Warehouse RAs 2017-2018

Warehouse RAs 2017-2018

Email the RAs at wh-ras@mit.edu.

President: Caroline Murphy

Caroline Murphy is a second year PhD student in the History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art program, where she studies the cultural history of buildings, cities, and their representation in of parts of western Europe (mostly England and Italy) from ca. 1400–1600. She is from Toronto, Canada, but has lived at the Warehouse since September 2014, when she began her master’s degree at MIT. Caroline enjoys running, playing soccer, and singing with the MIT grad choir, as well as cooking, reading, and traveling.

Co-Orientation and Wellness Chair: Kara Runsten

Kara is in her second and final year as a Master of City Planning candidate at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Her research interests include climate change adaptation in coastal communities and environmental mediation. Kara graduated from Stanford with a B.A. in Public Policy in 2013. She enjoys cooking, creative writing, and exploring new cities.

Co-Orientation and Wellness Chair: Kenny Chen

Kenny is a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry, where he performs research on protein homeostasis. He is from Los Angeles and previously studied at UCLA. He considers the move to the East Coast an adventure, experiencing for the first time rapid transit and snowfall. Kenny enjoys STEM outreach, and exploring new places in the city.

Webmaster and Technology Officer: Ben Sherman

Ben is a second-year PhD student in Computer Science, where he's building a programming language for manipulating continuous spaces, such as real numbers or probability distributions. He's an east-coaster: he grew up on Long Island, NY, attended college at Yale in New Haven, CT, and spent two years near Washington, D.C. before coming to MIT. Ben loves reading tales from the history of mathematics. His less peculiar hobbies include tennis, basketball, and guitar.

Secretary: Annie Zhang

Annie is a PhD student in the Biology Department, where she is studying the mechanisms of DNA replication during the cell cycle. Before coming to MIT, she lived in Hong Kong for 18 years and then came to the States and studied at the University of Chicago. Although most of the time you will find her in lab, she also enjoys cooking, baking, running and biking. Her favorite recipes are freshly pounded mochi, castella, chiffon cakes, and okonomiyaki!

Sustainability and Building RA: Libby Tolman

Libby Tolman is a PhD student in the Physics Department, where she studies plasma, a fourth state of matter which is important in many astrophysical phenomena and can be used to generate fusion energy. Libby received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, where she majored in physics and received a certificate in Latin American Studies. In her free time, she enjoys travel, dancing, cooking, and reading; her favorite authors are Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda. She grew up in Vermont and returns there as often as possible.

Sports RA: Brenden Butters

Brenden is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He specializes in circuits and systems with a focus on radio frequency and high speed applications. Brenden is from Sydney, Australia, and completed his undergraduate degrees at the University of Wollongong. He enjoys outdoor activities, competitive shooting, and working out in the gym.

Front Desk RA: Rijul Kochhar

Rijul is a third-year PhD student in the History; Anthropology; Science, Technology and Society (HASTS) program, where he is studying the ongoing cultural, technical and biosecurity entailments surrounding the planetary emergence of antibiotic resistance infections. Before coming to MIT, he earned a bachelor's degree in History from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and an MA and MPhil in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics. Rijul enjoys swimming, music, miniature paintings, and looks forward to meeting residents at the splendid Warehouse!

Lori and Steven Lerman Arts Chair*: Katie Picchione

Katie is a second year Master’s student in the Technology and Policy Program. She is passionate about using science and technology to improve quality of life for people around the world. After growing up in Albany, NY, and receiving her Bachelor’s from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2016, she is now a graduate student in the Humanitarian Response Lab at MIT, researching food security and agricultural market systems development for the US Agency for International Development. As a musician (acoustic guitar and electric bass), Katie is thrilled to bring the Warehouse community together for art and music events in and around MIT this year. She also identifies as a machinist, runner, and entrepreneur.

*This RA position was created to honor the contributions and legacy of founding Warehouse Housemasters Lori and Steven Lerman who lived at the Warehouse from 2000 to 2010. One of Lori's many contributions to the Warehouse community was a music program to which she dedicated her talents and resources. Lori and Steve now live in Washington, D.C., where Steve is Provost at George Washington University.

Community Chair: Marie Feng

Marie is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Her specialization is in medical imaging with a focus on using MR to improve placental and fetal imaging. Originally from Austin, Marie graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Computer Science. Outside the lab, Marie enjoys watching college football (GO CARD!), teaching group fitness, and finding the best cannoli in Boston.