People Spotlights

Judge Shirley Hufstedler Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences

Lin Lin

Lin's research focuses on solving quantum many-body problems via both classical and quantum algorithms.

Vladimir Fedorov (BS '01, MS '01) and Jean Wang (BS '01)

Alumni Establish Ingenuity SURF

In the late 1990s, Vladimir Fedorov (BS ’01, MS ’01 CS) and Jean Wang (BS ’01 EE) met and fell in love as undergraduates at Caltech. Years later, with two daughters and successful careers in their respective fields, the couple was looking for a way to give back and to support their alma mater in the face of federal funding cuts. Wang, who has been named chair of the EE Advisory Council (EEAC), attended a recent EEAC meeting, at the invitation of then-Executive Officer for Electrical Engineering Changhuei Yang, that offered a possible answer. In that meeting, second-year student Aleksandar Marinkovic brought up the value of the Institute's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program and the importance of ongoing funding support. Wang shared her experience with Fedorov. They decided to endow a fellowship they have named Ingenuity SURF to provide undergraduates with the same opportunities that proved foundational to their own careers, with a preference for students conducting research in electrical engineering. Wang, who earned her MS and PhD from the University of Washington, was most recently the founding director for Amazon's Smart Eyewear programs. Listed as co-inventor on more than 30 patents, she also has served as the hardware lead and chief of staff for Google Glass. Prior to his current role as CTO for GitHub, Fedorov was senior vice president for privacy engineering and product at Meta.

Dr. Jean Wang (BS'01 EE)

Dr. Wang was a Director at Amazon, where she founded the smart eyewear program - driving the commercial launch of three generations of Echo Frames and establishing Project Amelia to enhance enterprise delivery driver safety and productivity. Prior to Amazon, she was a founding engineer of Google Glass (Google [X]) and an early member of the Google Life Sciences (Verily) surgical robotics initiative, which later became Verb Surgical (acquired by Johnson & Johnson). Over her tenure on Google Glass, she served as an optics engineer, Hardware Lead, and Chief of Staff through product market introduction.

Assistant Professor of Computing & Mathematical Sciences

Kewen Wu

Kewen Wu's research interests lie in the general area of theoretical computer science, with a recent focus on provable quantum advantages, Boolean function analysis, and quantum cryptography.

Ethan Hamel

Hi! I am a third year undergraduate studying Mechanical Engineering with an Aerospace minor and am interested in in-space robotics and deployable space structures. Over the past two years, I have worked in the Space Structures Laboratory under Dr. Sergio Pellegrino on mechanisms for in-space assembly of lightweight space structures both during the year and through a SURF program last summer. I was drawn to Caltech because of the availability of opportunities to undergraduate students to learn and grow outside of the classroom through research. Working on large-scale projects and flight hardware in the Spaces Structures Lab has been crucial in allowing me to apply what I’ve learned through Caltech’s thorough mechanical engineering curriculum. I am also an engineer in PARSEC (Propulsion, Aeronautics, and Rocket Systems Engineering at Caltech), the undergraduate-student-run rocketry team where we are developing an autonomous rocket-propelled terrestrial lander. I’ve worked with the custom test stand, designed structural components of the lander, and have been given engineering responsibility that undergraduate students rarely get outside Caltech. What makes Caltech unique are the resources and expertise that student-run clubs have access to. PARSEC has allowed me to gain design and analysis experience that translates directly into the aerospace industry and graduate school. Beyond the classroom, I am a goalkeeper and captain of the Caltech men’s soccer team, and for my first two years here, a trombonist in the Caltech jazz band. I love music in general, play the guitar, and enjoy snowboarding in the winter.

Aaban Syed

My name is Aaban Syed and I'm an undergraduate senior studying Electrical Engineering (MedE Track) with a Biology minor. During my time here, I've worked in the Shapiro Lab studying the mechanism behind ultrasound activation of mechanosensitive ion channels, and at the Caltech Holistic Integrated Circuits lab doing research in subtractive photonics to create photonic components in a bulk CMOS process. Moving forward, I’m interested in improving our sensing and imaging capabilities to enhance image-guided procedures and diagnoses. This summer, I’ll be starting the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) leading to a MD-PhD at UChicago. Outside of school, I've enjoyed competing as a pole vaulter on the Caltech Track & Field team for the past four years, diving for the Caltech Swim and Dive team, working as a Hixon Writing Peer Tutor, and volunteering as a Health Advocate.

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