This summer, we are hosting 14 students from around the world in our 2025 summer research program at UC San Diego. Meet our students by reading their bios below:

Student Researchers

Aayushka Budhathoki is a Computer Science and Mathematics student transitioning into her senior year at Howard University. This summer, she worked on the FishSense project, implementing Generative Adversarial Networks to enhance the quality of underwater images. She also worked with the Smartfin team, focusing on sensor characterization and calibration. In her free time, she enjoys cooking a variety of cuisines, playing with her cat and competitive GeoGuessing.

AnMei Dasback-Prisk is a rising senior at UC San Diego, studying Computer Engineering. This summer, she worked on the Acoustic Collar project exploring dataloss and the use of auto encoders to compress data. In their free time they enjoy chilling at the beach, eating food, and walking around outside whether that be in nature or a city.

Annabelle Chen is a rising junior studying Computer Science and Mathematics at Amherst College. This summer, she worked on FishSense's new ROV-focused branch, namely focusing on methods for on-device computing and camera calibration for underwater optics. While she loves to think about fish, she also enjoys oil painting, baking sweets, and playing the electric guitar.

Anu Jajodia is a senior at Carleton College studying Statistics (though he loves interdisciplinary work). This summer, he worked on the Acoustic Species ID team, where he worked on methods for extracting features from unlabeled audio data, namely information theory, autoencoders, and clustering. He also helped develop methodology for the analysis of audio data with networks. In his free time, he spent a lot of time playing jazz guitar and surfing.

Aprille Thomas is a rising junior Computer Science major at Howard University. Over the summer she worked on the HallPass project where she built a Python-based model for an access control system that prevents unintended proxies for System-on-Chip architecture. She enjoys hiking, trying new foods and watching anime.

Brendon Mwamba is a rising senior at California Baptist University studying Computer Science. This summer, he is working on the FishSense project, focusing on vector databases, mobile app development, and VR development. In his free time, he enjoys going to the gym, playing basketball, and hiking.

Dhruv Tomar is a rising junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign pursuing a dual degree in Computer Science and Integrative Biology. He has been working with the Acoustic Species ID team this summer, implementing template matching as part of an unsupervised learning pipeline for unlabelled bioacoustic datasets. He enjoys birdwatching, videogames, and playing the classical guitar in his free time.

Francisco Irazaba is a rising senior at Cal Poly SLO, studying Computer Engineering with an interest in embedded systems. This summer, he worked on the acoustic collar team, focusing on integrating firmware, measuring power consumption, and providing low-power solutions for an STM32 microcontroller inside the collar. In his free time, he enjoys going to the gym, hiking, and skateboarding.

Hayden Dosseh is a rising junior at Howard University studying Electrical Engineering and Biology. Hayden has been working with the Acoustic Species Collar Team and HallPass to build an autoencoder while managing data loss on flash memory, and building various access control systems for System-On-Chip architectures respectively. He loves to cook, play football (not soccer), play musical instruments, and say "Wagwann!!" .

Milo Akerman is a rising sophomore at Brown University, studying Computer Engineering. He has worked in the acoustic collar project this summer, developing the hardware and firmware to deploy low-power embedded systems tracking free-range animal vocalizations. His work focuses on intermittent computing, TinyML, and wireless networking on STM32 ARM CPUs. Outside of the bioacoustics, he enjoys playing guitar, learning cardistry, and perhaps even other things.

Nykolas Rekasius is a rising senior computer science major at Williams College. This summer he has been working on the FishSense project working on underwater color correction, automatic underwater fish identification and segmentation, and automatic underwater laser detection. Outside of the lab Nykolas is an avid cellist, budding photographer, and thorough enjoyer of spending time outdoors.

Sijan Shrestha is a rising junior at Howard University majoring in Computer Science. This summer, he has contributed to the FishSense Project, focusing on fish species identification, detection, and segmentation. He is also working on testing a new deep-water exploration camera, which is being integrated with a Rupik Pi to develop an autonomous underwater monitoring system. During free time, he enjoys writing songs and singing with his guitar.

Siya Kamboj is a rising senior at UC San Diego majoring in Computer Science. This summer, she worked on the Acoustic Species Identification team as part of the machine learning sub-team, where she focused on developing a knowledge graph for unsupervised bioacoustic discovery. Outside of research, she enjoys filmmaking and photography.

Theo Darci-Maher is a rising junior at Macalester college, majoring in Physics with an emphasis in Astronomy and minoring in both Math and Studio Art. This summer he worked on FishSense, focusing on underwater optics and mechanical systems for the new ROV project. Outisde of research, he enjoys backpacking, playing sports like soccer or ice hockey, and walking his dog.

Mentors

Sean Perry is a first-year Ph.D student working under Professor Ryan Kastner in the Computer Science Department of UCSD and a project lead of the Acoustic Species Identification project. Sean studies all things bioacoustics, from domain shift issue between recording devices to exploratory techniques in unlabeled audio data towards improvements to monitoring of nature and ecology. Towards maintaining a work life balance, Sean also enjoys the wonderful food in San Diego, visiting his family and friends, and getting his cats to chase after an old shoelace.

Christopher Crutchfield is a fifth-year Ph.D student working under Professor Curt Schurgers and Professor Ryan Kastner. His Masters was in Intelligent Systems, Robotics, and Control. He is now putting that background to work by developing sensors for understanding the health of our oceans by developing underwater depth cameras with FishSense, a project which he leads. Through the use of these cameras, he hopes to be able to help scientists monitor the biodiversity of our oceans and the health of the underwater ecosystem. When not working to help protect our environment, he enjoys a quiet day at home, with his wife and three cats.