2025 – 2026 Board Members
President: Katherine Alcazar
Katie is a 2nd year graduate student working with Professor Carpick. Her research is on controlling friction and wear at the nanoscale. In her free time, she enjoys baking, running, and playing piano.
kalcazar@seas.upenn.edu
Vice President: Louis Han
Louis is a 1st year master’s student working with Professor G. Allen, where he focuses on integrating hardware and software systems for tiny drones, combining mechanical design, embedded programming, and flight optimization. Outside the lab, he enjoys tennis, golf, and exploring new recipes in the kitchen.
louishan@seas.upenn.edu
Treasurer: Christopher Bianco
Christopher is a 1st year PhD student in Professor Nathan Wei’s lab. His research focuses on laboratory scale experiments looking into convective urban atmospheric turbulence. When not in the lab, Christopher enjoys hiking, cooking, reading, and playing board games.
chbianco@seas.upenn.edu
Secretary: Cole Nagata
Cole is a first year PhD student working with Dr. Mark Yim and Dr. Jordan Raney. His research is on metamaterials and soft robotics. In his spare time he enjoys cooking and playing video games
cnagata@seas.upenn.edu
Student Liason: Michael Chiou
Michael is a 2nd year PhD in Professor Kevin Turner’s group. His research deals with the contact mechanics of indentation and sliding behavior in adhesive, soft contacts. His hobbies include dancing and playing with his dog.
mchiou@seas.upenn.edu
GSEG Representative: Matthew Creighton
Matt is a 2nd year PhD student working with Professor Raney. He is also the Vice President of the Graduate Student Engineering Government (GSEG). He is currently researching fracture mechanics paradigms using novel additive manufacturing processes. In his free time he enjoys amateur DJing and biking around Philadelphia.
mcreight@seas.upenn.edu
GSEG Representative: Neel Mulay
Neel Mulay is a 2nd year MEAM MSE (Mechatronics and Robotics) student from Bangalore, India. When he’s not tinkering with robots, you’ll find him exploring the city, meeting awesome people, or vibing to good music. Neel is always ready to learn, build and connect!
mulay@seas.upenn.edu
For a list of previous MEGA board members click here.
Board position descriptions
President: Leads MEGA in voice and spirit, the point person between grad students and the head of MEAM department, works to secure extra funding from MEAM for MEGA, dots the i’s and crosses the t’s of any MEGA actions. This is a one-year job until next September, please make sure you and your team can still organize events during summer.
Vice President: General consulting and opinion making, steps up if/when the president is unable to fulfill the duties of the office.
Treasurer: The money person, takes receipts to GSEG treasurer for reimbursement.
GSEG Representative: Once a month meets with the general GSEG board, receives funding for events, general point person between MEGA and GSEG.
Secretary: Logistics person. Maintain a record of MEGA events and individuals tasks throughout the semester. Update and maintain MEGA website.
MEGA Student liaison: Hosts visiting students during coffee hour. Connects prospective students to current students.