Our Mentors

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.

Daniela

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.)

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.)

Frida M. Delgadillo

Research Mentor - Bioinformatics, Genomics & Computational Biology

PhD Researcher, University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)

Frida helps students turn an interest in biology or medicine into a focused, computationally tractable research project. Her work in bioinformatics, genomics, transcriptomics, and cancer disparities gives students a path into rigorous dry-lab research using real biological datasets - no traditional laboratory required.

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.)

Dr. 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.)

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.)

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.)

Ashwika Agrawal

Science Fair Mentor - ISEF 1st Place Grand Award Winner

Ashwika helps students turn an interest in medicine, biology, or AI into a rigorous, competition-ready research project. Her own award-winning ISEF work combined respiratory health, biomedical engineering, Python, and machine learning - experience she now brings to project strategy, technical development, and judge preparation.

Jacob

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.)

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.)

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.)

Makayla Pham

Tech & AI Mentor - AI Product Thinking & Prototyping

University of Michigan

Makayla helps students turn early ideas into real AI-powered or app-based products. She is especially strong at clarifying the problem, refining the user experience, and turning a promising concept into something a student can actually build, test, and pitch. (University of Michigan; product, AI, and design-minded mentorship.)

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.)

Paola 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.)

Caden 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.)

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.

Ashley 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.

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.)

Yana Danzig

Nonprofit & Community Impact Mentor - Founder, Brushstrokes For History

Carnegie Mellon University

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

At 17, Yana turned her love of art and local history into Brushstrokes For History, a 501(c)(3) that brings artists, residents, and young people together to make overlooked community stories visible. She helps students build the kind of project that begins with a real cause and grows into a team, a public presence, and lasting impact. (Founder, Brushstrokes For History; Carnegie Mellon University.)