This summer, we are hosting 18 students from around the US in our 2020 summer research program. We’ll be working on projects from mapping mangroves and animals with drones to recognizing and classifying animals from their calls. Meet our students by reading their bios below:
Justin Andal is a senior at UC San Diego majoring in Computer Engineering with an emphasis in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, and Cyber Security. Justin is using Machine Learning and Computer Vision techniques to develop tools to classify owl behavior on the Burrowing Owl project. On his off time, he likes to play basketball, watch Netflix, and play catch with his dog Gaudi.
Fredo is a rising senior at UCSD, and is majoring in Nanoengineering with his focus being in Mechanical engineering and Materials Science. He is working on the Fish Sense project this summer, here he is learning how 3D imaging works and he is working to use depth cameras for the creation of 3D meshes and the characterization of objects. He hopes the skills he will acquire in this program will aid him to be a better engineer in future projects with more to contribute. The goal is that this current project will be used by researchers to characterize fish species from a distance without needing to capture them. When he’s out enjoying himself he has fun gaming, surfing, reading, rock climbing, hiking, and a variety of other hobbies!
Jacob Ayers is a second year transfer student from Santa Barbara City College to the University of California San Diego, studying Electrical Engineering with a depth in machine learning. His primary field of interest involves delving into data science and machine learning for the sake of finding systemic solutions to climate change. He is currently working as the project lead for the Acoustic Species Identification E4E project. This summer he has been working on developing his managerial skills, Python skills, digital signal processing skills, and overall knowledge of the various facets of machine learning. In his free time he enjoys reading, video games, yoga, and caring for his indoor plants!
Sam Cole is a rising junior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, majoring in Computer Engineering. He is currently working on Machine learning models for classifying drone footage obtained by the Mangrove Project. He enjoys playing basketball, snowboarding, and developing algorithms to sort his endless Spotify playlists.
Thuan Do is a rising senior at Rancho Bernardo High School. This summer, he is working on the Mangrove Monitoring project as a UNET tester and beta tester for the ML Paint. He is also part of the Acoustic Species ID project working on binary classifiers. Thuan likes to play video games, walk too much, and enjoy the beach!
Brooke Dybicz is a rising senior at UC San Diego. She is majoring in Electrical Engineering with a focus in Power and minoring in ERC S.M (Latin American Studies and Spanish). This summer, she is working on the Smartfin project. She is analyzing oceanic data collected from a CDIP buoy off the coast of La Jolla Shores to the Smartfin. In addition, Brooke plans on running a wave height validation experiment utilizing a sea kayak, on-shore camera, and Smartfin device to test if the Smartfin can accurately predict wave height. Brooke is ecstatic to work on this project over summer as it combines her passion for engineering and the environment! Outside of the classroom, Brooke enjoys camping, road trips, hiking, traveling the world, spending time at the beach, and dancing.
David Forman loves creating algorithms, especially with machine learning. As an REU researcher with E4E, he has programmed an interactive interface for ML-assisted image labeling. In an underwater acoustics REU, he made a measure of seabed acoustic similarity, which has defined a paradigm for seabed characterization via classification, soon to be submitted as a paper. A rising senior in physics at Hillsdale College, he has applied machine learning to astrophysics, distinguishing true neutron star pulses from terrestrial noise. He enjoys talking with friends and also performing music on his viola – in orchestra, in quartets, for dances, and regularly for the elderly in retirement homes.
Julia Guerrero is a rising senior at UC San Diego, majoring in mechanical engineering. This summer, she is excited to be working on the Fish Sense project where she will be re-calibrating camera software and meshes, and designing waterproof enclosures. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, painting, dancing, and reading.
Dillon Hicks is an incoming Masters Student at UC San Diego in Data Science and Machine Learning. He is continuing as the technical lead of the Mangrove Monitoring Project, enabling other members of his team and developing new Machine Learning models utilizing drone and satellite imagery. In his free time he enjoys listening to music, photography, running, hiking, and helping others with Machine Learning projects.
Yoo-Jin Hwang is entering her junior year as a rising engineering major at Harvey Mudd College with interests in mechanical and electrical engineering. She is currently working on digital signal processing and unsupervised machine learning techniques for the Acoustic Species Identification project to identify calls of different bird species. In her free time, she likes to watch Korean dramas, read or listen to books, create designs in SolidWorks, and dedicate her time to different social justice projects.
Eugene Lee is a rising senior at Canyon Crest Academy. This summer, he is working on the radio collar telemetry project to help develop the UI board so that it works as intended. In his free time, Eugene enjoys figure skating, playing video games, watching movies, and hanging out with friends.
Mia Lucio is a rising fourth-year at UC San Diego, majoring in Computer Engineering. This summer she is working on the radio collar telemetry project, which is developing an efficient method to track radio collars on animals via drone. Mia will assist in the development of the UI to provide a user-friendly way for interacting with and configuring the drone. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, reading, and eating good food with friends.
Nicole Meister is a rising junior at Princeton majoring in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Data and Information. This summer, she is working on developing tools and machine learning algorithms for the Mangrove Mapping project. Nicole loves the outdoors and is interested in the intersection of tech, social impact, and sustainability. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, biking, listening to podcasts, and working on various science outreach projects to redistribute resources and mentorship to support and uplift underserved communities.
Nicholas Muñoz is a rising junior at University of California San Diego, studying electrical engineering with a focus on machine learning and controls and pursuing a minor in cognitive science. This summer, he is applying machine learning and computer vision techniques to predict and classify the behavior of burrowing owls. Outside of academia, his hobbies are participating in any outdoor activities, socializing with friends, and spending time with family.
Gabriel Steinberg is a rising Senior at Binghamton University majoring in Computer Science with research and extracurricular projects focused on machine learning, computer vision, and Bioinformatics. At E4E, he is working on the Acoustic Species Identification team developing classification and detection tools to extract meaningful information from audio clips of the Peruvian Amazon. When Gabriel is not furiously typing away at his computer, he likes to play various instruments, listen to music, skateboard, and practice German.
Justin Wang is a rising junior at Canyon Crest Academy. He is working with the acoustic species identification project in developing a GUI application to create spectrograms of audiomoth recordings. Some of his hobbies include piano, cooking, video games, and basketball. Justin is also a staff writer and editor for a student run magazine and is passionate about journalism and political science. He is currently working on gaining coding skills and wants to have a future in computer science. During his next year of high school, he wants to look into new business opportunities centering around computer science.
Ben Werb is a junior at the University of California San Diego, studying Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences and minoring in Urban Studies and Planning. He is passionate about making a positive impact on the environment, specifically through reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving ocean health. In his free time he enjoys being outdoors, growing plants, and flying drones, with hopes to travel around the world and eventually become an astronaut and grow plants in space. This summer he is working on the Smartfin project to analyze oceanic data from the surf zone and ensure that the Smartfin’s measurements are as accurate as possible.
Anthony Yao is a rising senior at Canyon Crest Academy. This summer, he is working with the Acoustic Species Identification Project to help create a stratified random sampling program to sort audiomoth files as well as the development of a GUI application to create spectrograms of audiomoth recordings. Anthony enjoys basketball, playing video games, listening to music, and hanging out with friends.