MEGA Election 2019 Candidates

lebeaver Leave a Comment

Hey everyone, the election is officially underway, and we’ve received 11 self-nominations. The offices of President and Intramural Sports Coordinator are running unopposed; for the remaining offices each candidate will be listed along with their short bio below. The election form can be found here: https://forms.gle/1fzwT77EPbhTYdXU8 and you will have until Thursday night (Sept 12) to complete it!

Vice President Nominees: Ioannis Chremos and Jack Williams

Ioannis’ statement:

I’m Ioannis Chremos, and I’m running for MEGA Vice President. We are so lucky to have a graduate association that works hard to help all and each of us in our graduate lives! Given the opportunity, I want to help improve MEGA by providing the best ME experience to all of us. Last year, I started a collaboration with SIAM from the math department, and I’d like to continue this initiative as this will give us the opportunity to exchange ideas and work together with students of a different field (but also have lots of fun). Also, I held a temporary position in MEGA as International Student Coordinator through which I helped the incoming students in their transition to Newark by sharing resources and advice. I believe MEGA can be the students’ voice that will advocate for the ME grads and always try to resolve any student issues at the ME department. My goal as Vice President will be to help MEGA have a greater impact on our community, either by organizing social events, continuing new collaborative initiatives that can enhance our work and career, or simply providing as many resources and advice as possible.

Jack’s statement:

Over the past two years I’ve really enjoyed the activities and opportunities that I have received through MEGA. In particular, I have enjoyed the opportunities it has provided me to meet and connect with other graduate students within the department. Entering my third year, I would like to become more involved in this program to continue to help it grow with a major focus on providing new opportunities to connect and support fellow mechanical engineers.

Secretary Nominees: A M Ishtiaque Mahbub (Ishti), Luke Nigro, and Yiming Wan

Ishti’s statement:

My name is Ishti and I am a highly motivated 3rd year PhD student with diverse skill set. I work at the Information and Decision Science (IDS) lab on Optimal Control of Autonomous Vehicles. Professionally speaking, I have had the opportunity to learn and prove my organizational skill as well as leadership capability during my internships at industries both in Europe and the US. Besides having academic and professional experience, I have also taken active participation in organizing and performing different cultural events at the local communities in Delaware. In my leisure, I either hone my guitar playing skill or go into the nature for a hike/swim. I used to take part in outdoor sports, but now I limit myself playing soccer on xbox.
I have been observing the evolution of MEGA for the past couple of years, and I would like to incorporate novel, yet pragmatic ideas into the current structure. As a secretary to this organization, I would like to take the responsibility to maintain and continuously improve the social and professional aspects of MEGA. MEGA has the potential to do a lot more to bind the grad students together and help them lead a better grad life. Based on my personal experience, I strongly believe that my active participation and assistance at this particular post will help MEGA in the coming days.

Luke’s statement:

I really want to give back to the MEGA community after being a more junior graduate student. I think there’s a lot of positive momentum in the direction MEGA is going and I’d like to be a part of it!

Yiming’s statement:

Hi, my name is Yiming Wan. The reason I apply for the Secretary is I truly would like to serve our MEGA community, I’m enthusiastic to do the secretary’s duties and make more friends in our MEGA community. Hope I could be selected!

Treasurer Nominees: Kayla Pariser and Behdad Chalaki

Kayla’s statement:

MEGA was integral to me making friends in the department and navigating through my first year of graduate school. I would like to be able to give back to this organization and the department. In my undergraduate, I served as the treasurer of our biomedical engineering society for two years and I believe that this previous experience could help. Through this role, I can serve the students in MEGA as I am organized and disciplined, which will make sure that the documentation is submitted on time and that I communicate with everyone to make certain that the finances are handled properly.

Behdad’s statement:

My name is Behdad Chalaki. I am a third-year PhD. student in Mechanical Engineering and working under the supervision of Andreas Malikopoulos.
I intend to run for the position of the Treasurer at MEGA Board for 2019-2020. Being part of a MEGA would be an excellent opportunity for me to both involve in something beyond my research and also to help my peers to experience better environment as a graduate student in Mechanical engineering Department.
Among all the open positions that I could choose, I recognize myself more helpful in the role of treasurer, based on my previous experience. For example, during my undergraduate study, I have worked part time as a consular of a high school for four years. Besides my educational role as a consular, I was also in charge of coming up with a budget for different occasions for students and keeping track of costs.
I believe that by being part of a MEGA Board as treasurer, I could help the team to have a better and organized financial plan for different events.

Social Coordinator Nominees: Kleio Baxevani and Syeda Noor E Lamia

Kleio’s statement:

MEGA is our way to have a voice as grad students, express our concerns and suggestions and try to improve things inside the department. Everyone should be a part of it and that is why I chose this role; to organize nice events which can be effective convincing more and more people to get involved.
Syeda’s statement:
MEGA is a wonderful platform that unites all the grads in ME in order to build a bridge between the students and the department. Our events have always been the stress-relievers in our busy grad lives. These are the programs where students get the opportunity to raise their issues and concerns. It has been proved useful to seek solutions also.
As the Social Events Coordinator, my goal will be to make sure that all the voices are heard. I will try to organize low-barrier events which will help us to express our expectations and worries. MEGA events are excellent options for networking as well as keeping students updated. I would also like to put an effort to develop a stronger relationship among the students and faculties. Also, I think MEGA could be a good source to offer academic assistances and advices when required.
Last but not the least, I am always interested to organize different indoor and outdoor (and fun!) activities!

Leave a Reply