Past Interns

Chris Afonso was the Information Security – IT Innovation Intern in the Summer of 2016. As a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst majoring in Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence sub track, this Internship would be a pivotal step in preparing him for a lifelong career in IT following his graduation in Spring 2017. During his time at UMass Chan IT, Chris was responsible for developing and deploying an IT Executive Security Dashboard that would serve to aggregate, analyze, and visualize various Information Security data sources for decision-makers. He worked closely with the Information Security team, a relatively small, yet extremely efficient and powerful team, to develop metrics from which IT Executives could come to informed conclusions surrounding the Information Security posture of the school. As part of the development process of the Dashboard he learned to use an enterprise grade Business Intelligence tool – Tableau, developed a report aggregator using Selenium, and interacted with various teams throughout IT to determine what metrics their tools could contribute to the process of continually improving UMass Chan IT’s Information Security program. Throughout his time as an Intern, he came to understand the importance of the following quote, from the security team’s leader, Brian Coleman: “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”, and aimed to apply it in the Dashboard he built. His supervisor Krystal Pedersen, and mentor Vincent Lee, would impart the importance of communication, efficiency, and thorough work that would serve him well into the future. His fellow intern classmates also amazed him with their outstanding skill-sets, and he’s sure that whatever professional path they take in life, other’s will experience the same amazement. He appreciates the opportunity to have worked with a group of world-class IT professionals and knows that the experience he’s gained will be invaluable in both his professional career and in life. He thanks everyone in UMass Chan IT for their support of his project, Go UMass!!!

*Chris was hired as an employee of UMass Chan Medical School IT-Security & Compliance!  

I graduated from the University Of Connecticut with a B.S. in Business Marketing, a minor in Sociology, and certificates in both Digital Marketing and Analytics and Global Business Leadership in May 2016. I’m part of the web team (Wolf Pack) where my main focus is digital marketing using social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. I work closely with Scott Dziewietin, Masha Zabaruk, Stan Prodanov, Sue Mandella, Leslie Rutter (Cosgrove), Jyothi Nagaraj, Nicholas DiFranco, and Willy Ci.

*David was hired as an employee by UMass Chan Medical School IT-Digital Marketing!

Hey! I’m Chris Aurelio, I’m a student at University of Massachusetts Lowell pursuing a major in Computer Science and a minor in Digital Media. I’m excited to spend time with the team at UMass Chan Medical School and learn what it’s like to be involved in a solutions development team! In my free time, I’m big into photography, especially with sports. There are many weekends throughout the year where I’ll find myself weighed down with camera gear at car races, or college sporting events.

*Chris was hired as an employee of UMass Chan Medical School IT-DevOps!  

Saman Bhat My name is Saman Bhat and I am a recent graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Computer Science and Politics. I am super excited to start learning and promoting new technologies as the Microsoft Collaboration intern and am thrilled to help serve the technological needs of the faculty, students, and researchers here at UMass Chan Medical School alongside the amazing IT department. Aside from technology my interests include graphic design, traveling, and watching movies.

I am a graduate student currently pursuing my master’s degree at UMass Boston with a strong computer science background. Extremely passionate about technology and constantly look for opportunities that enable me to use my current knowledge in software development to apply it in solving everyday problems. For instance, in the first year, I developed a UMass parking app for the commuters to solve parking issues. Everyone has midnight hunger, being the techie that I am, I innovatively developed a website for students to conveniently order food right from the comfort of their dorms

Joining the dynamic Team of Host and Services IT Professionals as an Open source monitoring solutions intern under the supervision of David Plamondon. My Internship primarily focuses on the utilization of flex-pod environment and building out next-generation multiple dashboards using Grafana, Influx DB, Graphite DB, Python, and Data Scraping with the hyper-converged infrastructure to display real-time statistics for the storage, compute and network environment.

Fun Activities:
When I am not doing work in school or the office, you’d find me browsing the kickstart application, for its motto to “help bring creative projects to life” is one that I personally identify with. In addition, I love reading about Warren Buffet.

My name is Shane Bourgeois. I am a recent graduate of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science program. I was born and raised in Massachusetts, and my wife and I are currently settled in Ayer. My background is in Live Sound (15 years), but I am working toward moving away from the entertainment industry. I look toward my future with UMass Chan to hone my skills in UI design and reliable automation systems and protocols. In my free time I enjoy making battlebots, building a large light display for the holidays, and trying to keep the grass alive in my backyard. I am excited to navigate and overcome the challenges of the semi-virtual world we live in today.

Light display video

*Shane was hired as an employee of UMass Chan Medical School IT-Audio Visual!

My name is Jason Brice and I am currently pursing my Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts- Dartmouth. My interests and focus are on machine learning and circuit design. I want to be able to create an impact within the engineering industry. I love learning, and I am always eager and excited to try new things. During my free time I love to play/watch basketball, play video games and spend time with my family.

Maya Bryson 

Hello everyone! My name is Maya Bryson, and I'm currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College pursuing a double major in Neuroscience and Film & Media while running on their D1 Track and Field Team. I am from Anaheim, California and because of that I am a huge Disney fan! I have always been fascinated by the intersection of technology, marketing, and media, and I'm excited to bring my passion for these fields to this incredible team. Thank you for the opportunity to join you all, and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone!

Maya will be assisting in the adoption of collaboration solutions, improving the customer support experience, and assisting with campus sustainability initiatives.

Maneendra Burrannagari

I am Maneendra, currently pursuing my MS in Information Systems from SUNY Binghamton. I am a passionate tech enthusiast with a strong interest in how tech can solve everyday problems by understanding human behavior. An avid learner, I love exploring various technologies and approaches in projects. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, watching movies and immersing myself in story-driven video games!

Alberto Chaves Hello, I am Alberto Chavez. I am a recent UMass Lowell graduate and a Worcester local. I am super grateful for this opportunity as it lets me be part of the UMass culture as well as giving me a place work close to home. Some of my technical passions include programming as it gives me great satisfaction to solve a problem. Outside of the work setting I also consider myself a fish hobbyist. It's both very stressful and satisfying to maintain a fish tank especially saltwater, but the routine of maintenance brings structure which I love!! 

Hey! My name is Tony Choe and I am a recent graduate from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and earned a mathematics degree with a minor in computer science. I am incredibly excited for the opportunities provided by UMass Chan Medical School IT and am eager to learn new skills. In my free time I enjoy playing sports, working out, or playing the piano.

Emerging Professionals Summer Internship Program at UMass Chan Medical School

Hello! My name is Elizabeth Choi. I am an incoming graduate student at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where I will be studying Health Informatics this fall. I received my B.S. in Applied Psychology and Global Public Health at New York University.

I have about two years of experience in the health care industry, having worked as a Business Intelligence and Quality Improvement Data Coordinator at an FQHC located in Los Angeles, CA where I supported quality initiatives and provided staff with guidance in the development of systems and tools that improve quality and outcome metrics.

At UMass Chan Medical School, I look forward to developing meaningful reports through PowerBI and gaining a more technical skillset. I hope to eventually become a clinical informaticist in a hospital setting. In that role, I plan to design efficient patient care, accommodate the needs of patients and healthcare providers, and improve clinical workflow by integrating big data analytics, business, and information technology.

Alvin Cordor graduated from Worcester State University in 2014 with a bachelor degree in Computer Science. He was an IT intern during the summer of 2014. Alvin states that this internship exposed him to the real world work ethics and professional work principles that many college students and recent graduates lack. Alvin spent that summer working on the content management system migration project. He closely worked with the web services team; the Wolf Pack, a great team of IT experts that were always willing to teach him new things and introduce him to the world of Information Technology. He learned a whole lot of new software tools that were used during the content management system migration project such as Episerver and he was also introduced to the agile scrum methodologies. Working at the UMass Chan IT department, handed Alvin the skills and experience that he needed coming from college and he states that he will always be grateful to UMass Chan Medical School IT for allowing him to be part of their team.   Alvin has since used his skills and experiences from UMass Chan to further advance his career and himself as a professional in the IT field. Alvin is currently working at Syntel INC as a software engineer, developing web applications for the banking industries. 

Gemaers Dorvil comes to us from Assumption College where he is a rising senior studying for a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics and a minor in Physics and Computer Science. Gemaers is joining UMass Chan through our EPSIP program, over the next several weeks Gemaers will be assisting in an effort to optimize our current QA process. Please connect with Gemaers here at LinkedIn.

Lizzy Ferreira is pursuing an Operations and Information Management Major from UMass, Amherst but was born and raised in Culver City, CA. During the year, Lizzy is a Lead Student Consultant at Help Desk at UMass, Amherst IT where she supervises 40 student consultants for Tier-1 support. Lizzy has also interned at Verite, a think tank that specializes in promoting fair labor world wide. There, she wrote and edited reports that determined millions of dollars of investment in companies around the world. Additionally, Lizzy is a governor of the UMass Economics Club where she coordinates weekly meetings with lots of pizza. When not working, Lizzy is passionate about photography and cooking delicious meals.

Emerging Professionals Summer Internship Program at UMass Chan Medical School

Emerging Professional Ayaan Gill is a recent graduate from U.C. San Diego. He is a highly motivated user experience designer based in the San Diego area. Ayaan graduated from UC San Diego with B.S. in Cognitive Science with specialization in Design & Interaction. Certificate in UX/UI from UC Berkeley with skills in HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Visual Prototyping & Wireframing, User Research, and User Interface Development. As a UX design intern, designed hospital management software with Cleveland Clinic’s imaging informatics team. Designed cross-platform medical communication software that competed in the semifinals of Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine’s 2019 Innovation Challenge. Organized team player and quick learner passionate about crafting digital designs that make life easier for their users while meeting business needs

Adam Giunta is a Software Engineering student at Becker College in Worcester and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Interactive Media and Design with a Focus in Programming. He is focused on learning new skills related to emerging technologies to gain a better understanding of the industry and establish better experience that falls within his career path. Adam is dedicated and eager to learn new and interesting skills and is never afraid to ask questions. Although ambitious, Adam is dedicated to expanding overall knowledge and contributing to the industry as a whole. In his free time, Adam enjoys reading articles and playing video games like “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” and “Factorio.”  

*Adam was hired as an employee of UMass Chan Medical School IT-Infrastructure Services!

Marloon Paula Gonzalez is a recent graduate at Worcester Technical High School who will be attending the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the upcoming fall, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He brings about four years of computer-aided design (CAD) experience to his role as an IT Innovation Intern for Data Sciences & Technology in support of the D3 Health initiative. His current work contributions are mainly focused on 3D printing, modeling, and computer-aided design which is used to assist the UMass community in their research by designing and prototyping custom solutions. Whenever Marloon isn’t focused on his work or studying, he enjoys drawing, writing, and running.

Hello! My name is Rey Gonzalez, and I am a senior pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Digital Media with a focus on front-end web development at the University of Central Florida. I have gathered many skills throughout my college career, and I am excited to help develop client-facing applications for UMass Chan and meet the amazing people that work there! Aside from work, a few of my interests include photography/film, longboarding, and finding any new hobbies that pique my interest.

Emily Goroza was an intern at UMass Chan Medical School during the summer of 2016. She is currently attending the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as a second-year undergraduate pursuing her Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. She was considered a member of the Wolf Pack and worked on several technology projects under the supervision of Willy Ci at South St. Some of these projects include constructing a low-cost DLP 3D Printer entirely from scratch, developing iOS and Android applications, and experimenting with augmented reality and virtual reality medical solutions. On the job, she enhanced her technology innovation skills as well as her coding abilities, and made many new friends and professional connections. Working within the Information Technology department allowed Emily to pick up some amazing new experience and skills that will help her throughout the rest of her college career. She is very grateful to UMass Chan Medical School and its entire IT department for this wonderful opportunity!

Hanna Gulla worked as an IT intern at UMass Chan Medical School during the summer of 2016 before her Junior Year at Gordon College where she is pursuing her bachelors of science in computer science. She had the honor to work closely with Nicholas DiFranco, Soctt Dziewietin, Sue Mandella, Paul Langlois, Chris Milton, Ketan Parekh, and Stanislav Prodanov. Hanna started working with Division by Zero on the Episerver Find project but later shifted into a project manager position working closely with Wolf Pack as well as the Office of Advancement. She was able to correspond between the developers and the customers for various organizations which includes but is not limited to the projects of PINK, ALS Cellucci Fund, Cancer Center of Excellence, Annual Report of Donors 2015, and Marlborough Hospital. She also had the opportunity to work with another IT intern Vivian Obodo and Stanislav Prodanov with Umass’s Gene Therapy Center. Together they were able to get 4 PI’s and the main Gene Therapy Center up and running on different platforms of social media including Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. Working within the Information Technology department allowed Hanna to learn where her passion really lies in the computer science field. She has gained a lot of experience and skills that she knows will help direct her into the correct concentration she would like to pursue. She now has a position she is striving for as she completes the rest of her college career. She is very grateful to UMass Chan Medical School and the whole IT department for this opportunity that has gone beyond her expectations!

Thomas William Hartvigsen is a PhD student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the Data Science program.  His interests lie in Machine Learning on sequential data such as time series or text and he am excited to be developing and applying novel methods for clinical prediction tasks.

Khadija Cherkani Hassani is an international student from Morocco. She is a computer science sophomore at BHCC. While working at UMass Chan Medical School, she was the IT Engineering Intern. She had the honor to work closely with the Luke Salsich, Tim Kontos, Ketan Parekh and Pete Bowers, under the supervision of Chris Milton and mentorship of Vincent Lee.

During her time at UMass Chan, she worked on the integration of UMass Chan Profiles and ORCID, Open Researcher Contributor Id. She tested for programming bugs and worked directly with the client on gathering the requirements and also had a chance to initiate a partnership between UMass Chan and Boston University technical teams.

She was given the opportunity to utilize and develop her problem-solving skills. Khadija had the chance to develop good relationships with UMass Chan staff. Her experience helped her gain a valuable amount of knowledge. She learned new programming languages and developed many skills while working on her projects. Khadija is currently an Information Systems Security Intern at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center 

Zineb Cherkani Hassani is a Fulbright Scholar from Morocco. She is pursuing a Master of Science in Information Systems at Northeastern University. Prior to that, Zineb worked for 2 years as a project manager in Dial Technologies and Maroc Numeric Cluster where she has managed software development projects and helped the most innovative IT startups in Morocco with their go to market strategy. Zineb holds a Master of Electrical Engineering from Ecole Hassania des Travaux Publics where she graduate in June 2013. Zineb co-founded TIZI, a non-profit organization with over 1000 members that is promoting leadership and political engagement in Morocco. She was elected as President of the organization in march 2012. In December 2012, she was nominated as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum and co-founded the Global Shapers Hub in Casablanca.

Meaghan is a recent graduate of Kent State University, where she received her M.S. in Information Architecture and Knowledge Management, with a focus in User Experience Design. She is the first User Experience Design intern for the Academic Technology team and will work towards bringing user centered design to a variety of web services and applications. By working directly with end users, students and staff, she will help uncover root causes to common user difficulties and offer insights in the effort towards continuous improvement for Academic Technology customers. Meaghan will be investigating user experiences within the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Center for Mindfulness, and the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing

Tiffany Hua graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in May of 2016 with a Mechanical Engineering degree. After graduation, she joined the team as the 3D Printing – IT Innovation Intern where she worked closely with her supervisor, Byron Deane, and ACIO, Dr. Jomol Mathew. Tiffany helped to implement the 3D Printing Services to support researchers and clinicians in the development of lab equipment, medical devices, and prosthesis. She acted as the sole technical design consultant to a number of lab clients and customers and was responsible for operating and maintaining the FDM and DLP 3D-printing systems, equipment, and hardware. During the six-month period, Tiffany managed to design and complete over 50 projects for 15 different clients and familiarize herself with new 3D software, tools, and processes. After the completion of the internship, Tiffany said that she is amazed with the creativity and ingenuity of 3D design and rapid prototyping and is glad to have had such a great learning experience here. She claims she owes her success here to her mentor, Veronika Kolesnikova, and supervisor, Byron Deane, for the guidance and mentorship throughout the internship. Tiffany has recently transitioned to a Device Engineer position with the Data Science and Technology team where she will engineer customized systems for research use to support researchers and clinicians here at UMass Chan.

Tyler is pursuing an M.S. in Physics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Tyler has a strong interest in high performance computing, data science and modelling complex systems. He is currently an intern for Data Science & Technology and works closely with the MGHPCC team to optimize and install cluster software, aid with GPU computing related tasks, and develop internal tools.

Hi, everyone! My name is Saori Hunziker, I am a recent graduate from Western Governors University with a degree in Computer Science. I developed my interest in VR and AR while in college. I have been building VR/AR applications, especially medically related ones because that's my passion. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work in a healthcare setting at UMass Chan medical school. I enjoy participating in Hackathon and playing Sanshin when I have free time.  *Saori will be working primarily with Dr. Melissa Fischer in the Interprofessional Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation (iCELS). 

I look forward to meeting and working with you all!

Aliyah Jackson

Aliyah Jackson joins us for 10 weeks as part of the Emerging Professionals Summer Internship Program (EPSIP). 

Originally from San Antonio, TX she is currently at Western New England University in Springfield studying Business Analytics and Information Management, and can probably school us all on equity trading.

We are excited to have her help in collaboration adoption, data visualization, and whatever else we throw at her this summer.

Hayden Jenkins

Hello everybody! My name is Hayden, and I am from Pensacola, Florida. I'm currently pursuing a degree in Information Technology at UMass Lowell, where I'm expanding my knowledge in software development, cloud computing, and database management. I have been programming for three years now, learning how web applications are built and deployed to the web. I love the sophistication and endless customization of creating websites, and the implications they have on businesses and individuals all around the world.

I am excited to use what I know about this particular domain to contribute to this project, and hopefully many more. Outside of coding, you’ll probably find me watching baseball, listening to music, or gaming—especially playing Call of Duty. I’m always up for a challenge, whether it’s debugging a tough problem or clutching a 1v3 in Search and Destroy.

Robert is currently a Master’s student in Computer Science at Northwestern University. He graduated in 2016 with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Since coming to the States, he has worked at the Air Force Research Laboratory on software-defined radios, PhysIQ on healthcare data analytics, and Patisserie Coralie as a barista. During his time at UMass Chan Medical School, he worked closely with Willy Ci in developing 3D augmented-reality medical applications for Microsoft’s HoloLens using Unity and Visual Studio.

Hari Karri completed his Masters in Computer science from Northern Illinois University in Chicago. He is enthusiastic about learning new things, working with the team, and helping others. Hari is an openminded and detail oriented person at work and always believes that "failure is the first step to get success". During his free time, Hari enjoys playing outer door games like cricket, basketball and video games like "Soccer" and "Call of Duty". Last but not least, he is a dancer, netizen, and professional coder.

Matt Kersey is a student at Columbia University pursuing an MS in computer science with a specific focus on augmented and virtual reality. Before starting at Columbia, he attended Dartmouth College and then worked as a software engineer at Tata Consultancy Services. Matt is particularly interested in the ways that XR can change medical education and make it more accessible to students. A notable example of his past work is a VR application that simulates a defibrillator and trains users to operate it properly. Matt is excited to explore the ways that XR can serve the UMass Chan community. He will be working on AR and VR projects for the simulation center. He hopes that the tools that result from the internship will prove useful in the context of UMass Chan's curriculum. 

Veronika is a graduate student at Clark University and will be graduating in May 2016 with her masters in Information Technology. She interned at UMass Chan IT for 2 semesters (May 2015 –December 2015). Veronika was a part of   the web team (Wolf Pack) in South Street where she customized Episerver, communicated with clients, participated in “Genius Bar” initiative, and created virtual tours. She worked with amazing, smart and great professionals, who soon became her second family: Leslie Rutter (Cosgrove), Masha Zabaruk, Scott Dziewietin, Jyothi Nagaraj, Willy Ci, Sue Mandella, Roderick Morales, Stan Prodanov and an undergrad intern Jeffrey Liang. She also worked with different people and teams for different projects. She had a chance to learn agile development technics, virtual tour creation process, and Episerver CMS development. She finished her internship in December and accepted a job offer from UMass Chan IT and will start in late February as an Application Database Developer.

*Veronika was hired as an employee by UMass Chan Medical School IT-Engineering!

Tim Kontos was an intern at UMass Chan Medical School during the summer of 2005 before his senior year in high school. He came back as an intern after graduating in 2006, and stayed indefinitely. He worked primarily with the web team, helping Karen McHugh and Devesh Varma maintain UMass Chan Medical School’s web presence. Tim also spent time helping different teams with automated testing, leveraging tools like Rational Robot. Projects such as a content migration from an old web content management system to a newer one, ensured an influx of work, necessitating Tim’s time as a valuable resource. While learning on-the-job technical skills like the basics of SQL Server, HTML and CSS, Tim was also given the opportunity to build interpersonal skills by communicating and interacting with coworkers and vendors efficiently and professionally. The skills and experience gained during Tim’s internship led to him being hired full-time as Web Developer, where he spent years working with the web team on a wide variety of projects for the Medical School. Tim spent time working with technologies like JavaScript, VB .Net, and a wide range of graphic design tools. Tim cannot express enough how helpful his coworkers on the web team were to him over the years (Leslie Rutter, Jyothi Nagaraj, Barrett Williamson, Susan Hall, Tony Wareck, Karen McHugh). “Not only did they helped me succeed in all my endeavors, no matter how difficult the task, but they encouraged and motivated me to learn new skills and grow professionally.” Tim has accomplished a great deal and been a part of many successful projects during his time at UMass Chan IT. He has worked full-time at UMass Chan IT since the time of his internship, and managed to earn his bachelors degree from Worcester State University along the way. Tim is grateful for the opportunities that UMass Chan Medical School has provided him over the past 10 years. He is currently an Application Database Developer, working on a team that primarily focuses on mobile applications and newer technologies.

*Tim was hired as an employee by UMass Chan Medical School IT-Infrastructure Services!

Brian Krikorian I’m very excited to learn from everyone here and utilize the skills I learned in college to help improve the school any way I can! In my free time I love going to Fenway Park and playing the bass guitar.

*Brian was hired as an employee of UMass Chan Medical School IT-Project Management Office!  

While working as an intern, Ben was immersed in several projects involving the ASP.NET framework and Microsoft Dynamics CRM technologies.  He spent time programming, customizing and configuring various aspects of these projects while learning about many procedures that take place here.  With the tools provided to him it helped sharpen his skills in AngularJS, ASP.NET MVC, C#, and SQL. Most often, he worked with a team called the Utilitarian’s a team of 5 including him, and he learned a great deal from each of them. He also worked with people outside of his team. Ben states “The UMass Chan IT department is very welcoming. You can tap anyone for a consultation or to bounce ideas off of.” The most important idea that he has learned is that everyone is on the same team. We work together not only to meet our individual goals, but also to better our community. While working on projects, there were times when he hit a road-block.  My coworkers were there to help me when he needed an extra push to get things rolling.  One day there may be an intern who needs my help and Ben will extend this principle and do his best to assist him or her. Ben has accomplished a great deal at his time at UMass Chan. His abilities in programming have evolved, and the work that he has done has had a positive impact on our customers. One of the projects he worked on was even presented at the White House. He was recently hired as a result of his performance while interning here at UMass Chan.

*Ben was hired as an employee of UMass Chan Medical School IT-Engineering!

Citrina Liang Hi, I am Shiting Liang, go by Citina. I am very excited about this intern opportunity at the UMass Chan IT team to apply data analysis and machine learning knowledge from school to different projects. I recently graduated from the M.A. Statistics program at Columbia University. I also studied Statistics during my undergraduate education. I have held several internships throughout my career, including Research Assistant, Quantitative Analyst, and Data Analyst and will be joining UMass Chan IT United Iterations Engineering Team as Machine Learning Algorithms Intern. In my spare time, I like casual walks at dog parks near my home. I also like drawing and baking for relaxation. 

While working at UMass Chan Medical School, Jeffery was the Search Engine Optimizer Intern. Coming into this internship program, he had little knowledge on search engine optimization. He worked with an experienced group of individuals from the IT department and was quickly brought up to speed. Every individual on the IT department played an important role in providing him with an amazing experience that expanded his knowledge and taught him valuable life lessons. He came to learn that wonderful projects are not spawned from a single individual, but from a collaborative effort of collected minds where differing specialized fields come together. This opportunity really broadened his view of teamwork. Sue Mandella orchestrated all the tasks at hand, providing a pathway for websites to be created. Willy Ci and Veronika Kolesnikova created innovative user friendly interfaces that aided in all sorts of medical school use. Masha Zabaruk created brilliant designs and logos that expressed an artistic and professional vision of UMass Chan. Leslie Rutter developed and maintained the web infrastructure of the UMass Chan website. Myra Zhinin tested and ensured that developed products met company standards. From this collaboration of brilliant minds, he was truly able to understand the value of teamwork. Even after this internship, Jeffery continues to use these experiences in all of his group projects. Since his time interning here, he has developed working graphical interfaces in group projects at Holy Cross. Jeffery states that he owes a lot of credit to the team at UMass Chan IT because they have inspired and taught him so much. He knows their knowledge will continue to emanate in all his future endeavors.

I am a graduate student in Computer Science at the University of Cincinnati. I am interested in cloud computing and using it to improve applications. I’m working with the Networking team and over the next 6 months, I will be building a dashboard to monitor the IT and infrastructure statistics related to the data center at UMass Chan. The dashboard will enable people in improving cost effectiveness and help them in making business decisions.

Wen Liu comes to us from WPI as a current PHD student. Wen is joining UMass Chan through our IT Innovation program and will be focusing on Machine Learning. Wen will look to create a repeatable process for UMass Chan IT to follow and establish to learn from the vast amount of data that we have today. Wen assists the UXDM Lab team at WPI with some of their work. Please find a reference to some of their work here. Please connect with Wen here at LinkedIn.

Ashley Lockwood is a Statistics PhD student and Teaching Assistant for the Mathematical Sciences department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Assumption College in 2018 where she double majored in Mathematics and Economics and minored in Computer Science. She was a member of Assumption's Honors Program and a member of the Varsity Field Hockey Team. She also received the George A. Doyle Merit Award for Excellence in Economics in 2018. This award is given by Assumption annually to recognize a student who possesses extraordinary intellect, has a passion for community service, and demonstrates strong potential within the field. 

Clay Mangiameli is a graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering. He comes to UMass Chan with a year and a half of experience working as a biomedical development engineer at the Mayo Clinic. He joins the team as an IT Engineering Innovation Intern and will work under the supervision of Willy Ci. Clay’s internship will focus on anatomical modeling, computer-aided design (CAD), and 3D printing in order to further grow the 3D printing capabilities at UMass Chan and better support the clinicians, medical students, and researchers. Outside of work, Clay enjoys spending time outdoors playing soccer, swimming, and slacklining. He also enjoys cooking and experimenting with food from around the world.

George is an undergraduate student at Worcester State University majoring in Computer Science with a concentration in Software Development.
While in various customer service positions throughout high school and college, George sought to increase productivity and efficiency through the improvement of existing technologies and the development of new processes. What George enjoys most about the Information Technology field is that it enables everyone to achieve more, paving the way for advancement. As a Systems Application Administration Intern, George will be working to develop enhanced user access management protocols and processes for some of the University’s Cloud Based Enterprise software systems. This will drive improved consistency managing access and help to reduce security risks associated with user access and permissions within specific University software systems. He will also be looking at innovative approaches to streamlining the process of software requests and license activation by using integration technologies between various applications.

When George is not busy working or going to class, he enjoys hiking, fishing, and being outdoors.

*George was hired as an employee by UMass Chan Medical School IT-Research Technology!

Ben Mojica  was a summer intern at UMass Chan Medical School during the 1980’s. He was placed in the UMass Chan Medical School IT Data Center through a program call Neighborhood Youth Corps. His summer project was to learn about a new Tektronix vector graphic system and plotter, and then teach the faculty and staff how to use the system. To do this, he  created a curriculum with objectives and ways to assess progress. He  will always be grateful for this invaluable experience, because it was the seed that started his career as an instructional technologist. Since his time at UMass Chan he continued to work in the field of technology and education. Most notably, he worked  at the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine for over 17 years. There he introduced new technologies into the Medical curriculum such as 3D imaging, haptic technology, learning management systems, and video production. Ben also developed flipped classroom environments. He continues to learn and improve his skills. In 2016 Ben graduated with a Master’s degree in Digital Media and Instructional Design from Harvard University Extension School. Recently, Ben joined the Academic Computing Services team at UMass Chan Medical School as a Senior Instructional Technologist. Here he gets to bring his many years of academic technology experience, even as he continue to develop his expertise and grow as an educational technology professional.

Claire Monterroyo is a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina, where she majored in Public Health and minored in Advertising/Public Relations. She is very excited to intern with UMass Chan. In her free time, Claire enjoys baking, hiking, and trying new restaurants.

Dhimitris Natsis is a recent graduate from Worcester State University with a degree in Computer Science. He has a passion for learning and is excited to work with new and emerging technologies. His focus will be working with AWS and automating the deployment of databases. In his free time, Dhimitris enjoys playing music, cooking, reading, and outdoor activities like golfing and snowboarding.

Francis Naughton

Francis Naughton is a recent graduate with a passion for networking and data science. He graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a bachelor's degree in computer science. Francis possesses a strong understanding of computer networks and is adept at analyzing and interpreting complex data sets. With a keen eye for detail and a problem-solving mindset, he is able to develop innovative solutions to optimize network performance and enhance data-driven decision-making. Francis will be working with us on various network initiatives and projects, including the new Data Center build and migration effort.

*Francis was hired as an employee of UMass Chan Medical School IT-Network Engineering!  

First of all, I am glad to be part of UMass Chan and excited to begin my journey here.
I lived most of my life in a city in the southern part of India called Mangalore (not Bangalore!!) and pursued my bachelors there in the field of Information Technology.

After my bachelor’s, I joined Sony as a Software Engineer developing web applications using C#, HTML and CSS. During my tenure at Sony, I always felt that there was a gap in understanding the user needs and the development of the application. To bridge this gap, I decided to pursue my education in the field of Informatics and Human Computer Interaction and for the same reason, I landed in Boston to pursue my graduate degree at Northeastern University. This course helped me understand how important user’s perspective is when developing an application and how an application can succeed if it is designed by keeping user needs in mind.

My desire to enhance my technical skills and to gain hands-on experience, I decided to join an organization that would impact my career experience in a hugely positive way and that’s when I came across an opening for my current position in UMass Chan.

I am a travel enthusiast and have travelled several states in the US, Australia and India. Apart from travelling, I love to cook, and read novels. I also play a lot of indoor games, both online and offline during the weekend.

Yen Nguyen is currently a junior at the College of the Holy Cross majoring in Biology, minoring in Environmental Studies on the Pre-Med track interested in pursuing optometry. She has the honor to work closely with her supervisor Scott Dziewietin, and Wolf Pack members: Sue Mandella, Stanislav Prodanov, Jyothi Nagaraj, Willy Ci, Leslie Rutter, and Veronika Kolesnikova. Alongside the talented staff and interns that are always willing to help, Yen will mainly be working on digital marketing projects on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Through these projects, she will get to interact with health professionals and faculty from the medical school, where she will be learning how to use programs such as Pardot and Google Analytics.

Vivian Obodo worked as an intern at UMass Chan Medical School in the summer of 2016. Vivian Obodo is now a junior at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth studying Computer Engineering. Her specific title was Social Media Intern. In this position, she had the opportunity to work closely with supervisors; Scott Dziewietin and Masha Zabaruk. She also had the pleasure of working with Wolf Pack members; Stanislav Prodanov, Sue Mandella, Willi Ci, Jyothi Nagaraj, Leslie Rutter, and Veronika Kolesnikova. During her time at UMass Chan Medical School, Vivian had the opportunity to establish a weekly intern blog called “A Week in the life of an Intern.” This blog highlighted the experiences of the many interns that UMass Chan had this summer. Vivian also partnered up with fellow intern Hanna Gulla, and Wolf Pack member Stanislav Prodanov in establishing social media pages for the Horae Gene Therapy Center. Vivian specifically worked with the Punzo Lab and the Khanna lab in setting up Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for their individual labs. Within this internship with UMass Chan Medical School IT, Vivian has gained skills like effective communication with different types of people, great time management skills, and an understanding that in every situation she finds herself in, she has the power to make it what she wants. We know that Vivian’s future will be bright and it is settling to know that we had a role to play in that fact.

Jephet Opong

Hello, my name is Jephet Opong and I am from Ghana, West Africa. Currently, I am a student at Quinsigamond Community College, where I am in my final year of studying Computer Systems Engineering Tech Enterprise. I have always been passionate about technology and its potential to transform businesses and improve lives. Throughout my academic journey, I have gained a strong foundation in computer systems engineering, learning  and acquiring skills in computer trouble shooting and software development. I am excited to apply my knowledge and skills in the field of technology and contribute to the growth and innovation of businesses.

Nirali Oza is a medical graduate from India with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. She is also a recent graduate from Shillington School of Graphic Design at New York City. Nirali joined the Data Science and Technology Department team at UMass Chan Medical school as a Digital Health Communication Specialist intern. She will work with clinical research teams to translate complex clinical trial information into marketing ready content for the general public. She will also be part of the team that manages the web content and design. Nirali is passionate about utilizing immersive technologies and human computer interaction design for medicine. When not working Nirali enjoys creating interaction designs, medical illustrations and DIY crafts. She also shares it with others through her portfolio website and social media. She is obsessed with “Friends” and a big fan of Bollywood movies.

Roma Paranjpe is a junior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) studying Information Technology and Web Science with a focus in Data Science.  In college, she was involved in undergraduate research and teaching assistant positions. Outside of academics, she is the captain of RPI’s Indian folk and classical dance teams, as well the South Asian fusion acapella team. Roma joined UMass Chan Medical as an IT Research Intern in November 2021. Her interests are in Data Science and Machine Learning.

Mahima is currently working on her Masters in Computer Science at Stony Brook University in New York which is situated on Long Island. Her passion and focus is Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Mining and Analysis of Algorithms. She has a Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering from Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology in Delhi. She graduated with first class honors.

Joining the WolfPack team in IT Engineering, she is here for the summer months to work on an AI chat bot that can integrate with our current Genius Café live chat and the CMS (content management system). She will get to expand her experience with developing for the cloud and put her knowledge of AI and Machine Learning to practical use aiding customers looking for support in the CMS.

When not at work, Mahima likes to read novels, enjoys reading everything on machine learning, she is avid movie goer, and there is always time for shopping to get acquainted with the local community.

Joe Pate 

Hey there! 👋 I'm Joe, a senior at Brown University pursuing dual degrees in Computer Science and Earth/Environmental/Planetary Sciences. As a frontend engineer intern at UMass Chan Medical School, I'm all about blending technical smarts with artistic flair. Solving complex puzzles while crafting cool web designs is my jam.

I’m originally from Sitka, Alaska and have a deep-rooted love for the great outdoors. You’ll often find me trail running or out on the water. I'm beyond stoked to meet and get to know my fellow intern! 🌍💻🏃‍♂️

Radhika is currently doing her masters in Computer Science at UMass Boston and Instructor (TA-2) at UMass Boston for python scripting language course. She finished her M.Tech with specialization in Machine Intelligence where she published a Research Paper on Extracting Text from Degraded Document Image. She also did many innovative projects during Bachelors and Masters degree. When she was in India, she did volunteer teaching program for public primary school.

In her free time, she likes playing games with family or friends and travel new places with them. She also likes to try (to cook and eat) different vegan dishes.

Lada Protcheva 

Hello everyone! My name is Lada Protcheva, and I am a senior Computer Science student at Eastern Michigan University. My interest in programming was sparked quite a long time ago when I was still in high school in Ukraine. Additionally, I have been involved in equestrian sports for 11 years. However, due to time constraints, I currently only manage to go to the gym.
I am thrilled about the opportunity to be a part of the team at UMass Chan Medical School!

I am a finance major at Roger Williams University. I have a minor in Mandarin Chinese, as well as accounting. I graduated from Saint Johns High School in 2018. I really enjoy trading stocks in my free time. As Community Engagement intern am helping the UMass Chan IT Engineering Digital Marketing team promote clinical trials for the medical school. We are currently promoting rare disease research on social platforms worldwide. 

Information Security Intern

Caedon Sawabi is a graduate of Massachusetts Maritime Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in International Maritime Business. His work experience involves maritime law and compliance as well as environmental safety. Now working within UMass Chan IT Security, Caedon hopes to expand his knowledge and experience in the information technology world to better understand the necessary practices of maintaining a successful business. Some of his duties include vendor management, applying best practices for protecting sensitive data and assisting in developing online resources for UMass Chan Services. 

Christy Scott is a rising Senior at Framingham State University, studying Marketing. She is from Northborough MA; her passions are sports especially football and visual design. In her free time, Christy likes to play golf, volleyball, and hang out with friends. She has traveled through the US extensively. Christy will be working on raising our Digital Certainty Index Score, a metric based on a website's performance across three categories: Quality Assurance, SEO, and Accessibility. Christy will also be assisting in the marketing efforts of the IT Expo and other campaigns. 

Cansu Sen is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute where she conducts research as a member of the Data Science Research Group (DSRG). Her research focuses on Machine Learning, Data Mining, Predictive Analytics and their applications to healthcare. Currently, she is working on deep learning models with attention mechanisms for patient-level classification using time series and clinical text data. She holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science and Engineering. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked as a software engineer in the banking sector for three years. 

Anthony Senthavisouk joined the team as Digital Strategist and will focus on market research, trends on both the web and social media.  He will support Digital Marketing team’s goals to raise awareness of breakthrough research in many areas, cancer, drug resistance, autoimmune diseases, and clinical trials enrollment.

Anthony is a student and former athlete at UW-Oshkosh, who is pursuing a bachelor’s in Public Relations.

I am a masters student in Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment program at Clark University, Worcester. I am interested in data analysis and geospatial analysis for public health and environment. I enjoy aiding others in spatial thinking and visualizing data. I am passionate to use my GIS skills and experience to develop a solution to correlate C. difficile infections (CDI) with geographical factors and utilize data mining and informatics approaches to develop a toolkit or dashboard for clinical use.

Raajveer Singh Sokhi

Hello, everyone! I'm Raaj, and I'm currently a senior at UMass Amherst pursuing a degree in Computer Science. Although I was born in the US, I was raised in India for the most part. I love exploring new technologies and how they can be integrated with art to create good products. Automation is one of my interests because I believe it has the potential to simplify both the lives of end-users and the development process itself. By automating repetitive tasks, we can shift our focus towards improving the end-user experience of a product.

In my free time, I often listen to a lot of music. I find that it influences my creativity, and I draw inspiration from it. In fact, I’m listening to "Too Many Nights" by Don Toliver while writing this. Lastly, to end on a fun note, I am currently the VP/co-captain of a collegiate dance team called UMass Jazba!

Grateful to have had this opportunity, and I'm excited to work with everybody!

My name is Lalit Singharia. I recently graduated from University of Massachusetts Lowell with a major in Mathematics and a minor in Computer Science. After graduating I began learning cloud systems and got real world programming experience in AWS. As a Cloud Solutions Intern, I will be working with serverless systems and helping to provide optimal solutions. I am grateful to the UMass Chan team for giving me this opportunity. My hobbies include reading books (keenly interested in Manga books), cooking food (mostly Indian dishes) and also listening to music.

Dr. Dronika Solanki has her PhD in High Energy Physics. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Computer Science at Brown University. She has experience with relational databases, user interface design, data visualization and analysis, and web development technologies. She was an intern at UMass Chan Medical School and started to develop the “Honest Broker System”.

Todeyon (Yann) Somasse 

Todeyon (Yann) Somasse joins Research Technology – Cloud Services team for 10 weeks as part of the Emerging Professionals Summer Internship Program (EPSIP).  He will be working on data storage options and solutions for data transformation from on-prem to cloud.

"My name's Todeyon Somasse but I go by my middle name Yann. I'm a Computer Science and Data Science double major at WPI. On campus, I am the Treasurer of my school's Black Student Union and the PR Chair for my school's National Society of Black Engineers. I'm a citizen of Benin and am a proud older sibling to my two brothers. I'm very competitive and love to play any game with competition in my free time, but my favorite sports are basketball and soccer." 

Surya Srinivasan

Surya is our latest IT Intern in Academic Technology and will work on augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence projects for iCELs.  

"Hi, I am Surya Srinivasan. Recently graduated with an MS in Interactive Media and Game Development from WPI and am a lover of all things games. With a bachelor's in computer science, I focus more on the technical aspects of things, understanding and learning newer technologies. My goal at UMass Chan is to research more about Simulation and AI to create a useful product that can help people learn. On the funnier side, I love football (SOCCER), am an avid Manchester United Fan, and enjoy playing games of all genres from Pokémon to Power wash Simulator whenever I find time."

Megha Suvarna

I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in Computer Science from Northeastern University, Boston. During the course, I worked on various projects related to web application development, search engine, and multiplayer games. Prior to this, I have worked for 3 years in an IT firm - Infosys in India as a Senior Systems Engineer. I have been very passionate about developing applications and have been pushing myself towards creating a strong base in this domain from my undergrad days.

I am a good team player, self-motivated to learn new technologies, willing to shoulder responsibilities and dedicated to my work. Being a senior software developer, I was once offered the responsibility to take over a role which was much more responsible and senior as compared to mine. I decided to capitalize on this opportunity by systematically handling important client calls, understanding their requirements, implementing improved solutions and finally mentoring junior colleagues. At the end of the week, I managed to do a commendable job which convinced my manager to offer me this role as a full-time opportunity which was a significant professional milestone. 

I got a lot of insights regarding UMass Chan and a few of the projects during my interview and I'm very inspired and excited to be a part of it! 

As an innovation intern, I would like to do more than what I am hired for and contribute to your organization’s goals. 

The day I started my Master's at NEU, I decided to accomplish my personal goals one at a time, that I had in my mind when I was younger, but couldn't achieve it for some reason. During my leisure times, I strive to complete these and I am on track by taking dance class sessions at my university.

I am fond of cooking and finding recipes online and try to recreate them in my little kitchen.  

Hi! My name is Saniya Syeda, I am currently a senior pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I am really looking forward to meeting everyone at UMass Chan and supporting the university’s research! I hope I can share my skills with the team and contribute to a impactful project throughout my time here. In my free time, I love cooking, painting, and gardening. Recently I’ve also picked up embroidery, so I’ve been “upcycling” lots of my old clothes!

Hello, my name is Ebenezer Tessema, and I am a recent graduate of Computer Science from Virginia Commonwealth University. I am originally from Northern Virginia, with parents who emigrated from Ethiopia. When I was a child, I was always the de facto tech support of the home, and this role grew into a passion of mine as I spent more and more time behind a computer. As a recent graduate I seek to expand my knowledge surrounding computers through work in the field. In particular, I have an interest in cyber security related things, but I am eager to learn anything I can. In my free time I enjoy making music, spending time with friends, and reading. I look forward to working with you all and am excited for the work that's to be done.

John Venditti is a recent graduate of Bucknell University with a degree in computer science and engineering. He is eager and excited to continue learning new technologies in this new environment as a cloud solution engineering intern. His primary focus will be working with Terraform and Azure while Amazon Web Service and VMware are on the horizon. John’s interests include snowboarding, video games, and watching or playing sports such as football, basketball, or soccer.

*John was hired as an employee by UMass Chan Medical School IT-Infrafstructure Services!

Jiayi Xu is a front-end developer and UX Designer. She received her Master's degree in Dynamic Media from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from New York Institute of Technology. In 2016, she had published an interactive data journalism website for AIGA Design Census as well as a Boston travel App for an iOS device. She has a passion for building immersive VR experiences because VR is an innovative combination of Art and Technology. Most of her personal VR projects focus on enhancing the interactivity between users and a virtual environment. She combined Unity3D with face-tracking technology (OpenCV), voice recognition (Voice AI platform) and brainwaves (EEG). She hopes to find out the most preferred method for people to interact with VR. She loves drawing comics in her spare time.

Myra Zhinin worked as an intern at UMass Chan IT from summer 2014 to May 2015. She had the honor to work  closely with; Leslie Rutter, Masha Zabaruk, Willy Ci, Nicholas DiFranco, Scott Dziewietin, Tim Kontos, Tony Wareck , Byron Deane, Sue Mandella, and Jyothi Nagaraj. Myra help migrate 200 websites from Content Management System (CMS) Extron to a new CMS; Episerver, assist in Windows XP migration project, help test new applications,develop and analyze new technological solutions to improve healthcare, connect with clients, and help  construct innovated  new sites for students, researchers and faculty. Working with the IT Engineers she quickly learned the value of teamwork and dedication. “The best part of this internship was that everyone had your back, regardless of experience. The IT department is  very friendly and I could always rely on someone for help or guidance.” Myra likewise learned the power of communication, Adobe software, TFS Visual Studio, QA testing, agile environment, and Episerver development. She indeed learned how to be a team player and also worked with different people and teams for different projects. Myra graduated from Assumption College in May 2015 with a B.A. in Chemistry and she is so appreciative for the opportunities she got to encounter while interning at UMass Chan IT. Myra accepted a full-time offer from UMass Chan Medical School IT as a QA Analyst Engineer in June 2015 and now is currently working as a Business Analyst for Research Computing under the leadership of Dr. Mathew; where Myra’s team is creating a catalog of rare research assets.

*Myra was hired as an employee by UMass Chan Medical School IT-Engineering!

I am a graduate student from Worcester Polytechnic Institute majoring in Interactive Media and Game Development. Having a year and a half of experience working in game industry and software, I've helped with innovation in a startup, managed software development, supervised testing procedure, and held user tests prior to release. Besides projects from work, I, with passion, have been also developing games and applications for self-improvement, such as birthday games for family, mobile/PC applications for home control, etc. With my skills and experience, I am now at UMass Chan Medical School to develop AR/VR applications for medical and educational use.