About CAL BMES
BMES hosts professional development events, workshops, formal dinners, tutorials, panels, and everything in between! Many of these events are open to the general public. We also spend time hanging out as a club playing games, traveling, volunteering, or just eating food together. Our goal is to ensure our club members’ success in the world of bioengineering and/or biotechnology; this could manifest in a research position, an internship, a job offer, or even a new best friend! Our five distinct committees help members to find their own idea of success, whatever that might look like to them.
meet the 2020 - 2021 Officers
Our hardworking, dedicated officer team ensures BMES is able to function well. Get to know each officer below!
Hello hello hello! I’m Emily, and, after the last three years of shenanigans, I’m excited and honored to be serving as one of your co-presidents this year! I’m a fourth year bioengineering major, with certificates in Design Innovation and Science and Society. My academic interests center around synthetic biology research and protein engineering, with forages into human-centered design and accessibility. Beyond that, you can find me somewhere making graphics and illustrations or knitting aggressively while binging Netflix or reading. Ask me about scifi and period fiction or laser cutting and layer masks! I hope that Officer Core can help make BMES, and this campus, feel a bit like home for you. Please don’t hesitate to say hello whenever you see me puttering about!
emily kim
Co-President
calbmes.president@gmail.com
Hey there! I’m excited to be one of the presidents with Emily Kim for this school year. I’m also proud to be the club’s token Canadian guy for the fourth year straight. Currently, I’m double majoring in BioE and EECS. As a senior, I’m also checking out career paths in bioinformatics and software development. In my free time, I enjoy exploring the great outdoors, playing jazz piano, and taking photos. I’m also a member of Recreate, a Christian fellowship: I’d love to chat about it with you if you’re interested. Welcome (back) to BMES! Unfortunately, I won’t be on campus for the fall semester, but feel free to contact me online at any time; I’m always happy to chat. Hope to see you around!
stephen lin
Co-President
calbmes.president@gmail.com
Hey! My name is Luis Fernando and I’m a 3rd year majoring in Bioengineering and minoring in EECS. I’m an international student from Saltillo, Mexico and I’m really excited to be one of your co-Vice Presidents this year. My areas of interest include diagnostic and monitoring wearable devices and BioMEMS and I plan to attend grad school before moving to industry in the future. I’ve done biopolymers research and worked as an extern in Carl Zeiss Meditec. Some of my favorite hobbies are photography, design, astronomy, driving, listening to music, looking at memes and any combination of those. I also really like running, rock climbing, drinking boba and meeting new people, so hmu if you’d like to chat! Stay safe!
luis fernando ayala
President
calbmes.vp@gmail.com
Hulloo! I’m Kathy, a 4th year bioengineering student from Orange County, California! I highly focus on micro-electronics-mechanical systems (MEMS). This will be my 3rd year in BMES and I am very excited to serve as co-VP with Luis for my last year here. I’m currently doing research in the EECS Department with COE Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu on body biased multi-gate relays. When I’m not busy dealing with academia, I enjoy making bread, getting boba, trying new foodie places, listening to true crime podcasts, going to Costco, adventuring to places around me, and BMES! I’m so sad that Fall 2020 will have to be remote, but I’m so excited for you all to see what BMES has in store for our community. Please feel free to reach out to me if you want to ask questions or anything really! I can’t wait to meet you all!
kathy le
Co-vice president
calbmes.vp@gmail.com
Hello! I’m Teresa and I’m a fourth year studying BioE and EECS. On campus, I’m involved in BMES and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and my life is a constant struggle between being passionate about biotech and the temptation of selling out to regular tech. In my free time, I love playing games with my friends (on Zoom), watching John Mulaney shows, sometimes working out, and baking. Being short is my primary personality trait, but I promise I’m also nice and like meeting new people, so please reach out if you want to chat! Looking forward to making the best of a crazy year 🙂
teresa yang
Treasurer
calbmes.treasurer@gmail.com
Hey! My name is Aleysha Chen, and I’m a rising sophomore majoring in Bioengineering with a concentration in synthetic and computational biology and a minor in Data Science. This is my second year in BMES and I’ll be one of the Academic co-chairs with Derek! I’m a part of the Schaffer lab on campus and also remotely work with a lab in City of Hope hospital on diabetic complications and epigenetics research back in my hometown in SoCal. Currently I’m hoping to attend graduate school and pursue gene therapeutics research in industry in the future! Outside of academics and BMES, I enjoy stress-baking cookies and sweets with friends, watching kdramas, trying out the passion fruit green teas of new boba shops, playing the piano, and exploring SF; if you ever want to join in on any of the above just reach out! I love getting to meet new people, and I can’t wait to get to know all of you in BMES!
aleysha chen
academic co-chair
calbmes.academic@gmail.com
Hi! My name is Derek Ning and I’ll be one of the academic chairs this year. I’m also a rising junior studying the Bioengineering/MSE joint major doing research in genome mechanobiology. In the future I’m strongly considering going to grad school and then industry. In my free time I enjoy playing tennis, cooking, video games and hanging out with friends. I also am an appreciator of Japanese comics (not a weeb). If you have any questions or want to hang out, feel free to reach out!
derek ning
academic co-chair
calbmes.academic@gmail.com
Hi! I’m John, a sophomore from Riverside/SoCal interested in synthetic biology. For the 2020-2021 school year, I’ll be the Corporate Committee Chair with Edgar! I’m currently interested in going to grad school and then working in industry. In my free time, I enjoy playing computer games, dungeons and dragons, eating, and goofing off with friends. I’m excited for this year of BMES and hope we have a great time, even with the current situation!
john guan
Corporate co-chair
calbmes.corporate@gmail.com
Hello! I am Edgar, a sophomore studying bioengineering with possible concentrations on Synthetic Biology and Cell and Tissue engineering. I am an international student from Jakarta, Indonesia, at the other end of the world. This is my second year in BMES, this time as a corporate chair with my co John! Outside of classes, I like to sing and I live with songs in my head 24/7. I also enjoy cooking, as well as reading books and watching Netflix! You’ll probably find me in ChemE library a lot because that’s where I like to study, chill, sleep, pondering my life choices and much more. I’m still on my quest to visit every library in UC Berkeley, so say hello whenever you see me! I’m looking forward to a great year with y’all!
bernardus edgar william
Corporate co-chair
calbmes.corporate@gmail.com
Hi! I’m Loren and I’m going to be your design chair this year with my co Bryan! I’m a third year pursuing bioengineering, computer science, and product design. I aspire to tackle issues within medical accessibility and compatibility through my passions which span across biotech, robotics, and software development.
Hmu if you’d like to chat about traveling, cooking, my dog uwu, and all types of art (dance, classical and jazz music, visual arts..). I look forward to helping you become creative thinkers and build amazing engineering and design portfolios!
loren lee
Design co-chair
calbmes.design@gmail.com
Hello! I’m Bryan, a third year BioE & Data Science double from the farmlands of Fresno. I’m so excited to be your Design Co-Chair this year! I love cooking, 3D printing, and all things music – seriously, please send me any music recs you have, I’ll listen to anything. I hope to do some combination of product design and biomedical engineering, so I’m currently pursuing the Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation and the SCET Certificate in Entrepreneurship & Technology. Hope to see you in a future hackathon!
bryan wong
Design co-chair
calbmes.design@gmail.com
Hey, I’m Arnav! I’m a senior BioE major, focusing in bioinformatics. My research involves computational modeling for neuroethology in fruit bats with the Yartsev Lab and locomotion in cockroaches with the Full Lab. Outside of academics, I’ve been involved with GBO for the past 3 years, and like learning about animals (I used BioE 100 to learn all 99 whale species if you want to quiz me ;p ) and linguistics. I’d say come explore the Bay with me but that may not be in the cards this year. Definitely hit me up though; I’m down to talk about anything. And remember, you can’t spell BMES without U & I <3 !
arnav raha
BioE Banquet co-chair
calbmes.bioebanquet@gmail.com
Hello! My name is Patrick and I’m a second year bioengineering major from Rocklin California, someplace in NorCal. I’m looking forward to serving as one of the BioE Banquet co-chairs this coming year with Arnav! I’m a huge nerd and love to play all sorts of games whether it be virtual or tabletop alongside running, drinking boba (original I know), and watching all kinds of movies. For future plans, I’m hoping to go to graduate school and then move on to industry. Feel free to ask me about anything and say hello!
patrick young
BioE Banquet co-chair
calbmes.bioebanquet@gmail.com
Hi! My name is Iris and I’m excited to be one of your Outreach co-chairs this year! I’m a second year BioE from Socal and I’m interested in nanomedicine and biomaterials (but also illustration, design, storytelling, and more, so I guess I’ll just have to see where my future takes me). In addition to being in BMES and SWE (Society of Women Engineers) on campus, I enjoy listening to music, getting boba, and attempting to draw during my free time (I’ve also recently started watching K-dramas, so there’s that too). During these times of uncertainty, if you ever want to (virtually) get boba or binge watch something together, or just have some deep talks, please feel free to reach out to me anytime! 🙂
iris hsu
outreach co-chair
calbmes.outreach@gmail.com
Hihi! I’m Manasi and I’m a 2nd year bioengineering major from Fremont, California. I love music, memes, and mocha-flavored anything! Some of my hobbies include singing, playing badminton, and fully utilizing that free AC Transit card to explore Berkeley. In the future, I hope to pursue some intersection of healthcare and technology either as a physician or through industry. I look forward to helping provide a welcoming community and a sense of normalcy for you this year! I’m always down to talk so feel free to hit me up if you ever need anything or want to (virtually) hang out!
manasi kumar
outreach co-chair
calbmes.outreach@gmail.com
Hi there, I’m Steph! I’m a rising BioE sophomore and am excited to be this year’s PR chair. I love to travel, volunteer, and keep active, and I’m fascinated by the intersection of science and the arts. Currently, I’m dabbling in scientific journalism and app design and development. I’m both obsessed with and terrible at driving, taking care of plants, and penny boarding. Hmu if you wanna chat, and I look forward to interacting with you all via BMES social media 🙂
steph jue
chef
calbmes.pr@gmail.com