Team contact: project.molecule@outlook.com

Advisor

Arun Somani

Bio:
Arun Somani is currently Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research interests are in design and implementation of scalable and dependable computing and networking system, WDM-based optical fiber networks, and parallel computer system architecture, applications of sensors in critical infrastructure protection, and image-based navigation. He was the lead designer of an anti-submarine warfare system for Indian navy (1974-1982), Meshkin fault-tolerant computer system architecture for the Boeing Company (1987-1990), Proteus multi-computer cluster-based system for US Coastal Navy (designed, built and implemented during 1990-93), and HIMAP design tool for the Boeing Commercial Company (1994-97). He received Canadian Commonwealth Fellowship for his graduate work during 1982-85.

Professor Somani has served in many leadership positions. Dr. Somani served as Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University from 2003-2010. He is currently serving as Associate Dean for Research for the College of Engineering.

Professor Somani is a fellow of IEEE, AAAS, and Distinguished Engineer of ACM.

Team Members

Ryan Wade

Role: Team Lead
Major: Computer Engineering
Email: ryanwade@iastate.edu
Bio: Ryan is a a web application and embeded systems developer at Iowa State University. This May he will start a career at Garmin in Kansas City. He has a diverse set of interests ranging from robotics and automation to music and web design. He look forward to joining the tech community in Kansas City and plans to start a company someday.

Nathan Volkert

Role: Communications Lead
Major: Computer Engineering
Email: nvolkert@iastate.edu
Bio:Nathan Volkert is a senior in Computer Engineering at Iowa State. He is the communications lead on the Molecule team. Along with programing, circuits, and other computer related things Nathan enjoys strategy, puzzles, and board games.

Daniel Griffen

Role: Key-Concept Holder
Major: Computer Engineering
Email: dgriffen@iastate.edu
Bio:Daniel Griffen is a senior in Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. He is the key concept holder on the Molecule team. Daniel has accepted a full-time offer from Microsoft starting in the summer. His interests include video games, LEGO, and Dungeons & Dragons.

Alex Berns

Role: Webmaster & Scribe
Major: Computer Engineering
Email: tagger94@iastate.edu
Bio: Alex Berns is a mobile and web developer at Iowa State. He has accepted an offer with Optum in Minneapolis for a full time position this summer. His interests in technology include genetic algorithms, educational games, virtual reality, and web based development. For down time, Alex enjoys playing table top games and listening to audio books.