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Crew
A number of engineers, artists, educators, students and business developers
have made valuable contributions to Build-It-Yourself.

John Galinato - Co-founder
Cornell, BS Elec Engr and MEE, 1968
Hobbies: Building, sketching and strumming the guitar
Heroes: Ali, Don Quixote, Popeye
Favorite Quote: "You can't win if you don't bet."
Website
Liu Huan - Partner
MIT, BS, MS Computer Sc / EE, 2011
Hobbies: I love robots!
Home Town: Shanghai, China
Heroes: Yao Ming, Fox Mulder, Richard P. Feynman
Linkedin
Doug Hannah - Advisor
Dartmouth BA
Stanford, PhD Engr Mgmt
Hobbies: Biking & running
Skills Wanted: Build anything with cardboard and glue
Website
Lucian Covarrubias - CEO
MIT, BS in EECS and MEng in AI 2025
Hobbies: Ceramics, films, & sports
Home Town: Arroyo Grande, CA
Goal: To find joy in family, friends, and nature, and create something that improves people's lives.
Skills Wanted: I want to learn how to sew clothes
LinkedIn
Wen Yu - Art Director
San Francisco Academy of Arts, MFA 2015
Boston University, Masters in Arts Administration 2017
Hobbies: See the world/universe, fine art, keep fit
Home Town: Suzhou, China
Heroes: Mom & Dad, Steven Hawking, Mattew Barney
Website
Mariana Barradas - Graphic Designer
Veracruz, BA Arch, MS Education
Hobbies: Dancing, Performance, Reading
Home Town: Xalapa, MX
Heroes: Marianela Nuñez, Ken Robinson
Favorite Quote: : "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music" - Nietzche
Linkedin
Brent Scione - Workshop Leader / Developer
YouTube & School of Life
Hobbies: Wrestling, 3D graphics, Web design, Business, Drawing
Home Town: Methuen, MA
Heroes: Akira Toriyama, Japanese artist
Favorite Quote: "Change is the only constant." - Heraclitus
Website
Michael Choi - Developer/Project Manager
UCLA, BS CS 2023
Hobbies: Tennis, Video Games
Goal: To improve people's lives using technology
Linkedin
Robel Mulualem - Workshop Leader
Cambridge Ringe & Latin 2017
Hobbies: Poetry, painting, making videos
Home Town: Cambridge, MA
Skills Wanted: 3D Animation, Taekwondo
Website
Ari Casas - Developer
Univ of Toronto, BS CS Math 2027
Hobbies: reading, video games, walking
Home Town: Xalapa, Mexico
Heroes: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Goal: Visit all the aquariums in the world
Skills Wanted: Cheese making, playing the drums
GitHub
Wisdom Chimezie - Developer / Workshop Leader
Univ of the People, BAS CS 2028
Hobbies: Soccer, coding, comedy
Home Town: Abuja, Nigeria
Heroes: God
Goal: Build a robot company
Website
Dan Cabrera - Artist
Universidad Gestalt de Diseno, 2028
Hobbies: Costume making, oil painting, reading
Home Town: Xalapa, Mexico
Favorite Quote: "To see a world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour."
Website
Alums -
Aleksya Aguirre - Business Developer
MIT, BS Mech Engr 2015
USC, MS Product Engr 2017
Hobbies: Singing, drawing, and volleyball
Home Town: El Paso, Texas
Heroes: Link from The Legend of Zelda
Favorite Quote: "The power of imagination makes us INFINITE" Muir
Skills Wanted: Super good dancing skills
Website | BIY Site
Mary Moore - Business Developer
Harvard, PhD Planetary Science 2014
Rutgers, BS Meteorology 2008
Hobbies: Teaching, reading YA, playing in the snow
Home Town: Boston, MA
Heroes: Wilson 'Snowflake' Bentley
Linkedin
Selene Hewes - Workshop Leader / Developer
McGill, BS Civil Engr 2016
EPFL, MS, Civil Engr 2018
Hobbies: Photography, violin, building things, sailing
Home Town: Ireland
Skills Wanted: Speak many languages. Play many instruments.
Linkedin
Michael Lu - Developer
MIT, BS, EE and CS 2023
Hobbies: Running, Walking (After Too Much Running)
Home Town: Long Island, NY
Heroes: Mom, Dad, and Patrick Star
Skills Wanted: Cooking (well)
LinkedIn
Berman Bai - Workshop Leader / Developer
Arizona, BS Computer Sc 2022
Hobbies: Soccer, Music, Computer Games
Home Town: Guangzhou, China
Heroes: Bayern Munich
Website
Sixia Chen - Workshop Leader
Cornell, MS Chem Engr, 2018
Hobbies: Music/movies
Home Town: Xiamen, China
Heroes: "Tomorrow is another day" "three-body problem"
Goal: I could do things following my heart mostly
Wish: The people I love in this world will always be healthy and happy
Steve Yao - Technical Advisor
Northeastern, MS Digital Media, 2013
Hobbies: Soccer, Movies
Heroes: Steve Jobs
Favorite Quote: Technology alone is not enough-it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing. Apple
LinkedIn
Sandra Abago - Developer
BS Chem Engr, MIT 2015
MS Material Science, BU
Hobbies: Laughter and Stories
Home Town: Uganda
Goal: Eradicate poverty
Website
Julian Hernandez - Developer / Workshop Leader
MIT, BS Computer Sc 2021
Hobbies: Making games, playing games
Home Town: Florida
Heroes: Jim Henson, Mr. Rogers, Squirrel Girl
Goal: Be a game designer
Favorite Quote: "Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow." Wilde
Website
Yilin Lu - Developer / Workshop Leader
Cornell, BS Computer Sc 2021
Home Town: Shanghai, China
Heroes: Alan Turing
Goal: make beautiful websites
Least Favorite Thing to Do: wait for buses in the rain
Skills Wanted: master the art of hacking!
Website
Jide Nwosu - Developer / Workshop Leader
Cornell, BS Elec Engr + Info Sc 2019
Hobbies: Building, playing basketball, making music
Home Town: Nigeria
Heroes: Kobe Bryant, Barack Obama
Goal: Inspire kids to be builders, and in turn have them inspire me!
Favorite Quote: "It's a magical world Hobbes, ol' buddy... lets go exploring!" - Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes)
Skills Wanted: Speak lots of human and computer languages.
Duoer Jia (DJ) - Developer / Workshop Leader
Cornell, BS CS & Theater 2021
Hobbies: Traveling, tasting all kinds of food, acting
Home Town: Inner Mongolia, China
Least Favorite Thing to Do: Walking bare foot
Skills Wanted: Flying / Eat as much as I want
Will Chou - Platform Developer
Cornell, BS, MS, Computer Science, 2009
Hobbies: breakdancing, volleyball, and computer games
Heroes: My dad
Favorite Quote: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." - Bertrand Russell
Resume , Bboying Video
Andy Gauthier - Project Manager
Cornell, BS, MS Mech Engr, 2013
Hobbies: Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee, Formula 1
Heroes: Pinky and the brain
Fav Distraction: What if?
Fav Quote: "Almost only counts in horseshoes, darts and hand grenades"
Adia Wallace - Content Developer and Workshop Leader
Harvard GSE, MEd, 2015
Hobbies: Reading, Making 3D things, Online window shopping
Heroes: Mae Jemison, Michael Jordan in "Space Jam," Hayao Miyazaki
Fav Quote: "Want to change the world? There's nothing to it." - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, "Pure Imagination"
Aditi Dugar  - Workshop Leader / Developer
Cornell, BS Mech Engr, 2011
Hobbies: Singing, piano, running
Heroes: Sara Bareilles, Steve Jobs
Favorite Quote: "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." - C.S. Lewis
Stephen Wong  - Workshop Leader / Developer
Cornell, BS Elec Engr, 2011
Hobbies: Building things (working on Parkour'ing)
Heroes: Dad, Steve Jobs, Oda Eiichiro
Resume
Yin Liu - Visual Developer
SMFA / Tufts University, MFA Studio Art 2015
Hobbies: Board Games / Adventure (Exploring everything unkown)
Heroes: Nature (Sun, Moon, Stars, Jungle, Ocean, Wind, Snow...)
Skills wanted: Fly / Communicate with any species
Website
Anna Polonyi - Workshop Leader / Writer
Harvard, BA History & Literature, 2010
Hobbies: Photography, making things for other people
Heroes: The Little Prince, Baron Munchausen, Shel Silverstein
Least Favorite Course: Latin
Skills Wanted: Flying
Wenyu Zhang - Platform Development
Purdue, BS Computer Science, 2012
Hobbies: Computers, Robots, Math, Flute and Guitar
Heroes: KITT and Alan Turing
Favorite Quote: "Let's do it the engineer's way!"
Resume | Website
Jamie Mckiernan - Graphic Designer
Mass Art, BFA Animation & Illustration, 2009
Hobbies: Animation, gaming, watching movies from the 40's
Heroes: Bill Watterson, Fred Astaire, Pixar Animation
Favorite Quote: "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." ~ Willy Wonka
Blog
Jacob Bredthauer - Platform Developer / Workshop Leader
MIT, BS Math & Computer Science,  2011
Hobbies: MIT a capella group
Heroes: My Parents; Tom Osborne
Favorite TV shows: Lost, 24, Heroes
Lindley Graham - Workshop Leader
MIT, BS Aeronautical Engineering 2010
Hobbies: Reading, hanging out with friends
Heroes: My parents
Xiaofei Fu - Content Development
CCMU, Beijing, BS Pharmaceutical Science, 2010
UMass, MS Chemistry, 2014
Hobbies: Cooking and traveling
Heroes: Taylor Swift
Website
Richard Weiner - BIY Landlord
U Penn, City Planning
Hobbies:  Being a hippie and repairing broken stuff.
Heroes: 
Favorite Book:
Favorite Quote:


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