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Meet the Siebel Scholars

Vikram AggarwalJohns Hopkins University, Bioengineering, Class of 2011

By day, Vikram Aggarwal is figuring out how to translate brain signals into control of an upper-limb prosthesis. When he leaves the lab, his focus turns to the medical device startup he co-founded to measure central venous pressure in a non-invasive manner.

As a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, Vikram’s neuroengineering research is funded by a $30 million grant from DARPA. This grant tasked several universities with developing a fully neurally controlled upper-limb prosthesis that functions like a regular arm, with signals from the brain controlling the limb using thought alone. Vikram’s work focuses on developing the algorithms that translate the brain’s neural activity to direct control of the hand and fingers of the mechanical arm.

While he enjoys cutting-edge research and tackling problems that lead to impactful solutions, Vikram’s long-term plans are to move into the private sector. Through his medical device startup, he has gained hands-on business experience – patenting the use of ultrasound to measure the pressure in the veins, undergoing clinical trials, and winning several business plan competitions which provided seed funding for the company’s operations and growth.

Vikram received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, where he gained over two years of industry experience as part of their co-op program. He also holds a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

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Lucas SmithUniversity of California, San Diego, Bioengineering, Class of 2011

As an Air Force officer, Lucas Smith coordinated operational logistics to deploy thousands of troops and tons of cargo out of Washington state’s McChord Air Force Base. As a Ph.D. candidate in Bioengineering at UC San Diego, he applies similar leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills to his “bench to bedside” research on cerebral palsy muscles to translate his lab work into patient therapies.

Lucas is developing therapeutic targets in order to design a novel drug therapy for cerebral palsy. Through UCSD’s “Med-into-Grad” program, he works in collaboration with the Rady Children’s Hospital, and interacts with patients and families to learn first-hand what problems they’re facing in order to address them in the lab. Based on his conversations with cerebral palsy patients, Lucas decided to research treatments to address their concerns about the impact that periodic spasms have on their mobility, rather than researching the root cause of the spasms themselves. He obtains muscle biopsy samples from patients at the Children’s Hospital to measure single cell mechanics, determine which genes regulate different muscles, how they adapt to neurological inputs, and why they react in certain ways.

After completing his Ph.D. program, Lucas plans to continue his academic research in a post-doctoral position in muscle physiology. Future plans also include his spring 2011 wedding to fiancée Lindsay, a medical student.

Lucas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Washington.

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Arvind IyengarStanford University, Business, Class of 2011

Arvind Iyengar’s career path took an unusual course, thanks to a reality TV show called “Dream Job.” Then a McKinsey consultant, Arvind was selected from 10,000 participants, made the cut to first 50 and then 18 contestants, and was ultimately selected by the viewing audience as one of two finalists. Though the judges selected him as the runner-up, the show opened doors to his dream job – working in the sports industry at ESPN Star, Asia’s largest sports broadcaster and content provider.

Arvind spent a year in Singapore on the flagship show “SportsCenter,” where his popular sports column for the website led to an on-air position hosting a segment on sports statistics. While he enjoyed his experience as a sports writer and presenter, he wanted to leverage his love of sports and his entrepreneurial interests, and hone his burgeoning management skills. To help him accomplish this next goal of launching his own business, he enrolled in Stanford’s MBA program in the fall of 2010.

Now in his final year of his MBA, Arvind remains engrossed in the sports world. This past summer, he interned in New York City for the National Basketball Association, and launched his own sports analytics startup (http://f1ratings.com/) which uses multivariable regression models to rank Formula 1 drivers independent of their car.

After completing his studies, Arvind plans to focus on F1 Ratings to offer tools that measure and value performance in sports – particularly in sports like cricket and Formula 1 racing, which currently lack analytics. Longer term, he hopes to improve India’s sports infrastructure – from building playing fields to establishing competitive leagues – to develop more athletes as role models. In addition to his MBA, Arvind holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

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Li Tsun MooreStanford University, Computer Science, Class of 2001

By the age of 15, Li Tsun Moore had lived in five different countries across four continents. His parents wanted their children to experience cultures other than their Seattle neighborhood, so during his adolescence, Li and his sister did home stays with families in France, Ecuador, China, and Japan, staying with each family for one to two years.

This international theme re-emerged during Li’s first project as a Software Engineer at Google in 2001. If you’ve used Google from a different country, you can thank Li and the volunteer translators who helped internationalize the search engine’s homepage to be available in multiple languages.

Currently, Li is focused on Google’s infrastructure, working on Bigtable – distributed databases that query differently from traditional databases in order to simplify performance and add scalability for Google’s applications. When searching on Google, or using any of the Google applications, Li’s work allows billions of users to access the stored data quickly. Whatever he’s working on, Li says he’s happiest when he’s learning and can see the benefits to users, whether they are internal or external.

Outside the office, Li enjoys endurance sports – such as swimming, biking, and running in any combination. He’s completed several triathlons, half marathons, and 10K runs.

Li received both his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and his Master’s degree in Computer Science from Stanford University.

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Joyce PanStanford University, Computer Science, Class of 2008

Joyce Pan arrived at Stanford prepared to study engineering – she loved math and logic puzzles – but she wasn’t ready to give up her interest in the arts. So Joyce looked for coursework in which she’d be able to follow all those passions. Now, with two Computer Science degrees focusing on graphics as well as a minor in Studio Art, she is able to combine the creativity of computer programming with the visual creativity of filmmaking and storytelling.

During her undergraduate years, Joyce worked for a Ph.D. lab rendering images to visualize data for physics-based simulations. After graduation, Joyce brought that experience to DreamWorks Animation, where she works closely with artists to develop innovative digital lighting software. As a Technical Director on such films as Monsters vs. Aliens and Shrek Forever After, Joyce serves as a conduit between artists and software developers while also contributing to workflow design and tool implementation. While Joyce focuses on specific software problems on a day-to-day basis, she also enjoys witnessing the overall filmmaking process – from conception to storyboard to production to the final release.

In her spare time, Joyce practices wushu – a performance-based Chinese martial art – and plays violin in a community orchestra in Los Angeles, where she currently resides.

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Get to know our featured Scholars. Click the images to learn more.

With 80 new Siebel Scholars each year, our community is growing fast. To learn about a Scholar, click any name below or search by name.

Name	Year	School	Study	Location
Estefania Pickens	2006	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science	Los Angeles, CA, United States
Dinesh Raju	2006	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science
Alla Safonova	2006	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science	Philadelphia, PA, United States
Sebastian Scherer	2006	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science	Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Anu Divakaruni	2006	Chicago Booth School	Business	Morton Grove, IL, United States
R. Neale Fisher	2006	Chicago Booth School	Business	Chicago, IL, United States
S. Hans Montgomery	2006	Chicago Booth School	Business	Chicago, IL, United States
Gaurav Rastogi	2006	Chicago Booth School	Business	Hong Kong, HCW, Hong Kong S.A.R., China
Scott VanHoy	2006	Chicago Booth School	Business	New York, NY, United States
Eric Fellheimer	2006	MIT CS	Computer Science	New York, NY, United States
Edmond Lau	2006	MIT CS	Computer Science	Palo Alto, CA, United States
Masood Qazi	2006	MIT CS	Computer Science	Franklin, MI, United States
Dennis Wei	2006	MIT CS	Computer Science	Cambridge, MA, United States
Matthew Willsey	2006	MIT CS	Computer Science	Austin, TX, United States
Peer Casillo	2006	MIT Sloan	Business	Florham Park, NJ, United States
Steven Fransblow	2006	MIT Sloan	Business	Needham, MA, United States
Dingli Graham	2006	MIT Sloan	Business	Greenwood Village, CO, United States
Christy Prilutski Dorris	2006	MIT Sloan	Business	Miami Beach, FL, United States
Caroline Stark	2006	MIT Sloan	Business	Brookline, MA, United States
Chris Fosdick	2006	Northwestern Kellogg	Business	Naperville, IL, United States
Lisa Slouffman	2006	Northwestern Kellogg	Business
Luca Torre	2006	Northwestern Kellogg	Business	New York, NY, United States
Gaurav Wadhwa	2006	Northwestern Kellogg	Business	Hoboken, NJ, United States
Mya Wilkins	2006	Northwestern Kellogg	Business	Evanston, IL, United States
David Berlekamp	2006	Stanford CS	Computer Science	Piedmont, CA, United States
Florin Ratiu	2006	Stanford CS	Computer Science	Mountain View, CA, United States
Arnab Roy	2006	Stanford CS	Computer Science	Mountain View, CA, United States
Zhendi Su	2006	Stanford CS	Computer Science	San Francisco, CA, United States
Dilys Thomas	2006	Stanford CS	Computer Science	Palo Alto, CA, United States
Suzanne Hendriksen	2006	Stanford GSB	Business	Cincinnati, OH, United States
Gustavo Lopes	2006	Stanford GSB	Business
Robert Quandt	2006	Stanford GSB	Business	Boston, MA, United States
Meredith Quinn	2006	Stanford GSB	Business	Cambridge, MA, United States
Frederick Wedell	2006	Stanford GSB	Business	Lexington, MA, United States
Adam Bargteil	2006	UC Berkeley CS	Computer Science	Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Dr. Matthew Denny	2006	UC Berkeley CS	Computer Science	Jersey City, NJ, United States
Bonnie Kirkpatrick	2006	UC Berkeley CS	Computer Science	Oakland, CA, United States
Brian Milch	2006	UC Berkeley CS	Computer Science	Los Angeles, CA, United States
Kamin Whitehouse	2006	UC Berkeley CS	Computer Science	Charlottesville, VA, United States
Mark Gates	2006	UIUC CS	Computer Science	Urbana, IL, United States
Patrick Meredith	2006	UIUC CS	Computer Science	Granite City, IL, United States
James Newell	2006	UIUC CS	Computer Science	New York, NY, United States
Neelay Shah	2006	UIUC CS	Computer Science	Beaverton, OR, United States
Jai Vasanth	2006	UIUC CS	Computer Science	Bellevue, WA, United States
Guy Lebanon	2005	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science	Atlanta, GA, United States
Spiros Papadimitriou	2005	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science	Hawthorne, NY, United States
Jeremy Searock	2005	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science	Annapolis, MD, United States
Ricardo Silva	2005	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science
Christopher Urmson	2005	Carnegie Mellon University CS	Computer Science	Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Shegan Campbell	2005	Chicago Booth School	Business	Chicago, IL, United States