Eight Nominees Aspire to Lead through the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship

Alex Bender, COE’20, Industrial Engineering
Mentors: Richard Alexander, Alex Hoyle, Portia Dyrenforth, Rick Davis, Kayse Maass

Alex Bender is a community-driven entrepreneur whose engineering and management background fuels his passion for building connections and promoting well-being. After earning a BS in Industrial Engineering and an MS in Engineering Management from Northeastern, he moved to Brooklyn, where he launched Springfest NYC, an alumni concert series connecting Northeastern graduates and supporting alumni musicians. Inspired by his travels including a cross-country van trip, Alex discovered the power of urban recreation, particularly disc golf, to foster community, combat loneliness, and enhance health. In partnership with NYC Parks, Alex designed and installed New York City’s first disc golf course. He also co-founded the New York City Disc Golf Association (NYCDGA), introducing over 300 students to disc golf through school partnerships and expanding local interest in the sport. Additionally, Alex launched Populace, a disc golf and lifestyle brand focused on inclusivity and community engagement. Through the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program and an MBA from Stanford, Alex aims to develop his entrepreneurial expertise to maximize his impact as a leader in creating accessible, community-centered recreational opportunities that support health and social connection on a larger scale.

Matthew Coughlin, COE’25, Mechanical Engineering
Mentors: Xiaoyu Tang, Mehdi Abedi, Brandon Mathieu, Meg Dussault

Matthew is passionate about solving the thermal management challenges inhibiting the continued densification of electronics. An increase in computing power is necessary to meet the interdisciplinary demand to sustain the adoption of computationally intensive tools including artificial intelligence. By pursuing a major in mechanical engineering and a minor in math, he gained a broad understanding of the complex relationship between the energy, fluids, and materials found in cooling systems. Matthew’s academic interests led to two Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs in the summer of 2023 and 2024 in the Nanoheat Lab at Stanford, where he characterized the thermal properties of a liquid metal and built on the results to increase the sensitivity of common material measurements. At Northeastern, Matthew conducts research in the Multiphase Transport Research Lab, where he earned an AJC Merit Research Scholarship (Spring ’24) and a PEAK Summit Award (Fall ’24). He is also an active leader in the Student Government Association, where he serves as Student Body President, advocating for a better experience for all Northeastern students.

Maya De Los Santos, COE’25, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mentors: Saiph Savage, David Kaeli, Tina Eliassi-Rad, Markiyah Bullard, Richard Harris

Maya De Los Santos is dedicated to collaborating with marginalized communities to co-design socio-technical tools that empower them to have agency over their personal data and promote their well-being. Her pursuit of Electrical and Computer Engineering within Northeastern University’s Honors Program has equipped her with the technical skills to develop these tools, while her love for research has deepened her understanding of the impacts of privacy violations on vulnerable individuals. In 2021, Maya was selected for an NSF grant to participate in Carnegie Mellon University’s REUSE research program, where she published a first-author paper on TikTok users’ awareness of the platform’s privacy policy. Following this experience, she worked in Dr. Saiph Savage’s Civic AI lab as an AJC Merit Research Scholar, publishing four papers about her designs for human-centered AI systems that ensure fair work opportunities and privacy protection for crowdworkers worldwide. Aside from research, she is also an active member of Northeastern’s Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Black Engineering Student Society, serving as president of the former for an academic year. Maya hopes to pursue a PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University, designing meaningful privacy interventions that empower marginalized communities to prioritize their privacy. Through the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship, she aims to join a community of determined scholars who will challenge her perspective of what it means to be a scientist.

Pratika Katiyar, DMSB’24, Business Administration and Communication Studies
Mentors: Ryan Ellis, Jeb Sharp, Kendra Albert, Gary Green, Taylor Lorenz

Pratika Katiyar is an Honors student majoring in Communication Studies and Business Administration. Pratika is interested in the intersection of technology, politics, and law, focusing on how to effectively regulate technologies that impact fundamental human rights, like privacy and free expression, and broader issues like climate and reproductive justice. Fascinated by the multifaceted nature of policymaking, Pratika hopes to pursue a master’s in international policy as a building block to a career in public interest work. Pratika’s enthusiasm for technology policy is evident in her past work as a research assistant at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, a digital policy fellow at PEN America, and in her honors thesis, where she investigated the use of AI for surveillance at U.S. borders. She has also contributed to politics and tech coverage for outlets like CNN, Teen Vogue, and Neiman Reports. Pratika began her public service work by championing student press freedom in her home state of Virginia. She testified for legislation to reinstate First Amendment rights for student journalists and has since worked nationally to pass similar laws across the country. She has been featured in several news outlets, like Teen Vogue and TechCrunch, appeared on panels across the country, including at Georgetown Law School and the United Nations, and is the youngest member on the Student Press Law Center’s Board of Directors. Pratika is president of Northeastern Women in Business and enjoys dancing with No Limits Dance Crew. For her activism, she was named one of Glamour Magazine’s College Women of the Year and was on the Her Campus and e.l.f. cosmetics 22 under 22 list of most inspiring women.

Jose Meza Llamosas, COE’25, Bioengineering
Mentors: Erel Levine, Jade Shi, Sohrab Sha, Kathryn Schulte Grahame, Coqui de Ponce, Christophe Lemetre, Mingyang Lu, Ayan Paul, Richard Harris

Jose is a computational biologist and dedicated global change-maker committed to using machine learning to advance precision medicine and democratize access to quality healthcare for underserved communities, including his home country Peru. He began his academic journey at Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia (UTEC) in Lima, where he studied systems biology and modeled gene regulatory circuits to produce antifungals and antioxidants for food preservation. At Northeastern, Jose conducted research at the Lu Computational Systems Biology Lab and The Institute of Experiential AI, analyzing gene expression profiles in the mammary glands of mice and studying the effects of alternative splicing in cancer cell lines. His passion for computational oncology and healthcare was ignited during his first co-op at Revolution Medicines, where he developed a graph convolutional neural network integrating genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics to predict gene dependency scores and propose combination therapies. This passion was furthered by his selection to the prestigious Computational Biology Summer Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he created a self-supervised contrastive learning graph autoencoder to identify spatial domains in tumor microenvironments, and was honored as a 2024 NK & Irene Cheung Family Intern. Jose currently investigates clinical biomarkers for the new oncology-focused projects at Blueprint Medicines. Noticing the lack of Latinx/Hispanic representation in leadership roles throughout his journey in academia and industry, Jose dedicates his time uplifting his community via leadership positions in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Engineers Without Borders and mentoring first-generation Latinx students through the PODER program. His commitment to global impact was ignited through his work with CISV International, a global not-for-profit organization that aims to inspire a more just and peaceful world, where he continues to hold national and international positions.

Dominic Pizzarella, COE’25, Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry
Mentors: Ryan Koppes, Adam Ekenseair, W. Stephen Faraci, Courtney Pfluger, Katelyn Neuman, Nolan Burson

Dom is pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering to gain the knowledge and experience that will enable him to lead research that advances the drug development process. He is interested in applying advanced biomaterial systems to develop biomimetic platforms to evaluate the activity and safety of drug candidates by improving the physiological relevance of in vitro tissue models. By bridging the translational gap between preclinical models and patients, this technology seeks to reduce the cost of failure, to improve medication affordability and accessibility. Dom’s passion began as an UPLIFT Scholar in the Laboratory for Neuromodulation and Neuromuscular Repair where he led a research project applying novel biomaterials to model the cardiovascular system. He has completed a co-op in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and is currently pursuing a co-op at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, working in early-stage drug discovery to identify the next generation of cancer therapies. On campus, Dom is involved in the Northeastern University student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (NU AIChE) where he has served as President, K-12 STEM Outreach Chair, and Professional & Alumni Chair. Through these opportunities, Dom has developed a passion for STEM outreach, student mentorship, and teaching. Dom’s academic, research, and outreach achievements have been recognized in various formats including the 2024 Sears B. Condit Award which is one of the highest honors a junior or senior can receive at Northeastern University. Dom’s ultimate career goal is to become a professor in chemical engineering.

Daniel Sneyers Pont, COE’21, Industrial Engineering
Mentors: Ravi Ramamurti, Michelle Wang

Growing up in São Paulo, Brazil, Daniel experienced the positive impact that rapid advances in technology had on living conditions for millions of citizens and in driving the country’s economic growth. During his engineering capstone thesis, and subsequent internship with Loggi, a Brazilian logistics tech unicorn, Daniel observed the role that private capital investments can play in fomenting innovation and technological leapfrogging. This encouraged him to pursue a career where he could act as a bridge between finance, entrepreneurship, and socioeconomic development. Daniel began his career as an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company conducting due diligence for technology investors, and now serves as a private equity associate at Advent Tech in Palo Alto. Daniel attended Northeastern as a University Scholar, Galante Engineering Business Fellow, and Honors student, and was awarded the Presidential Global Fellowship. He completed co-ops at Bain & Company, Apple, and Hercules Capital, and studied abroad through a Dialogue of Civilizations in Italy and summer courses at Cambridge University in the UK and Tsinghua University in Beijing. On campus, Daniel was the founder of NU Consulting Club (nka. CASE) and coordinated efforts and university resources to bring the largest Brazilian undergraduate student conference in the world—BRASA Summit—to Northeastern. As a deferred admit since 2021, Daniel will begin his MBA at Stanford in the fall of 2025.

Georgios Vassilakis, COS’25, Applied Physics
Mentors: Jacqueline McCleary, Juner Zhu, Ajay Gill, Ennio Mingolla, Kate Driscoll

Georgios (George) Vassilakis is driving astrophysical discovery forward with his use of data science and machine learning. By studying the makeup of galaxy clusters and mapping their masses out in the sky, he looks to study the properties of dark matter to reveal its true nature. George, an applied physics major with a concentration in astrophysics and a minor in data science, started his research working for Professor Jacqueline McCleary on NASA’s SuperBIT Telescope team. There, he performed a full solo operating shift of the telescope, and got to know the ins and outs of academia. In his next co-op with Professor Juner Zhu, he developed scientific machine learning algorithms to model the governing physics of solid state batteries, enhancing and accelerating their development. Currently, he is working on processing SuperBIT’s spring 2023 science flight data, along with developing the software package Shear Mapping in Python (SMPy). Funded by a PEAK Summit award, he is developing SMPy into a robust, efficient, and user-friendly tool for astrophysicists to map dark matter. The software will be used to create the first dark matter map ever from stratospheric observations. Using these experiences, he plans on pursuing a PhD in Astrophysics with a heavy focus on data-driven methods, in order to push the boundaries of astrophysics in an age where astronomical surveys are of unprecedented precision and volume. George is a member of Northeastern’s Olympic Weightlifting team, and an avid guitar player.