Monica Kieff

Program Coordinator (Head Brain)

Monica is a third year student at the University of Chicago majoring in biology and minoring in molecular engineering and French.  She is also on the Varsity diving team.  In her free time, she helps coordinate The Think Tank's operations, volunteers at the hospital, and hangs out with her friends. 

Amritpal Singh

Tankmaster

Amrit graduated from St. John's College in 2015, having completed the Great Books Program. He currently works as the lab manager for Dr. Daniel Casasanto's Experience and Cognition Lab. Outside of his interests in cognitive science and philosophy, Amrit is also passionate about shape note singing, learning new languages, and poetry.

Marianna Zhang

Events Manager

Marianna Zhang is a third-year studying psychology and philosophy. She works as a research assistant at the Experience and Cognition Lab, where she is interested in how our categories and concepts interact with language. She is also an avid rock climber, Sufjan Stevens enthusiast, and purveyor of high-fives.

Jillian Bowman

Community Partnership Manager

Jillian is a first year at the University of Chicago, and a proud Chicago native! She is a pre-med student majoring in Neuroscience and considering a minor in French. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, listening to music, playing Ultimate, talking about how incredibly cool brains are, and (trying) to practice guitar. 

Yifan Mao

Community Partnership Manager

Yifan is a first-year pre-med student at The University of Chicago majoring in biology with a specialization in neuroscience. She is also on the Varsity swim team. In her free time, she enjoys playing piano, volunteering at La Rabida Children's hospital, baking, and watching movies

Sumer Vaid

Fundraising Specialist/Events Manager

Sumer is a 3rd year pursuing a psychology major with a minor in computational neuroscience. His research interests include numerical cognition and embodied cognition. He has been a research assistant at Prof Casasanto's lab for about a year. Sumer hopes to pursue graduate school in the neurosciences after college. He is an avid fan of Coldplay and electronic music. In his free time, Sumer likes to keep fit and write fiction. He also has a passion for writing grant proposals!

Emily Shen

Events Manager

Emily is a second-year in the College studying Biology and Neuroscience. She currently works at the University of Chicago Hospitals as a clinical research assistant, and on campus she is involved in the University Symphony, NEURO, and the Taiwanese American Students Association. In her free time, she enjoys checking out overly-hyped cafes and restaurants, hitting up CSO concerts, and daydreaming about her next travel destination!

Jean Dai

Brainiac

Jean is a first-year pre-med student at The University of Chicago majoring in biology. She is also on the Varsity swim team. In her free time, she enjoys painting, playing the piano and violin, shopping, and working with kids.

Amritha Sriram

[TT]Team Builder

Amritha is a second year neuroscience major at the University of Chicago, from San Francisco, California. She is a member of the school’s club crew team, and in her free time she enjoys painting, listening to music, watching movies, and hanging out with her friends.

Emily Garcia

Media Guru/Science Educator

Emily is a third year pre-med student majoring in Neuroscience. She works at a sleep lab in the hospital, as well as in a neurobiology lab where she raises baby octopuses. This neurobiology lab (the Ragsdale Lab) recently won an Emmy for their short video on their sequencing of the octopus genome, meaning Emily has indirectly won an Emmy, making her the coolest Braniac ever.

Elias Blinkoff

Media Guru/Science Educator

Elias is a long distance operative for the Think Tank and a fourth-year student at Swarthmore College, where he is majoring in Psychology and Educational Studies with a minor in Cognitive Science. He is especially interested in how language acquisition research can be used to inform educational policy and practice for English-Language learners. At Swarthmore, he conducts research on language processing in the EEG/ERP Lab and works as a peer writing tutor. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, skiing, and running.

Daron Bedian

Webmaster

Daron Bedian is a third year at the University of Chicago, studying Linguistics, Math and Near Eastern History. In his free time, he enjoys playing and listening to music, soccer, and all things Armenian. He is a cellist in the Middle East Music Ensemble at the University. After a stint doing research at the Casasanto Experience and Cognition Lab, he is now working with Fred Ciesla and Sebastiaan Krijt on modeling the early formation of star systems.

Josh Oberman

Tech Manager, Neuro-artist in Residence

Josh Oberman is a computer musician, sound artist, and recent graduate of UChicago, with a degree in philosophy and cognitive science. He has focused much of his artistic practice on the use of biosensing technologies. With support from UChicago's Music Department, he has programed work with the Emotiv EPOC EEG headset for solo performers and acoustic/synthetic duets, including performances and installations at UChicago Computer Music Studio, the Logan Center for the Arts, and Elastic Arts Foundation. Josh has also collaborated with composers and biologists to create the Chromochord: the world’s first musical instrument driven by nano-sized proteins.

Tyler Alterman (TTT Co-Founder)             Abena Appah-Sampong                             Stephanie Bi

          Jeanne Chauffour                                     Dipen Gala                                          Anya Krok

             Stephanie Levi                                       Jamie Oh                                            Jennifer Pan   

         Arabella Pluta-Ehlers                             Brandon Rayhaun                                   Amanda Dobbyn

Adil Menon

Gifts-In-Kind:

Baba Brinkman

Of Rap Guide to Evolution fame, Baba Brinkman is the greatest science rapper alive. He treated BrainBash 2013 attendees to an incredible show. If you haven't witnessed the greatness that is Baba yet, head over to http://www.bababrinkman.com. 

Dan Cowen

One of the most talented cinematographers Tyler knows. Helped direct and edit the TTT Indiegogo video. Watch more of his work on his website: http://danielcowen.com.

Emotiv Lifesciences

A company with the mission of democratizing brain research which makes totally amazing brain-computer interface products. Emotiv donated their EEG head-caps for our outreach efforts. Watch their tech in action in their TED talk.

IMPROVed

Nadia Powers and her org, IMPROVed got The Think Tank's teaching team on their feet for our teacher training. Book her and IMPROVed at http://improvedchicago.com.

Karen Trella

Development Director at Urban Pathways, a nonprofit fighting homelessness in NY. Karen helped us plan BrainBash 2013 and is secretly admired by Tyler for being a fellow fast-talking, no-nonsense New Yorker.

Lisa Dierbeck

Author of The Autobiography of Jenny X and One Pill Makes You Smaller. The brain behind TTT's press releases!

Great Believer

A design irm that delivers brilliant branding to "good causes, like The Think Tank." Their words! We're lucky enough to have GB design our new logo. Check out their work at http://greatbeliever.us.

Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York

Co-Founder Tyler's alma mater! MHC donated their beautiful brownstone for The Think Tank's BrainBash 2013. What is MHC? Macaulay Honors College at The City University of New York offers exceptional students a uniquely personalized education with access to the vast resources of the nation’s largest urban university and New York City itself. Selected for their top high school records and leadership potential, Macaulay students receive a full-tuition scholarship, a laptop and technology support, and a $7,500 Opportunities Fund to pursue global learning and service opportunities.  A Cultural Passport provides access to museums, libraries, and other treasures around New York City. Macaulay students enroll in one of eight CUNY senior colleges (Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, John Jay, Lehman, Queens and Staten Island). For more information, see macaulay.cuny.edu.

Particularly instrumental were:

• Andrew Adair, Associate Director of Student Development
• Ann Kirschner, University Dean of Macaulay Honors College
• Autumn Payne, Director of Annual Giving and Special Events
• Grace Rapkin, Director of Marketing & Communications
• Joseph Ugoretz, Associate Dean of Teaching, Learning, and Technology
• Mike Lamb, Associate Director of Immersive and Personalized Education
• Olga Barskaya, Manager of Special Events
• Vanessa Iaffa, Named Scholarship Coordinator

Philae Knight

Auctioneer extraordinaire, Philae donated her expert auctioneering services to make BrainBash 2013 a huge hit.

The Amygdaloids

The greatest neuroscientist rockband on earth, The Amygdaloids had everyone dancing at BrainBash 2013. The band was named after the part of the brain thought to register fear, on which frontman Joe LeDoux is a renowned authority. Listen to their tracks at http://www.amygdaloids.com.

TTT's Founding NYC Braintrust

• Alisa Nadolishny
• Anna Karp
• Brad Swain
• Brian Kateman (nab him as your social media consultant)

• DJ Cornelius

• Crichton Atkinson (see her artist's portfolio for wows)
• Eric Schomburg
• David DiLillo (talented film-maker)
• David Craig
• Gloria Cavalliero
• Hope Watson
• Jenna Peet
• Joe Eastman
• Lissa Moses (check our her animated science series, Mosa Mack)
• Luca Dupras 
• Maryam Zaringhalam
• Nadia Witte (amazing photographer and artist)
• Nazia Fyazi

Backers

$5000+

National Science Foundation

Emotiv Lifesciences

$1000-$5000

Gerry Ohrstrom

Forming Circles

Sara Lee Schupf

$250-$500

Ami Dar of Idealist.org

Brian Kateman

Dawn & Bruce Alterman

$5-$250:

Aaron Hamilin

Adora Wilson-Eye

agoldenroad

Alane Celeste

Amal Elbakhar

Amber Baysinger

Amber Watts

Andrienne Moss

Angrew Cahil

Ann Kirschner

Ann Whitman

Ariana Tobias

Ariel Abrahams

Ashley Doukas

Autumn Payne

Ayo Oti

Ben Kleiman

bkarlin

Blake Rubin

Brad Swain

burrd331

C/O OnlineMBAPage.com

Cailin Barrett-Bressack

Carol Rommel

Caroline Craig

Charlotte Hendrickson

Charlotte Weiskittel

Chaz Firestone

Ché Lucero

Chelsea Alterman

Chelsea Power

Chiara Forestieri

Cindy Ellsmore

Cindy Lozito

Claire Clairon

Cleve Graver

Colby Minifie

constructive

Crichton Atkinson

Damon Abraham

Dan Feldman

Daniel Menelly

Danielle Sonnenberg

Danielle Villegas

David DiLillo

David Higgins

David Manier

David Pereplyotchik

Dawn Alterman

Denise Weller

Dorothy Sonnenburg

Ellie Horowitz

Emily Thetford-Smith

eschomnu

Evan Shulman

Gabrielle Lyon

Gary Schwartz

Gloria Cavallaro

grapefulminds

Hasan Bhatti

Havarah Zawoluk

hopkinsdf

Ian Gallywag

Ilya Altshteyn

Imani Tucker

Ina Saltz

James Forde

James R. Pomerantz

Jamie Banks

Jeff Zacks

Jenna Peet

Jennifer Mangels

Joe Eastman

John Clark

John Palumbo

Joseph Ugoretz

Josh Brown

Joshua Davis

Joyohlheiser

Kat Atterbury

Katrina Lipinsky

Kara Marshall

Kevin Jordan

Laura Deering

Leo Bierman

Lin.mary.moon

Lindsey Freer

Lisa Anderson

Lisa Brundage

Lissa Moses

Lucia Gaviria

Lynn Luckow

maljhalls

Marc Weber

Marcia Comoletti

Mark Stokes

Mary Gifford-Smith

Mary Young

Mary Williams

Matthew Alhonte

Matthew Routh

Michael Mclean

Michelle Cuozzo

Mike Howard

Mike Lamb

Mike Young

Molly Rose Ávila

Mom Alterman

Morton Ann Gernsbacher

Myrto Mylopoulos

Nadia Nieves

Naseeba R.

Nadine Peart

Nolwen Cosmao (thanks roomie!)

Ofri Felder

Olaf Woldan

Olga Shcheglova

onemanna

Paulette Young

Peter Casas

Peter Chislett

Phil Ponce De Leon

Philp Ahlqvist

psaygin

ric.payne

ricardo13

Richard Aufrichtig

Roberto Botini

Rose Hendricks

Ryan Bruss

Sam Mcnerney

Sandra Kear

Sarah Hailey

Stephen Macknik

syd810y

Teresa Gonczy

Thomson Nguyen

tetrimbath

Vanessa Iaffa

Vivienne Baldassare

Wendy Dubit