Team
Our Mentors
Every Personify mentor is a domain expert - and every curriculum is reviewed by a former Harvard Admissions Officer.
Meghan
Former Harvard Admissions Officer - 6+ years on the voting committee
Meghan has read thousands of applications - and she remembers the ones that made the committee stop and pay attention. They were never the longest résumés; they were the real ones. That's the lens she brings to every Personify curriculum: does this project show who this kid actually is?
College Counselors
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College Counselors
Moriah
College Consultant & Essay Editor
University of Pennsylvania - Creative Nonfiction Writing & Women's Studies, high honors
Moriah is a college consultant and essay editor who helps students craft standout personal narratives and navigate every stage of the application process.
College CounselorsDaniela
College Counselor - Former UPenn & Johns Hopkins Admissions
BS Neuroscience & Psychology (Johns Hopkins, honors); MS Education, UPenn Graduate School of Education
Daniela was a first-generation college student who figured out admissions the hard way - then spent four years on the other side of the desk, reading 3,500+ applications at UPenn and Johns Hopkins. She coaches students with both maps in hand: what it feels like to apply, and exactly what the readers are looking for. (Rated applicants for Wharton, Penn CAS, Engineering & Nursing.)
Research Mentors
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Research Mentors
Dr. Gayatri Sanku
Research Mentor - PhD, MPH · Physician-Scientist in Training
PhD, Microbiology & Immunology (Georgetown–NIH GPP); MPH Epidemiology & BS Neuroscience (UIC); MD in training (UIC MSTP)
Dr. Sanku believes every student deserves a seat at the research table - especially the ones who don't see themselves there yet. She gives close, patient, iterative feedback until her mentees realize they can actually do this. Then she holds them to the same standards she holds herself. (PhD in Microbiology & Immunology, Georgetown–NIH; first-author in Frontiers in Immunology.)
Research Mentors
Dr. Joy Li
Engineering & Research Mentor
PhD Biomedical Engineering & MS ECE, Duke (GPA 3.97); BS Biomedical Engineering, Cornell (Magna Cum Laude)
Dr. Li has spent nine years at a lab bench, which means she's seen a thousand experiments fail before they worked - and that's exactly what she teaches students to expect and embrace. Kids leave her mentorship unafraid of the messy middle of real science. (PhD Biomedical Engineering, Duke; BS Cornell, Magna Cum Laude.)
Research MentorsPhD · Worked for Senator John McCainDr. Joshua Lader
Research Mentor - Public Policy & Health Systems (PhD, FACHE)
PhD, Public Policy & Administration; FACHE, CHRC
Dr. Lader spent years in rooms where policy actually gets made - including on Senator John McCain's team - and what struck him most was how few young people ever learn how those rooms work. He mentors students who want to change systems, showing them how ideas become policy and policy becomes real life. (PhD, Public Policy; 15+ years in healthcare leadership.)
Science Fair Mentors
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Science Fair Mentors
Kevin Gong
Science Fair Mentor - ISEF Grand Award Winner
Research at the Won Jin Ho Lab, Johns Hopkins University
Kevin remembers the nerves of his own first science fair - which is why his students walk into judging feeling ready, not rehearsed. He's been exactly where they are, just a few steps ahead: ~70% of the students he's coached have gone on to competitive science-fair success. (ISEF Grand Award Winner, researcher at Johns Hopkins.)
Science Fair Mentors
Agastya Sarmah
Science Fair Mentor - ISEF Grand Award Winner & Regeneron STS Scholar
UC Berkeley - Molecular & Cell Biology (planned double major in CS or Bioengineering)
Agastya knows the exact moment a judge's eyes glaze over - because he's stood on that stage himself. He teaches students to tell the story behind their science, tailoring every pitch to every judge, the way he did on his way to an ISEF Grand Award. His students say his coaching is what made the difference. (Regeneron STS Top 300 Scholar, UC Berkeley.)
Science Fair MentorsJacob
Science Fair Mentor - Regeneron STS Top 300 Scholar (UPenn)
University of Pennsylvania - CRISPR gene-editing research
Jacob's first big science fair project didn't place. He kept going - and ended up nationally recognized at both ISEF and Regeneron STS. That early stumble is his superpower as a mentor: he knows the difference between a good project and an elite one because he's lived both. (UPenn CRISPR researcher.)
Tech & AI Mentors
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Tech & AI Mentors
Anastasiia Uvarova
Tech & AI Mentor - LLMs, NLP & Computer Vision (MIT)
MIT - MEng Computer Science (BS in CS & Physics)
Ana spends her days at one of the world's top AI labs asking a very kid-friendly question: how do we learn to communicate? She brings that same curiosity to mentoring - meeting students where they are, then walking them into real AI research one experiment at a time. (MEng Computer Science, MIT; 3 years at MIT CSAIL.)
Tech & AI Mentors
Samiul
Tech Mentor - iOS / SwiftUI & Full-Stack (Carnegie Mellon)
Carnegie Mellon University
Samiul remembers the thrill of his first app actually running on a real phone - and that's the moment he chases with every student. He guides kids from 'I have an idea' all the way to a real app on the App Store, teaching them how professional engineers actually work along the way. (Carnegie Mellon; production engineering at fintech startups.)
Tech & AI MentorsDaniel Ige
Tech & AI Mentor - Software Engineering & ML (MIT)
MIT - Computer Science & Mathematics (5.0/5.0 GPA)
In high school, Daniel founded the first Black Student Union in his school's 116-year history - he knows what it means to build something where nothing existed. Now at MIT with a perfect 5.0, he's presented to Jack Dorsey, out-traded every intern at Jane Street, and mentors students with the same energy: start where you are, build what matters. (MIT; Block, Microsoft, Nasdaq, Jane Street.)
Invention & Patent Mentors
Explore Invention & Patent Mentors projects →Invention & Patent MentorsDr. Joy Li
Engineering & Research Mentor
PhD Biomedical Engineering & MS ECE, Duke (GPA 3.97); BS Biomedical Engineering, Cornell (Magna Cum Laude)
Dr. Li has spent nine years at a lab bench, which means she's seen a thousand experiments fail before they worked - and that's exactly what she teaches students to expect and embrace. Kids leave her mentorship unafraid of the messy middle of real science. (PhD Biomedical Engineering, Duke; BS Cornell, Magna Cum Laude.)
Invention & Patent MentorsPaola Romero
Engineering Project Mentor (MIT)
MIT - Mechanical Engineering
Paola runs a makerspace at MIT, which means her favorite sentence is 'let's just try it.' She teaches students to 3D print, laser cut, and prototype their way to confidence, because nothing convinces a kid they're an engineer like holding something they built. (MIT Mechanical Engineering; medical-device intern at Lexington Medical.)
Invention & Patent MentorsCaden Tan
Engineering Project Mentor (Johns Hopkins)
Johns Hopkins University - Biomedical Engineering
Caden spent four years in a hands-on engineering program as a teenager - soldering, laser cutting, leading project teams - so he remembers exactly what it's like to learn by building. Now a researcher at Johns Hopkins, he mentors students the way he wishes someone had mentored him: side by side, tools out. (JHU Biomedical Engineering.)
Nonprofit Project Mentors
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Nonprofit Project Mentors
Cedric He
Nonprofit Project Mentor
Stanford University - Pre-Law & Management Science and Engineering
Cedric helps students turn ambitious ideas into real nonprofit and community projects. He has launched multiple youth-led organizations himself, and he mentors students with practical, step-by-step support from planning to execution.
Nonprofit Project MentorsAshley Chang
Nonprofit Project Mentor
University of California, Berkeley (honors)
Ashley mentors students building nonprofit, leadership, and entrepreneurial projects. She meets weekly with students to turn ideas into executable plans, keep momentum, and help each project create real community impact.
Nonprofit Project Mentors
Samarth Tewari
Nonprofit Project Mentor
Georgia Institute of Technology - BS Computer Science (4.0 GPA)
As a teenager during COVID, Samarth didn't wait for permission, he organized 15,000+ meals for people who needed them and built a tutoring nonprofit reaching students across two continents. He mentors students the same way: your age is not a limitation, it's your story. (Georgia Tech CS, 4.0 GPA.)