden sea turtle army.
 
 
 
2016_dimitri
Dimitri Schreiber, University of California, San Diego
Dimitri is a senior Electrical Engineering student at UCSD. This summer he worked on applying machine learning techniques for automated classification and segmentation of corals. In his free time he likes making gadgets, being outside, hanging out with friends, and watching TV.
 
 
 

2016 Seoyeon Sim

Seoyeon Sim, Carnegie Mellon University

Seoyeon Sim is a junior studying Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This summer, she worked on the Maya Archaeology project, using mobile devices like the Google Tango to create 3D reconstructions of Maya structures located in Guatemala. She plans on pursuing a career in computer vision and hopes to live in sunny California after graduation.
 
 
 
 
 
2016 Ethan Slattery
Ethan Slattery, University of California, Santa Cruz

Ethan is a second year Computer Engineering student currently transferring from Saddleback College to UC Santa Cruz. He worked on the Spherecam project over the summer, programming the Intel Edison embedded computer and developing a high-speed analog capture card for the system. Reading about Engineers for Exploration was his original motivation to leave a previous career and return to school, and Ethan hopes to continue working on engineering projects associated with exploration and ecological sciences. When he is not studying or working on engineering projects Ethan works with wildlife, SCUBA dives in the local kelp forests, climbs big rocks, and travels as often as possible.
 
 
2016 Irina Tolkova
Irina Tolkova, University of Washington

Irina Tolkova is a Applied Math and Computer Science senior at the University of Washington. She spent this summer working on signal processing and machine learning methods for the humpback whale bioacoustics project. In her free time, Irina enjoys hiking, drawing, wushu, and listening to many hours of underwater audio data.
 
 
 

2016 Tara Tripp
Tara Tripp, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign

Tara is a third year computer engineering student at UIUC. Over the summer she worked on developing a terrain avoidance system for multirotor drones using rangefinder and terrain elevation data in order to improve aerial 3D mapping. In her free time, Tara enjoys reading, playing video games, and working with her robotics team.
 
 
 

2016 Daniel Webber
Daniel Webber, Santa Clara University

Daniel is a rising sophomore currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. This summer he worked on the radio collar tracker platform, improving the receiver’s hardware to make the system more sensitive to increase the detection range. In his free-time he enjoys flying quadcopters, cycling and photography.
 
 
 

2016_Hongyi_ZhaoHongyi Zhao, Zhejiang University*

Hongyi is a senior Ocean Engineering Student at Zhejiang University. He spent the summer working on the whale call detection and classification project at UCSD, trying to do signal processing for the audio data with great noise and use machine learning to detect and classify the sound of Humpback whales. He has great passion in the field of Data analysis, Artificial intelligence and Robotics. Aside from work, he loves playing basketball, playing the piano, cycling or hiking with friends.
 
 
 

2016 Kaue Zoia
Kaue Alves Pereira Zoia

Kaue Zoia is a Mechatronics Engineering student from Brazil. During his 2015/2016 academic year, he studied at Purdue University. At the end of the summer, Kaue came back to Brazil to finish his engineering course. Kaue is also a musician, and enjoys spending his free time playing electric guitar and exploring different kinds of sounds and music. This summer Kaue worked on the mechanical development of the underwater 3D visualization system.
 
 
 

*Through the UCSD Summer Research Training Program

Summer 2016 Mentors

2016 Quentin GautierQuentin Gautier

Quentin is a PhD student in Computer Science at UC San Diego. He moved from France to the US in 2010 and worked for 2 years in GPU technologies for radiation therapy treatment. He started his PhD in 2013 with Prof. Ryan Kastner, working on 3D scanning algorithms. Quentin joined Engineers for Exploration in 2014 and recently applied his work in an archaeological site in Guatemala. When he’s not too busy with his PhD work, he enjoys hiking, reading, photographing, film making and playing video games.
 
 
 

Nathan HuiNathan Hui

Nathan Hui is a 5th year Electrical Engineering Student at UC San Diego. He is currently the Project Lead for the Radio Collar Tracker, a collaboration between UC San Diego and the San Diego Zoo. Hui has been a member of Engineers for Exploration since 2014, working on projects including the Aerial Balloon Platform. In addition to being a student and undergraduate researcher, Hui is an Outings Guide with UC San Diego’s Outback Adventures, guiding students on trips throughout the Southwestern United States and Western Mexico.
 
 
 
dknapp_reu_photo
Daniel Knapp

Daniel Knapp is a 2nd year grad student in the Computer Science and Engineering department at UCSD working on his M.S. in Computer Engineering. His desired focus is working on Embedded Systems in which he can work both on hardware and software. He has worked on the Angry Birds project (and did a deployment of 16 systems June 2015) and the Underwater 3D Visualization Rig.
 
 
 
 
2016 Eric Lo
Eric Lo

Eric is a development engineer at UC San Diego with an interest in robotics and imaging systems. As an undergraduate student, he led E4E’s aerial projects team to deploy both locally and internationally. This summer, he served as a mentor for the aerial path planning project. When not sitting in front of a computer, Eric enjoys hiking and climbing.
 
 
 
 
 
2016 Antonella Wilby
Antonella Wilby

Antonella is starting the second year of her PhD studies in the Kastner Research Group at UCSD, working on underwater robotics and computer vision research. This summer she mentored the projects on the underwater 3D visualization system, acoustic triggering for the SphereCam camera trap, and machine learning on humpback whale social calls. Antonella likes photography and any activities involving mountains, rocks, oceans, animals, and wilderness.