Yong co-founded MfA LA in 2008 together with other L.A.-area education leaders with a mission to address systemic challenges in urban STEM education by investing directly in math and computer science teachers. He helped design and implement the fellowship model of teacher development and support that forms the heart of MfA LA’s work. Educators apply for fellowships in school-based teams rather than as isolated individuals, creating interconnected communities of shared learning, practice and support. The model helps enhance teacher quality and retention and empower teachers to improve and expand advanced STEM curriculum in their schools. Yong has co-written five National Science Foundation (NSF) grants to support the organization’s work.  

“Over the past 20 years, I’ve been so inspired by the math and computer science teachers supported by our program and all the amazing work they do to bring about more equitable and ambitious student learning outcomes,” Yong says.

“The confluence of our latest NSF grant being funded and some staffing changes in the program led me to take a leave of absence from 91̽�� Mudd for the 2026–2027 academic year in order to help shape the MfA LA program for the future, a future that is full of opportunities and challenges,” Yong says. “And beyond that, I genuinely look forward to learning from and fellowshipping with this warm and caring community of teacher-leaders.”

Since its founding, MƒA LA has supported hundreds of teacher fellows across nearly 40 public schools in the region. Under Yong’s directorship this coming year, the organization plans to expand its fellowship program to more schools and build infrastructure for data-gathering and research to inform public education policy.

“Math for America Los Angeles was created on the conviction that excellent teachers are the catalytic lever for systemic educational change,” Yong says. “When we surround accomplished educators with deep professional community, collaborative planning time, financial support and coaching, they stay in the classroom and become department leaders who elevate learning for thousands of students. I am honored to lead MƒA LA in this next chapter as we scale our team-based fellowship model across the greater Los Angeles region.”

Marsyla, an alum of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps cross country and track and field teams, has been named the women’s sport recipient of Chi Alpha Sigma’s 2025–26 Scholar Athlete of the Year award. The national honor recognizes student-athletes who combine academic and athletic achievement with leadership and service on campus and in their communities.

Marsyla finished her collegiate running career in dramatic fashion, winning the NCAA Division III championship in the women’s 10,000-meter run. After entering the final lap 50 meters behind the leader, she closed the gap and surged ahead to win by six-tenths of a second in 33:38.71. The performance was a personal best, a CMS record and the sixth-fastest 10K time in Division III history. She also finished second in the 5,000 meters and seventh at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in fall 2025.

Her accomplishments earned her SCIAC Athlete of the Year honors in women’s cross country after she won the individual conference championship, as well as West Region Athlete of the Year honors in track and field.

At Mudd, Marsyla pursued her interest in biology and computation through research and teaching. She took on leadership roles in the bioengineering research lab of Steven Santana, associate professor of engineering and holder of the Joseph B. Platt Chair in Effective Teaching, and served as a teaching assistant for introductory biology courses. Those experiences are helping prepare her for her next goal: earning a PhD in bioinformatics and pursuing a career in cancer research.

The Scholar Athlete of the Year award recognizes more than achievement in the classroom or on the track. Nominees must be junior or senior Chi Alpha Sigma inductees with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.40 and demonstrate how their experiences as scholar-athletes have prepared them to contribute beyond college. Zach Frank of St. John’s (Minn.) football was selected as the men’s sport recipient of the award.

“Zach and Elle represent everything the Scholar Athlete of the Year award was created to celebrate,” said Kellen Wells-Mangold, executive director of the National College Athlete Honor Society. “Their accomplishments in competition and in the classroom are exceptional, but what truly distinguishes them is how they have used their talents and experiences to lead, serve others and prepare to make an impact well beyond their collegiate careers.”

“The changes in the Earth’s climate are foremost in many of our students’ minds, so it is important that the Center’s curricular offerings continue to grow to meet their needs,” says Tom Donnelly, Hixon Center director. “We will educate our students about the science, impact and mitigation of climate change, and help to prepare them for a future in which they will make critical contributions to addressing its implications for humanity. I am particularly thrilled that we have climate and mathematics professor Robert Sanchez here to anchor the new joint major.”

Mathematical models underpin both our understanding of global climate change and the assessment of potential paths forward. By blending rigorous mathematical theory with comprehensive climate science, the joint major will train students to translate complex data into actionable environmental solutions. Graduates of the program will be well-prepared to uphold the College’s mission as they develop skills, confidence and intention in applying advanced mathematical theory to understand and address one of the most important interdisciplinary problems of our time.

Distinct from traditional, specialized atmospheric and oceanic dynamics programs, the curriculum is designed to help students develop a holistic understanding of climate change. The coursework places a heavy emphasis on the intricate interactions within and between physical and human systems.

The program’s design is the result of extensive conversations with HMC faculty, alumni, leaders in climate science, and experts in climate change communication. These external consultations yielded a consistent recommendation: Train students deeply across both disciplines while ensuring they maintain a broad view of societal impact.

Students pursuing the joint major will complete foundational coursework in discrete mathematics, statistics, differential equations, analysis and computational mathematics. To tailor the major to their specific career paths, students will select advanced math electives such as statistical theory, partial differential equations, dynamical systems or operations research.

Because the current Core curriculum does not fully prepare all students for advanced climate dynamics, the major builds a deliberate bridge to climate literacy. Students will navigate a curated menu of climate courses that fulfill requirements across multiple dimensions of climate and environmental science, alongside critical foundational training in thermodynamics.

“We are super excited for students to participate in this major,” says Sanchez. “Each component of the joint major has significant depth, so students will be well prepared for careers in climate modeling, environmental risk analysis, data science and operations research. We also intentionally kept the major electives flexible so that students could explore how math is applied to fields ranging from oceanography to ecology.”

The mathematics and climate program expands 91̽�� Mudd’s growing portfolio of interdisciplinary environmental degrees. It joins the College’s other climate-related joint majors: chemistry and climate, biology and climate, computer science and climate.

Brooks, assistant professor of mathematics and Barbara Stokes Dewey Assistant Professor of Life Sciences, recently received the Simons Research Enhancement Grant for Primarily Undergraduate Institution Faculty to support her project “Using Continuum Models to Understand Opinion Dynamics on Networks.” This highly competitive national award, funded by the American Mathematical Society and the Simons Foundation, provides $3,000 per year for three years for research-related activities, plus an additional $300 per year toward the grantee’s department and another $300 per year for administrative costs.

“Using a class of opinion dynamics models developed to analyze the mechanisms behind consensus and polarization, my collaborators and I will employ graph limits to explore the asymptotic behavior of opinion states observed in the continuum limit as compared to what is observed in large but finite networks,” says Brooks, who joined the 91̽�� Mudd faculty in 2020. 

Brooks will investigate when graphons can accurately approximate opinion clusters and positions in large random network models, then apply these continuum limits to detect bifurcations between consensus and polarization in the sigmoidal bounded-confidence model.

While Brooks’s work focuses on opinion dynamics as an application, these methods may also be useful in other biological and ecological contexts that involve many interacting agents with underlying interactions, like tracking disease spread, understanding collective animal behavior or studying how large populations of neurons interact to coordinate brain activity.

Funding for this project will support Brooks’ visits to work with collaborators in London and Philadelphia and her presentations of the work at the Joint Mathematical Meetings and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics conference.

The SageTank event is hosted each year by the 5C student organization . Winners receive funding to invest in their startup, and all competitors receive publicity and networking opportunities to help jumpstart their companies.

First-place winner was developed and pitched by Kevin Xia ’28, Daniel Zhu ’29 and James Gómez CMC ’27. Whistle is an agentic NCAA compliance software designed to help athletic departments stay compliant with NCAA regulations, an often complicated and time-intensive process. The software allows anyone within an NCAA athletic department to ask a compliance question and receive precision answers, citing exact bylaws, within 30 seconds.

“NCAA compliance is a huge issue, with teams having dedicated staff answering these questions from everyone within the athletic department in order to stay compliant,” said Xia. “The impact of Whistle is twofold: It helps the compliance officer find answers to the questions they get faster, and with extreme precision so NCAA compliance infractions don’t occur.”

The idea for Whistle grew out of the co-founders’ love of playing competitive soccer. All three play for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) men’s soccer team, and their athletic and entrepreneurial pursuits intertwined.

“A lot of our teammates actually are very entrepreneurial, and that definitely helped,” said Zhu. “That environment allowed us to get really close and decide to work together.”

Their first product iteration, CoachBooks, was built specifically for college athletics coaches and developed directly with CMS soccer coach Edward Cartee.

“We love competition and winning, and entrepreneurship is a domain in which you are directly competing with others,” said Xia. “There is nothing else like it. For example, to get our first customer, we literally bought a cake and walked into their office asking for five minutes of their time and turned a ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’ That feeling of ‘cold-caking’ someone to get your first customer, working late at night with your best friends even when no one is watching, building something of your own and growing it—that feeling is indescribable.”

Xia also credits the academic courses and programs at 91̽�� Mudd and the other 5Cs for providing valuable knowledge, skills and mentorship. Xia took both semesters of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs with instructors Josh Jones ’98 and Benson Tsai ’06. The team worked closely with Entrepreneurship Studio director and computer science professor Zach Dodds. Xia also went through the program, a 5C student-run accelerator that helps student founders scale their ventures by providing capital, mentorship and staffing.

The Whistle team will use their $5,000 prize to work full-time this summer on growing the company. The team is eager to keep the momentum going and welcomes contact from interested parties.

The GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. Program participants are seen as future experts who will contribute significantly to research, education and innovation in the STEM fields.

Computer science and mathematics major Mithra Karamchedu has been involved in three main research projects as a student at 91̽�� Mudd. “Since my freshman year, I’ve been working with computer science professor Lucas Bang on research in graph algorithms, where we study the problem of generating the spanning trees of a graph G up to the automorphisms or ‘symmetries’ of G,” he says. “I’ve also been doing research in Ramsey theory with former HMC President Maria Klawe, my brother Chaitanya Karamchedu ‘21 and mathematics professor Andrés Vindas Meléndez. In our research, we attempt to determine the Ramsey numbers of graphs known as ‘double stars.’ As part of an REU program with the Santa Fe Institute after my sophomore year, I’ve also been working with Cristopher Moore and Gülce Kardeş, researching the so-called ‘phase transitions’ in hard computational problems.”

Karamchedu is a member of the HMC improv club DUCK! and has been an Academic Excellence tutor for mathematics and a CS department grutor. This fall, he will begin a PhD in theoretical computer science at Columbia University, where he hopes to specialize in combinatorial algorithms and complexity theory.

During her sophomore year, engineering major Marika Ragnartz conducted research in Professor Steven Santana’s lab, working on developing a 3D bioprinter to print synthetic tissue. However, she says, “most of my experiences have actually not been in research labs. I was part of the Summer Entrepreneurship Studio at Mudd and worked on a project with my friend Sara Wexler ‘26 making a thermoelectric-cooling wearable for multiple sclerosis patients. We received multiple grants to continue working on it past the summer. I’ve worked with two other startups, Lifemotion Medical Technology for Clinic and Telos Health during an internship, on devices for heart and lung failure patients and stroke patients.” Ragnartz also was a grutor and teaching assistant for E79 and has been a member of the 5C hip-hop group Groove Nation throughout her time at 91̽�� Mudd.

In the fall, Ragnartz will begin a PhD program in mechanical engineering at Northwestern University, doing research on soft robotics and controls for rehabilitation robotics.

“Models of opinion dynamics have the potential to explain how individual beliefs and collective opinions spread in a social network. However, many canonical models in this field are deterministic and thus fail to capture uncertainty present in social interactions,” says mathematics major Madeline Reeve. “My mathematics senior thesis focuses on how adding randomness affects long-term behavior in a class of opinion dynamics models called bounded-confidence models. In particular, my work focuses on when adding noise promotes consensus, or when all agents eventually adopt the same opinion.”

Reeve made the most of her summers during college. In 2023, she conducted biostatistics research at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. This work helps explain the natural history progression of oral cavity cancer when untreated in an individual. In 2025, she conducted research at Williams College as part of the SMALL REU, studying chip-firing games on Graphs, “totally different from my thesis and the more applied work I’ve done otherwise,” she says. “My research team and I proved theoretical results about a quantity called the gonality of a graph, a discrete analog of a classical concept in algebraic geometry.”

Since 2023, Reeve has worked for the Office of Career Services as a peer consultant, hosting workshops, meeting with Mudders to review their resumes and cover letters and helping organize OCS events. She has also been a mathematics department grutor, including for Math131: Mathematical Analysis 1, and an Academic Excellence mathematics tutor/facilitator. Reeve also served as a North Dorm president. 

After graduation, Reeve will move to Salt Lake City to pursue a PhD in mathematics at the University of Utah, where she plans to conduct research in applied mathematics and/or mathematical biology.

Lilian Zhu is a mathematics major with emphasis in environmental analysis and data science. With her thesis advisor, mathematics and climate professor Robert Sanchez, Zhu researched salinity feedbacks in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) for different climate models and studied how to disentangle natural versus anthropogenic forces in the AMOC response to rising CO2.

In 2024, Zhu participated in an REU at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) with advisors Rodney Johnson and Dennis McGillicuddy. Zhu investigated mesoscale eddy transformations using Argo float and satellite altimetry data and took part in weeklong research cruises to collect data. Zhu also worked at BIOS as an education intern, developing Python tutorial workshops for local Bermudian students to expand oceanographic data science knowledge for the BIOS Curriculum Enrichment program. 

“I spent the last two summers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research studying humidity trends in the U.S. Southwest with advisor Isla Simpson,” Zhu says. “Climate models simulate a rise in humidity contradicting observations that show a decline. My work analyzed evapotranspiration regimes within models and observations to diagnose this problem.”

At HMC, Zhu served as a grutor for the mathematics and CS departments. Having benefitted from the College’s Gateway to Exploring Mathematical Sciences program as a high school sophomore, Zhu volunteered as a mentor for the program’s monthly workshops throughout her time in college.

After graduation, Zhu will pursue a PhD in physical oceanography at MIT-WHOI, studying coral reef hydrodynamics and using machine learning to optimize the performance of autonomous underwater vehicles. “I’m excited to continue my outreach through both community education and creative science communication,” she says.

Venkatachalam, a joint physics and mathematics major with a linguistics concentration, will pursue an Open Study/Research Award focused on liquid–liquid phase separation, a process in which mixtures spontaneously separate into distinct liquid phases. Understanding this behavior is critical for advancing research in areas such as biological systems and materials science.

While working in Heidelberg’s physics department, Venkatachalam aims to develop a physics-informed generative machine learning model to better predict how these systems behave under different conditions.

“I’m really looking forward to making connections in Germany, both through my research and through campus and community outreach,” said Venkatachalam. “One of the things that drew me to Fulbright is the chance to engage in meaningful conversations across diverse backgrounds and experiences, to share my perspective while learning about others.”

She will be building upon her research in hard and soft condensed matter physics that she conducted at 91̽��, California Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago. Her work has resulted in multiple co-authored publications and presentations at national conferences, including the American Physical Society Global Physics Summit.

In addition to her research, Venkatachalam is engaged in teaching and outreach. She serves as a facilitator for HMC’s Academic Excellence program in Core mathematics courses and has supported peers across physics and math through tutoring and grading roles since her sophomore year. She is also co-president of Minoritized Genders across Physics and leads STEM outreach initiatives that bring hands-on science programming to younger students, including the annual Science Day event for local elementary schools.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have access to mentors and opportunities that helped me imagine a future in science, and I want to help make that path more visible and accessible for others,” she said.

Following the grant, Venkatachalam will pursue a PhD in theoretical chemical physics, where she hopes to explore how fundamental physics can be used to understand and predict complex chemical systems.

“I hope my Fulbright year helps me become a better scientist, mentor and advocate,” said Venkatachalam. “I want my research experience to be an opportunity for exchange, not just in terms of technical skills, but also in learning how different communities approach science, education and inclusion.”

, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, is the nation’s flagship international educational exchange initiative, promoting mutual understanding through academic and cultural exchange. In partnership with more than 140 countries, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program supports academic and professional development while fostering cross-cultural collaboration to address global challenges.

Johnson Ho ’27

Johnson Ho, a chemistry and biology major, conducted green chemistry research with Donald A. Strauss Professor of Chemistry David Vosburg. Since his first year, Ho has been researching the use of mild peptide-coupling reagents to form carbon-carbon bonds and synthesizing probes for protein assays. He has also been developing a green, one-pot method for synthesizing triazolodiazepines, a class of pharmaceutically relevant compounds.

Ho is a member of the Chemistry Academic Excellence team and is a mentor for 91̽�� Mudd’s Summer Institute, working with students underrepresented in STEM. He also volunteers at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. After graduating, Ho plans to pursue a PhD in chemistry and explore his interests in endocrinology or cardiology. 

Cole Plepel ’27

A mathematics and computer science major, Cole Plepel conducted research across numerical linear algebra, combinatorics and quantum information. He studied randomized algorithms for tensor decomposition with Iris and Howard Critchell Assistant Professor of Mathematics Jamie Haddock, focusing on how approximate solutions to large linear systems affect the performance of the alternating least-squares algorithm.

Plepel later joined 91̽�� Mudd mathematics professor Andrés Vindas Meléndez’s research group, collaborating on work examining symmetries of symmetric edge polytopes. Plepel also worked with physics professor Jason Gallicchio on quantum position verification, evaluating cryptographic vulnerabilities and practical implementation challenges of protocols that use quantum mechanics and relativity to verify location.

Outside of academics, Plepel is a puzzle designer for MuddEscapes, the College’s escape room club. After graduating, he plans to pursue a PhD in cryptography.

Elio Thadhani ’27

Elio Thadhani is a physics major who has conducted research spanning astrophysics and quantum information. He improved a computational tool used to predict the long-term stability of exoplanet systems, and he is first author on a paper published in Research Notes of the AAS. Thadhani later conducted quantum information research, developing a protocol for efficient quantum communication under constrained resources. He contributed to research on quantum position verification and is working on developing and experimentally implementing adaptive entanglement witnessing protocols.

Thadhani serves as a physics tutor and grader, a Core Scholars tutor and a student mentor with the Office of Residential Life. After graduating, he plans to pursue a PhD in physics with a focus on quantum information.

All college sophomores and juniors are eligible to compete for Goldwater scholarships. Each year, the College nominates up to four students, and the Department Chairs Committee serves as the nominating body.

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established in 1986. The Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

Leilani Elkaslasy, an engineering major with an emphasis in environmental analysis, will pursue a project titled “Designing Inclusion.” Traveling to Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, Egypt and Thailand, and guided by the question, “What does it mean to be disabled, and how can small adaptations help people thrive?” she will work with communities and organizations serving people with disabilities to explore how adaptive design can foster inclusion and improve quality of life. She will then co-create assistive technologies tailored to local needs.

Her work will span a wide range of contexts—from collaborating with an inclusion-focused nonprofit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to engaging with special education programs in Brazil to supporting mobility aid fabrication efforts in rural Kenya to helping design an accessible, community-run coffee shop in Cairo. She plans to conclude her travels in Thailand, working with rural communities to develop tools that improve access to education for children with disabilities.

Her approach emphasizes relationship-building and collaboration, using adaptive design as a way to better understand the lived experiences of individuals and the cultural contexts that shape inclusion. By working closely with community members, she aims to develop sustainable solutions and share knowledge that can continue beyond her time in each location.

On campus, Elkaslasy founded and grew 91̽�� Mudd’s Adaptive Design club, partnering with organizations such as AbilityFirst, Pilgrim Place and The Danbury School, to create assistive technologies. She is also involved in SALSA Mudd and the Society of Women Engineers. Her research experience spans water sustainability in the Bahena Lab and materials science in the Krauss Tribology Lab.

Miski Nopo, a mathematics and physics major, will explore the relationship between mountain regions and the people that inhabit them. Her project, “Mountain Communities,” will take her to China, Bhutan, Japan, Morocco and New Zealand, where she will examine how cultural, spiritual and environmental perspectives shape human connections to mountainous landscapes.

Nopo’s project is inspired by her upbringing in Peru and her connection to the Andean cosmovision, in which mountains—known as Apus—are regarded as living spiritual beings that protect and guide surrounding communities. This perspective contrasts with Western views of mountains as barriers and informs her interest in how different cultures understand and relate to the natural world. Through her Watson year, Nopo aims to learn from diverse communities and explore what these relationships reveal about conservation, connection and social development.

At 91̽�� Mudd, Nopo has combined rigorous scientific research with campus leadership and mentorship. She serves as director of the Committee for Activities Planning on the Associated Students of 91̽�� Executive Board and has supported student life through additional roles, including as a mentor, academic excellence facilitator and president of the Minoritized Genders across Physics Club. Her research spans multiple institutions and disciplines, including work in biology professor Danae Schulz’s Lab, collaborations with faculty at 91̽�� Mudd and Pomona College and international research at CERN, applying machine learning to astrophysical models. Her senior thesis, advised by HMC physics professor Brian Shuve, focuses on dark matter interactions, and she has also conducted research in nuclear physics using deep learning at Texas A&M, presenting her work at the American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics.

Nopo and Elkaslasy, who plan to begin their travels in July, exemplify the curiosity, initiative and global perspective that define Watson Fellows, using their year abroad to pursue work with both intellectual depth and meaningful human impact.

The competition hosted 4,329 students from 487 institutions. The top individual score on the exam was 110 out of a possible 120 points, while the average score was approximately 10, and the median score was 2.

As a team, based on the ranks of the top three scorers from each school, 91̽�� Mudd placed 11th in the nation.

Special recognition goes to the following individuals: Alan Kappler ’27 for placing in the Top 100, Alan Lu ’29 and Adam Tang ’26 for placing in Top 200, and to Silas Brock ’28, Aidan Deshong ’28, Spencer Lewis ’28, Kai Mawhinney ’27 and Luke Wang ’27 for placing in Top 500.

Elizabeth Lowell Putnam founded the event in 1927 in memory of her husband, William Lowell Putnam, a Harvard graduate and advocate of intercollegiate intellectual competition. 

Administered by the Mathematical Association of America, the exam, composed of 12 problems worth 10 points each, has been offered annually since 1938 to regularly enrolled undergraduates in the United States and Canada who have not yet received a college degree.

91̽�� Mudd students first participated in the Putnam competition on Dec. 2, 1961. In 1991, the 91̽�� Mudd team earned third place.