I am a sophomore studying chemical engineering with a minor in biomedical engineering at Cooper Union. This summer was not my first time working in a research lab, but it was my first time participating on an igem team. I am primarily interested in genetic engineering and biochemistry which is why I worked mainly on the wetware component of this project.
Karlin Yeh
I am a Sophmore Mechanical Engineer at The Cooper Union. I'm new to synthetic biology, but have been competing in robotics competitions for 8 years. My main role in the lab is designing hardware for the team's various experiments and the occasional repair. When not working on iGEM hardware, you can find me tinkering with my 3D printers or trying to grow Mara de Bois strawberries and Chocolate Habaneros hydroponically.
Lily Lin
I am a Junior Chemical Engineer at The Cooper Union. Aside from being my group's math adviser, I also flex my linguistic muscles by helping Dionne learn Spanish. Speaking of languages, I love learning them and am often found repeating Italian, Arabic, or Korean phrases that I've just discovered. I'm also Sara's partner-in-crime in CSA, and I exercise my eloquent oral skills in Toastmasters. *eats toast* It sure does smell like yeast in here... Also, I'm surprisingly the tallest member of the group despite the fact that I've been told that I'm short by a good number of people.
Tushar Nichakawade
When I was a young boy, my parents decided it would be a good opportunity to meet our source of life and energy: the sun. I thought this great ball of flaming glory in the heavens would bring me peace and love. Instead, it just made me overly tanned. Sometimes I’m glad I chose this path, so I can resolve dermal ailments such as when Chris gets sunburnt.
Yingfu Ma
I am cool guy. I make Susung's software into hardware. I am especially efficient at hunting down PCR machines. I have found many in the wild, and until now I have never caught one. Just yesterday, I managed to snag it as it was sleeping. You can see me wearing its remains as a reminder to other PCR machines. However I am inferior to Tushar, because his IQ is higher than the number of base pairs in my genome.
John Song
When it comes to games, I'm always number 1. I'm Korean, so you know I'm good. Keith and Susung have nothing on my mad skills. When they lose, they get mad and call me trash because I dumpstered on their play. I can carry this team like I carried Susung to Challenger I.
Keith Joseph
I taught Kobe how to ball, and am still better than Susung. Basketball, like iGEM, is a team game; pass the ball to the main player (me) and we win. Sadly, Susung broke my ankles in NBA2K15 so I had to retire from playing basketball. That's when I decided to pick up iGEM and work on the wetwork. If I can't ball, at least I can do colony PCR.
Susung Choi
I'm the real boss; anyone else who says otherwise, is a liar. I am also the eldest son of the CEO of Samsung, hence, my name. I’m Challenger I in League of Legends, and I play for the professional team. Some of you may recognize me by my sophisticated jungling mechanics, and my IGN: Saintvicious. I am also a god at programming, but my true skills lie in my ability to destroy Keith at NBA2K15.
Jean Lam
I am not pants. Pants are not for me. The instant I was born, I was saying the word 'jean.' My parents thought I would grow up to be a fashion designer, so they named me Jean. What they didn't know was that I really meant to say 'gene.'
Soon Yi, Mentor
Interstellar is the best movie. I watched it over 50 times in the past week. How do I find the time to do this? It's easy! I get my minion, Tushar, to do my transformations and PCR clean up for my own projects. I'm also very good at giving the team false hope by inviting everybody to go eat ice cream, and then pushing it off to a later date. Maybe.
Oliver Medvedik, PhD
I am the mastermind behind iGEM at Cooper Union. I do everything at once. I prefer to spend at much time in the lab as humanly possible, and encourage my students to join me. There are times when I will set up an experiment that will be done at 2 AM, and that is completely acceptable to me. The students have lovingly re-named my cat Misha to Oligo. I am very interested in all things Bio, but the aging process in particular. I'm a busy man because I need to manage a company I co-founded: GenSpace, the first community biohacking lab based in Brooklyn. I run down there all the time because I want to see everyone succeed.
