Behind the Scenes


Events Team

Aditi Dewangan

Department: Journal

Events Co-Director

Aditi is a high school junior in Seattle, Washington. Through her work in IYNA, she hopes to inspire students in the field of neuroscience by making events and competitions more efficient and accessible. Her role includes liaising with IYNA partner organizations. Additionally, she reaches out to high schools and universities to share the IYNA organization so that more students can access IYNA's resources. In her leisure time, she enjoys biking and volunteering at her local senior home.

Steven Jin

Department: Events

Events Co-Director

Steven is a high school student from Texas. He hopes to promote more accessible neuroscience resources to all people from socioeconomic disadvantaged backgrounds through competitions, summer programs, webinars, and bootcamps. His role includes creating new events, organizing existing virtual and in-person events, as well as managing volunteers. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis and listening to all genres of music.


Youth Neuroscience Summer Program

Eve Harrison

Department: Events

Head TA

Eve is a post-graduate research student in Scotland, UK. Having just finished her Master's Degree in Brain Sciences at the University of Glasgow, she is now pursuing her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience & Psychology at the University of the West of Scotland. Her research focuses on changes in perceptual decision making during aging and Alzheimers Disease. Through her work with IYNA, she hopes to help as many budding-neuroscientists as possible to enter the field and find the same passion that she has through her own studies. Her specific roles include developing the IYNA’s Youth Neuroscience Summer Program, judging essay writing competitions, and being the Head Teaching Assistant in the Youth Neuroscience Summer Course. In her spare time, Eve enjoys reading, diamond painting, watching movies and playing with her pet rats and dog.

Sarah Liu

Department: Events

Youth Neuroscience Summer Program Director

Sarah is a high school senior in Los Angeles, and she is passionate about the overlap between art and neuroscience. Sarah works on project execution and marketing within the IYNA, including the Youth Neuroscience summer program. Currently, she serves as the president of her school's Neuroscience Club and as the program leader for an art therapy recovery program at a hospital in Downtown Los Angeles. Additionally, she runs her own curated vintage and art business. In her free time, she enjoys playing and collecting electric guitars and vinyl records.

Ryan Cho

Department: Events, Marketing Chapters

Youth Neuroscience Summer Program Co-Director, Website Lead, Regional Chapter Lead

Ryan is a senior at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA). At IYNA, he aims to distribute neuroscience resources at no cost whenever possible. In IYNA, he is responsible for renovating the website to reduce costs, assisting in organizing the neuroscience summer program, and communicating with IYNA student chapters. He also enjoys exploring the fields of cognitive neuroscience and episodic memory using computational neuroscience.

Steven Jin

Department: Events

Events Director

Steven is a high school student from Texas. He hopes to promote more accessible neuroscience resources to all people from socioeconomic disadvantaged backgrounds through competitions, summer programs, webinars, and bootcamps. His role includes creating new events, organizing existing virtual and in-person events, as well as managing volunteers. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis and listening to all genres of music.

Jacob Umans

Department: all

Board Chair

Jacob Umans is a current MD/PhD student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and serves as Board Chair of the International Youth Neuroscience Association. He co-founded the IYNA as a high-school student, and is committed to making the IYNA a community in which students can explore a future in neuroscience and make like-minded friends while doing so.


Brain Bee Bootcamp

Valeria Zuluaga-Sanchez

Department: Events

Head Moderator

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Harini Venkatesh

Department: Events

Operations

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Taia Fry

Department: Events

BBB Volunteer

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Madeline Chiang

Department: Events

BBB Volunteer

Madeline is an undergraduate student at the University of Notre Dame, majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior. She joined IYNA to empower and inspire youth in the neuroscience field by increasing accessibility and awareness. Her role at IYNA includes planning events, such as Brain Bee Bootcamp and Ideathon, and creating neuroscience content. During her free time, she enjoys hiking, baking, traveling, and watching movies.

Mahathi Harith

Department: Events

BBB Volunteer

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IYNA Ideathon

Aditi Dewangan

Department: Events

Events Co-Director

Aditi is a high school junior in Seattle, Washington. Through her work in IYNA, she hopes to inspire students in the field of neuroscience by making events and competitions more efficient and accessible. Her role includes liaising with IYNA partner organizations. Additionally, she reaches out to high schools and universities to share the IYNA organization so that more students can access IYNA's resources. In her leisure time, she enjoys biking and volunteering at her local senior home.

Soneesh Kothagundla

Department: Events

Ideathon Lead

Soneesh is a sophomore at South Forsyth High School. He is passionate about research, clinical neuroscience, public health policy, being an innovative leader, and creating impact on people. He hopes to one day become a neurologist, neurosurgoen, or general surgeon. Furthermore, his passion for neuroscience goes beyond studying it, which is why he joined the IYNA, to help increase the access of neuroscience education.


Marketing Team

Sofia Feathergill

Department: Marketing

Marketing lead

Sofia is currently a junior on her city’s highschool, TISLS. She was Chile’s 2022 Brain Bee finalist and hopes to study medicine. One of her main objetives working with IYNA is to inspire young girls into pursuing STEM related careers. Her specific roles in the organization include managing our social media, and being in charge of our advertisement. In her free time she loves to practice theater and dance, and she also speaks two languages, Spanish and English.

Brianna Silva

Department: Marketing, Journal

Content Creator, Translator

Brianna is a high school graduate and prospective college student from Peru. She plans to pursue a career in Neuroscience, with a special emphasis on researching neurological disorders. She is a translator for IYNA's journal and a content creator in the Marketing Department. Her all-time favorite food is ceviche, and her preferred music genre is rock.

Júlia Bortolotti

Department: Marketing

Content Creator

Júlia is a Psychology undergraduate student at Universidade Católica de Petrópolis, in Brazil. She's a Content Creator of the IYNA and is passionate about the neuroscience, technology and psychology fields. In her free time, Júlia enjoys reading, playing music, drawing and learning new things.

Kavya Chintakayala

Department: Marketing

Content designer/Artist-in-Residence

Kavya Chintakayala is a senior who lives in Ohio, USA. As both IYNA’s graphic designer and the IYNA Journal’s Artist-in-Residence, she spends the majority of her time in her sketchbook. She finds herself intrigued by visual perception and the overlap between neuroscience and art. Most of her free time is taken up by drawing, but the rest is invested into doing tech for her high school theatre group or creating the world’s most suspicious food combinations.

Kehinde Olabode

Department: Marketing

Content Designer

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Saanvika Polasa

Department: Marketing

Content Creator

Saanvika is currently a junior at South Brunswick, New Jersey. Through her work with IYNA, she hopes to create not only informational but fun content that help make neuroscience a more accessible field. Her role includes making fun content for the IYNA Tiktok. In her spare time, Saanvika loves to read, watch sitcoms, and dance (the Indian classical dance form Kuchipudi).

Ryan Cho

Department: Events, Marketing, Chapters

Youth Neuroscience Summer Program Co-Director, Website Lead, Regional Chapter Lead

Ryan is a senior at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA). At IYNA, he aims to distribute neuroscience resources at no cost whenever possible. In IYNA, he is responsible for renovating the website to reduce costs, assisting in organizing the neuroscience summer program, and communicating with IYNA student chapters. He also enjoys exploring the fields of cognitive neuroscience and episodic memory using computational neuroscience.

Ishani Ghosh

Department: Marketing, Journal

Website Co-Lead, Junior Editor

Ishani is a high school senior at Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. Currently, she is a Junior Editor, Website Co-Lead, and Chapter Director for the IYNA. She has been involved in neuroscience research on memory and traumatic brain injury since her freshman year of high school. Some of her achievements include winning 3rd place in the Behavioral and Social Sciences Category at the International Science and Engineering Fair and developing her own patent. Ishani also enjoys volunteering in the Stroke unit of her local rehabilitation center. In her free time, she likes to watch and play soccer, do jigsaw puzzles, and dance.


Operations Team

Faheem Alam

Department: Journal/Operations

Editor/Operations Team Member

Faheem is a high school senior at The Early College at Guilford in Greensboro, North Carolina. He plans to study neuroscience and public health to help with healthcare equity issues. He has experience in neurology labs, researching computational neuroscience topics. In his free time, he enjoys volunteering at his local NSICU, watching football (Go Bengals!), and hanging out with friends.

Felix Nickel

Department: Operations/Human Resources/Staff Events

Operations Assistant, Staff Events lead, Human Resources lead

Felix is a senior at St. Petersburg College. Within the IYNA, Felix hopes to make neuroscience be more accessible and less intimidating, working as HR and Operations co-lead. Felix enjoys caring for plants and cooking in his free time.

Shrika Vejandla

Department: Operations/Journal

Operations Lead/Head of Journalists

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Nandini Aggarwal

Department: Operations

Membership Lead

Nandini is a high school junior at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Through her position in the IYNA, she aims to create new initiatives that enable members to conduct research and recruit members with a passion for neuroscience. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, traveling to new places, and fencing.

Simran Agarwala

Department: Operations

Membership Volunteer

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Zainab Khan

Department: Operations

Mentorship Volunteer

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Phanuel Acheampong

Department: Operations

Staff events team member

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Eesha Oza

Department: Operations, Chapters, Journal

Fundraising Lead, Regional Chapter Lead, Senior Editor

Eesha is a high school junior in New Jersey. She is currently the Fundraising Lead for the IYNA, through which she organizes fundraisers and works with the grant team to increase fundraising to further promote IYNA's mission.


Chapters Team

Arla Xiao

Department: Chapters

Chapters Director

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Ryan Cho

Midwest USA

Department: Events, Marketing, Chapters

Youth Neuroscience Summer Program Co-Director, Website Lead, Regional Chapter Lead

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Arunima Jaswal

Southwest USA

Department: Chapters

Regional Chapter Lead

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Kevin Chang

West USA

Department: Chapters

Regional Chapter Lead

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Ayah A. Gabr

Egypt

Department: Chapters

Regional Chapter Lead

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Eesha Oza

Northeast USA

Department: Chapters, Fundraising

Regional Chapter Lead, Fundraising Lead

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