Lab Undergraduate Student Affiliates
Brooke Spens
Brooke is a junior at Virginia Tech pursuing a degree in Cybersecurity Management and Analytics and minoring in National Security and Foreign Affairs. This is her third year at the Tech4Humanity Lab. Throughout Brooke's time at the Lab, she has studied mercenary spyware, surveillance, censorship, and regional case studies of spyware misuse by authoritarian governments. She looks forward to continuing her work on the intersection of cyber espionage and human rights.
Wesley Heltzel
Wesley Heltzel is a sophomore graduating in the Spring of 2027. He’s currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science with a specialization in Secure Computing. He’s interested in researching application security, the development of malware, and reverse engineering. He hopes to continue researching attack vectors bad actors utilize and how to develop applications to defend them.
Prior Tech4Humanity Lab Undergraduate Affiliates
Mollie Upchurch
"Mollie Upchurch is a senior at Virginia Tech, graduating spring of 2024. She is double majoring in Psychology and Criminology. This is her second year being a part of the Tech4HumanityLab. She presented a research poster at the 10th Annual Hume Colloquium last year on: The Disinformation Surrounding Human Rights Violations in Russian Occupied Areas in Ukraine. She is working on several concurrent projects. She is working with Dr. Brantly to develop a methodology for identifying the destruction of ICT infrastructures during times of war. She is also working on a project on sentiment analysis and attempting to leverage a non-parametric modeling technique to assess sentiment in non-english and other non-linear languages. Mollie and Dr. Brantly are also conducting research to write a paper on: Rational Robots and Mental Machines: The Future of Decision-Making in War. "
Justin Young
Justin Young is a senior at Virginia Tech, graduating in the spring of 2024. A double major in Russian and National Security and Foreign Affairs, he joined the IC CAE Scholars Research Fellowship this year. He is interested in the analysis of open source intelligence for insights on the state of the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
Sebastian Bukvic
Sebastian Bukvic is a junior graduating in the Spring of 2024. He is a National Security and Foriegn Affairs major with a double minor in Computer Science and Integrated Security with a Cybersecurity focus. He is participating in his 3rd year of the Hume IC CAE Research Scholars Program. He hopes to broaden his career and educational goals amongst both the federal and private sectors.
Aidan LeBlanc
Aidan LeBlanc is a senior at Virginia Tech graduating in Spring 2023. She is majoring in Sociology, Criminology, and Philosophy with a minor in Psychology. She is a member of the IC CAE Scholars Research Fellowship and is eager to learn more about data collection and analysis.
Diya Wadhera
Diya Wadhera is a sophomore at Virginia Tech where she is majoring in Business Information Technology. She is pursuing the Decision Support Systems concentration and minoring in Computer Science. Diya hopes to learn more about data analytics during her time at Virginia Tech.
Neha Bangari
Neha Bangari is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science. She enjoys learning about AI and cybersecurity. She looks forward to researching these topics further and hopes to learn how they pertain to international disinformation.
Peyton Ludwig
Peyton Ludwig is a freshman pursuing a degree in Computer Science and will graduate in the Spring of 2026. She's very interested in pursuing cybersecurity as xa career and wants to learn more about artificial intelligence.
Evelyn Hammel
Evelyn Hammel is junior graduating in the spring of 2024. She is a double major in National Security and Spanish with a minor in Psychology. She enjoys analyzing intelligence and researching cyber security to serve in higher capacities for the community and beyond. In her free time she likes to spend time with her family and go on hikes with her dog.
Vrinda Valaboju
Vrinda Valaboju is a Sophomore graduating in spring 2025. She is a computer science major with a minor in psychology. She is interested in learning more about the cybersecurity field as well as the data science field.
Charles Zhao
Charles Zhao is a handsome young 3rd-year undergraduate majoring in Computer Engineering with a focus on cybersecurity. His relevant interests include cybersecurity and machine learning. He hopes to make his father proud as well as get paid someday.
Cathy Tang
Cathy Tang is a senior majoring in Computational Modeling and Data Analysis with minors in Economics and Statistics. She researches how disinformation affects society and how to set up sophisticated cybersecurity networks to safeguard complex systems.
Lucas Alexander
Lucas is a sophomore graduating in Spring 2023. He is a Computer Science major with a focus in Secure Computing and a minor in Integrated Security. He also enjoys learning about the different aspects of security and the effects they have on the environment around us.
Tanvi Allada
Tanvi Allada is a junior at Virginia Tech majoring in Secure Computing with a minor in Integrated Security. She is passionate about computing and national security and hopes to learn more about how they impact society. In her free time, Tanvi enjoys doing yoga and playing the piano. She is a native of Richmond, Virginia.
Jomar Roque
Jomar Roque is a sophomore graduating in Spring 2025. He is studying Computer Engineering with a Focus in Networking and Cybersecurity with Minors in Mathematics and Computer Science. His interests align with researching ways to have more secure computer and human networks.
Grace Reback
Grace Reback is a junior graduating in Spring 2023. She is a computer science major with a focus on data analytics. She enjoys learning about data science and how to make complex data more accessible, understandable, and usable.
Matthew Brenningmeyer
Matthew Brenningmeyer is a freshman graduating in Spring 2025. He is a Computer Science major looking to explore Data-Centric Computing at Virginia Tech.
Krish Ganotra
Krish Ganotra is a freshman Stamps Scholar at Virginia Tech in General Engineering. He intends to major in Computer Science with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence. His research interests include natural language processing and semi-supervised learning. He previously conducted machine learning research at the US Naval Research Laboratory on semi-supervised learning and previously conducted independent research on methods of detecting textual "fake news." His additional experience includes the test and evaluation of AI and ML models
Gunhaar Panjwani
Gunhaar Panjwani is a sophomore at Virginia Tech graduating in May 2024. He is majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Economics. He is interested in both the Human-Computer Interaction field as well as the Cyber Security field. He hopes to serve society throughout his career by creating socially beneficial applications, frameworks, and platforms.
Kashish Khanna
Kashish is currently a sophomore at Virginia Tech, where she is studying Business Information Technology. She is focusing on the Cyber Management and Analysis concentration, as well as the Decision Support Systems concentration. Kashish has previous experience with cyber security and is looking forward to gaining more experience in OSINT techniques.
Ethan Mansour
Ethan Mansour is an Freshman student at Virginia Tech graduating in Spring 2025. He is pursuing a degree in Political Science with the National Security option, and a double minor in leadership. He is a member of the IC CAE Scholars program. He is also a member of the Corps of Cadets and is pursuing a commission through Army ROTC. He is a twin and is from Arlington, Virginia.
Ella Rasmussen
Ella Rasmussen is a freshman General Engineering major graduating in Spring 2025. She intends to major in Computer Science, and she is excited to explore Secure Computing and pursue a minor in Mathematics. She hopes to build on her prior knowledge of cybersecurity and learn more about data collection and analysis.
Kirti Shukla
Kirti is a Computer Science major set to graduate in Spring 2023. She is also minoring in Human-Computer Interaction. She is interested in learning about how data science and software technology can impact social and security issues.
Kritika Parthasarthy
Kritika Parthasarathy is a freshman in General Engineering and the Honors College intending to major in computer science. This past summer, Kritika was part of Google's Computer Science Summer Institute, where she worked on learning Firebase and API integration methods. Her past research consists of human-computer interaction and machine learning, where she programmed a chatbot and her research interests include data regression analysis and digital frameworks.
Laya Biddala
I am a freshman who is interested in computer science with a concentration in AI/ML. I have worked in the Machine learning world before by conducting research on Natural Language processing pertaining to the clinical trial process.
Bhargava Elavarthi
Bhargava is a freshman at Virginia Tech who graduated from Thomas Jefferson High school for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia. He has previously worked with a George Mason professor in analyzing data taken in a virtual environment to help quantify human spatial awareness. His research interests include: Cybersecurity encryption algorithms, ethical hacking, and reinforcement learning. He is excited and looking forward to working with the team this year.
Vineet Marri
Vineet Marri is a freshman doing General Engineering at Virginia Tech. He enjoys programming as a creative outlet and has research interests in Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence. For the purpose of this team, Vineet knows many modern programming languages and can learn more on the fly. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball, watching Formula 1, and reading books.
Quinn Apostolico
Quinn Apostolico is an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science, with additional interests in data science and security
Priuyankaa Balaji
Priuyankaa is a sophomore in Computer Science set to graduate in Fall 2023. She is also minoring in Cybersecurity. She is a member of the AI/ML club and the AWC club. Her interests include machine learning, cybersecurity and software development.
Esheka Garg
Esheka Garg is a freshman at Virginia Tech majoring in Computer Science and will graduate in Spring 2025. She is interested in cybersecurity and data science and is excited to combine the two fields through her research at the Tech4Humanity Lab.
Jonathan Parker
Jonathan Parker is a senior graduating in the Spring of 2022. He is majoring in National Security and Foreign Affairs with a minor in Spanish. His academic interests include national security, terrorism, and the threat posed by the spread of disinformation through social media.
Alex Garcia
Alexi Garcia is a Junior pursuing degrees in National Security & Foreign affairs and international relations with minors in Spanish and integrated security. His previous research at Virginia Tech dealt with understanding the patterns of Russian disinformation within East Germany. Overall he is excited to bring his experience and interests in open source intelligence, the cyber security landscape, and geopolitics to the team to ferment growth in experience and knowledge.
Vaishnavi Alavala
Vaishnavi Alavala is a freshman part of the General Engineering Program at Virginia Tech. She intends to major in Computer Science as well as pursue coursework in Cyber Security. She hopes to bring her creative problem-solving skills and strong work ethic to effectively complete each task presented in the workplace. She is excited to join and be a part of this team!
Kyle Merrill
Bio forthcoming
Mounika Abbineni
Mounika Abbineni is a sophomore graduating in Spring 2023. She is a CMDA major doing the Cybersecurity option. She enjoys learning about the impact data science has on the world and how it serves as the bridge between the barriers of the unknown. She also enjoys social service and interacting with people from different cultures.
Peter Muskett
Peter is a Senior graduating in Spring 2021. He is a National Security/Foreign Affairs Major with GIS and Spanish Minors.
Vicky Lam
Vicky Lam is a senior graduating in the Spring of 2022. She is majoring in National Security and Foreign Affairs with a minor in Chinese Studies. Vicky enjoys learning about how data and research on security can be implemented into real world policies and applications. She hopes to learn about the different ways that digital frameworks can be incorporated into national security and society.
Leo Han
Leo Han is a senior graduating in Fall 2021. He is originally from South Korea and is majoring in CMDA while minoring in Mathematics and Computer Science. He has served the Republic of Korea Army as Ground Surveillance Systems Operator for nearly two years in the DMZ. He enjoys studying Cyber Security and recently obtained CompTIA's Security+ and Cisco's Certified Network Associate certifications. He wants to pursue further in network systems and computer security to work in the cyber security industry.