MIT GTL in Wales 2021 Instructors
Aidan Faustina
Aidan is a fourth-year student at MIT majoring in Physics and Philosophy. He was part of the MIT GTL 2020 programme and taught at Dwr-Y-Felin School and Neath Port Talbot College. This year, Aidan is looking forward to sharing his passion for learning with students and helping them have a transformative educational experience, even while learning virtually. At MIT, besides working extensively on experimental physics research projects, he has also been researching pedagogical methods for increasing students' sense of belonging in physics classrooms. Outside of the world of physics, his main extracurricular activity has been debating, and he has been a captain of the MIT debate team for the last 2 years. He also enjoys playing music, PC gaming, and watching sports.
Andrew Sorenson
From growing up as a Boy Scout to serving as a Lab Assistant at MIT, Andrew always knew he wanted to teach and improve the skills of others. Since starting his studies at MIT, Andrew has expanded his knowledge in a variety of areas, but his focus is in Electrical Engineering. Whilst this is his first time teaching in Welsh schools, this is not Andrew’s first experience of the GTL programme, having visited Kazakhstan for three weeks in 2019. His experiences in Central Asia have driven him to apply for this year's programme and share his knowledge of STEM subjects, particularly electrical engineering, once more. Outside the classroom, Andrew loves most sports and grew up playing a lot of soccer, tennis, and American football - a sport he excels at and has even been granted a scholarship for!
Fahrisa Islam Maisha
Fahrisa is a rising senior at Yale-NUS College (Singapore), majoring in Life Sciences. Within Life Sciences, her interests lie in Developmental Biology, Cancer Immunology and Public Health Research. When she is not working in the lab or doing data analysis, Fahrisa loves to engage in the greater community to do social work and teach younger students. Otherwise, you can find her binging Bon Appetit videos on YouTube!
George Abu Daoud
George, born and raised in Israel, has had a passion for teaching from a young age and will begin his major in Computer Science at MIT next semester. George is passionate about teaching, explaining that it encourages you to look at concepts from a different perspective. He adds that it forces you to think of all the possible ways you can reach the student and how as a teacher you end up learning yourself in the process. Outside of university, George is an instructor at MEET (Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow) as well as the Model United Nations. He enjoys nothing more than a good debate with his students!
Giramnah Pena-Alcantara
Giramnah is currently studying Biological Engineering at MIT. She was born into a family where almost everybody has a STEM-related career. Giramnah recalls growing up in her father's labs riding down the hallways on retrofitted Segways and being the lab rat in her mother's STEM camps! She is proud to have been brought up in a space where science is seen as something magical. Giramnah is looking forward to taking part in the MIT GTL programme and to show the magic of science to everyone!
Isha Mahrotra
Isha is a third-year student currently researching Chemistry and Biology at MIT. She has an extensive background in mentoring rising high school students, through the dynaMIT programme, in subjects including Biology, Engineering, Psychology, Physics, and Chemistry. Isha has also been to South Africa to learn about epidemics, and spent time exploring the biology of HIV and other global viruses - she is looking forward to passing on some of this knowledge to her students in this year’s GTL programme! In her spare time, Isha enjoys rowing and is an integral part of the university’s team. She is also proficient in both Spanish and Hindi and is a self-proclaimed Beatles superfan!
Jack-William Barotta
Returning for a second year on the GTL programme in Wales, Jack is really enthusiastic about continuing his work with Welsh students. In January, Jack visited Wales and taught at Bassaleg school in Newport where he was fortunate enough to have two host families. He is passionate about making STEM subjects more accessible across the country, and feels a responsibility to inspire a younger generation of scientists and creative thinkers. Jack’s teaching background is in Physics, Mathematics, and Economics but he also helped a number of secondary school pupils last year with exam preparation in a range of other subjects - using the skills he has honed at MIT. Outside of the classroom, Jack is an avid Liverpool fan and enjoys hiking, playing piano, and reading whenever he gets the chance!
Kanoe Evile
Kanoe Evile is a second-year student at MIT majoring in Biological Engineering and minoring in Linguistics. She is originally from the small plantation town of Haleiwa, Hawaii, and plans to pursue a career in medicine to improve the quality of and access to health in her home community and the greater Pacific area. At MIT, she spends her productive time conducting biological research in the Page Lab and serving as a teacher and mentor in K-12 educational programs. In her free time, she enjoys learning different languages, cooking and baking, and playing any sport (especially football!) with family and friends.
Klajdi Gjonaj
Klajdi is an undergraduate fourth-year student in the Mathematics department at MIT - majoring in Mathematics with a Minor in Computer Science. He was an instructor for the GTL programme in 2020 and taught at Bridgend College - where he was so popular that the students gave him an enormous signed Welsh flag! Klajdi has previously worked as a Math Animator for the Brown University Data Science Initiative, where he was responsible for producing high-quality videos of topics in Mathematics using the Mathematics Animation Engine. Outside of academics, Klajdi is very passionate about music - he even hosted a radio show called Talkin' Tunes. Klajdi loves discovering new artists to listen to, so if you have any recommendations, send them his way!
Maria Ascanio Alino
Maria is a second-year MIT student from Spain specialising in Computer Science and Engineering. Her interest in education began when she became a mentor for CodeIt, an organisation aimed at teaching basic programming to children of all ages and backgrounds. Maria also has experience of teaching Mathematics, Science, and Spanish. For this year's MIT GTL programme, she is really looking forward to delivering a wide range of dynamic lessons in subject areas that she loves!
Mohammed Isuf Ahmed
Isuf is currently studying Mathematics with Computer Science at MIT. He is a highly academic individual, having achieved 3 A*s in Mathematics, Further Mathematics and and Chemistry and an A in Physics in his A Levels. In the past, Isuf has taught GCSE Mathematics and Physics and has also tutored students outside of school hours. Now, at MIT, Isuf is a Physics mentor and grader. Isuf is enthusiastic about acquiring experience in his field. He has completed internships at the UCL Medical Research Facility and at the Kavli Institute of Astrophysics. In his spare time, Isuf enjoys playing field hockey and has also taught himself to play guitar.
Myles Noel
Myles is a first-year student at MIT majoring in Physical Chemistry and hopes to become a professor in his field - possibly returning to MIT as a teacher one day. Myles wants to encourage students from low-income, first generation communities of colour to pursue higher education in the less diverse areas of STEM and sees the GTL programme as an excellent opportunity to inspire a new generation. Myles has previously taken part in programmes which allowed him to work at NASA facilities and with NASA personnel. For these programmes, he was part of the Science team planning mock missions to the International Space Station and Mars. In his free time, Myles enjoys playing tennis and watching American Football - particularly cheering on his beloved New England Patriots!
Qian Hui Tan
Qian Hui is a final-year Life Science major with a Data Science minor at Yale-NUS College. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was an exchange student at HarvardUniversity, and spent half a semester taking classes from Singapore with a 12-hour timezone difference. She is passionate about cancer biology, and has also worked on Alzheimer’s Disease and tissue engineering. As a tutor, she creates safe spaces for students to talk about the challenges of learning during a pandemic. In her free time, she loves exploring the intersection of Biology and Ancient Greek, and enjoys Skyping her adopted cat at home.
Rana Harris Farooq
Rana is from Pakistan and is currently studying at Yale-NUS College as a freshman. He is majoring in Mathematical, Computational, and StatisticalSciences. From running summer school programs in underprivileged schools through his NGO 'Tameer' to holding debate camps for junior debaters in high school, he has a fair share of experience teaching students. He is looking forward to pursuing a career in Data Science. Apart from academics, he loves to watch and play sports, especially soccer. He also participates in parliamentary debates and Model United Nations.
Rishav Koirala
Rishav is currently a fourth-year student at Yale-NUS College, majoring in Physical Sciences on the Physics side, and minoring in Mathematical, Computational, and Statistical Sciences. He is an amateur road cyclist and a running enthusiast. When he is not working in the lab or reading for classes, he will usually be outside, doing a quick 5K or riding around Singapore with his friends in college.
Stuti Khandwala
Stuti is a student at MIT majoring in Computer Science and Engineering with Minors in Economics and Chemistry. She is passionate about teaching and strongly believes in interactive learning to enhance the academic progression of her students. Stuti has extensive knowledge in her field, having received a wealth of research experience and attending several internships and conferences. For the last 9 months she has been conducting research in RNA Biology with a focus on COVID-19. Moreover, Stuti has been invited to conduct remote research from the 2007 Nobel Prize winner Mario Capecchi's lab. Outside of classrooms and laboratories, Stuti has trained for 12 years in Indian Classical Dance!
Yin Xi Tan
Yin Xi is currently a third-year student from Yale-NUS College majoring in Urban Studies and minoring in MCS. She was born and raised in Singapore and has always had an inclination towards the sciences since a young age. Since entering college, her academic interests have shifted towards the intersection between data science and city planning - more specifically, she hopes to work towards producing data-driven solutions to create more sustainable cities. Beyond academics, she enjoys dancing with her friends in their university’s dance team and going on adventures that include interacting with animals.
Zihan Yu (Raquelle)
Raquelle is a 4th year undergraduate student at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. She loves doing biomedical research, both in terms of benchwork and bioinformatics analysis. Her research interest lies in host-microbe interactions. She hopes to study how our immune system interacts with the microbes in our environment and those residing inside us. During her spare time, she plays the piano, experiments with recipes in the kitchen, watches Netflix, and reads books. She os also passionate about sustainability and hopes to encourage everyone to lead a sustainable lifestyle.
Interested in joining our instructional team?
If you’re a STEM student (undergraduate or postgraduate) at a Welsh university and you’d like to teach alongside other instructors around the world through the Global Teaching Labs programme in 2022, please get in touch with Equal Education Partners.