Team:RHIT/Team



Yifei “Frankie” Yang

Frankie is one of the 300,000 Chinese students that came to the US in pursuit of higher education. The thing that makes him stand out (absolutely not) is that a plane crashed on his birthday due to a fire caused by its entertaining system. He is trying to figure out ontological connections between the incident and his life.
Reason of joining iGEM: he wants to explore the possibility one can do with bacteria and look for a direction of what he wants to do in the future.


Allison Harpel

Alli is a year-two student studying chemical engineering, biochemistry & molecular biology at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Ultimately, she intends to work in research and development within the realm of pharmaceuticals, and is especially interested in finding mechanisms behind and correcting psychological and neurological disorders. If there is time to spare, she enjoys learning and making things, which can lead to an assortment of activities such as ukulele playing, making new foods, finding plants on sun-dappled days, and wading through her piles of books.


Maddie Muncie

Maddie is a junior pursuing an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She grew up on a farm in the small town of Cory, Indiana where in her free time, she would collect water samples from the pig wallow and look at its contents under a microscope. In doing this, Maddie found her favorite microbe: the Cyclops. No, it’s not the mythological creature, but the two organisms do share a feature. You should totally look it up! In the future, Maddie hopes to pursue a PhD in biochemistry and perform medical research, most likely related to oncology.


Julia Walsh

Julia Walsh is a second year biomedical engineering undergrad at Rose. She is currently 19 and was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Julia enjoys biology, particularly cell signaling and communication. As a hobby, she does hand drawings and is vice president of the Anime Club. She also enjoys reading about current events and world religions in her spare time. A fun fact about Julia is that she is a twin.


Paul Earhart

Paul Earhart is a third year senior pursuing a B.E. in Computer Engineering. He grew up in Colorado and then moved to Seattle where his life became competative robotics. Always looking to the future, Paul has been fascinated bringing cybernetics forward and bridging the gap between the untapped potential of our silicon processors, and our own organic ones. When he finds time away from school and life responsibilities, Paul enjoys creating things, be it computer program, robot, or - after the wealth of knowledge gained through his expiriance in iGEM - organic machine.


Audrey Brand

“Audie” is a third year student studying Optical Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She joined the iGEM team because she wanted to see what new discoveries and innovations combining optics and biology could lead to. She enjoys swing dancing, serving on student government, and learning to play obscure instruments. In the future she hopes to work on optical systems and maybe even space lasers.


Dr. Richard Anthony

Professor of Biology and Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Ric Anthony specializes in molecular genetics, ribosome structure and function, and protein synthesis. He co-leads Rose-Hulman’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team and works with students in the Synthetic Biology Laboratory doing a variety of research, including a multi-disciplinary project to determine if algae could be a source of biodiesel and an iGEM team focusing on synthetic biology and gene manipulation.


Dr. Irene Reizman

Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering

Dr. Irene Reizman’s areas of expertise include biochemical engineering and biotechnology. Her research focuses on developing improved microbial strains for renewable chemical production, and she’s currently leading a student research project investigating the use of biosensors for industrial fermentation. Dr. Reizman completed a project in Germany as part of the Green Talents program and also previously worked for LS9, Whirlpool, and SCHOTT AG.