Faculty Advisor
Professor Daniel R. Schwarz
Professor Schwarz is a Frederic J. Whiton Professor of English Literature and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell University, where he has taught since 1968. He is a renowned teacher, scholar, and public intellectual. In 1998 he received Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences Russell award for distinguished teaching. Read his full bio |
Current E-Board
Ben Dever-Mendenhall
Co-President Ben is a rising senior from Bethesda, Maryland quadruple majoring in Cognitive Science, Philosophy, Psychology, and Notions of Time (an Independent Major), and pursuing minors in astronomy and anthropology. Throughout his undergraduate career, he has conducted research on Magellanic penguins in Patagonia, traveled to Cambodia to study the Angkor temple complex, and worked as a theoretical linguistics intern at MIT. At Cornell, he is a research assistant in the Cognition and Experience Lab, the Integrative Neuroethology Lab, and the DeVoogd lab. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of Logos, the Cornell Undergraduate Philosophy Journal and as a CURB Peer Research Mentor. In spring of 2023, he became a Mellon Mays humanities fellow. Outside of coursework, he loves hiking, horseback riding, reading, and baking. |
Michaela Ferrario
Co-President Michaela Ferrario is a rising senior from San Ramon, California. She is double majoring in the Robert S. Harrison College Scholar Program and American Studies and is minoring in History, Inequality Studies, and Law and Society. As a College Scholar, she has designed her own interdisciplinary program of study and has conducted self-directed, original research on the history, philosophy, and legal guarantees of freedom in the United States. Ms. Ferrario has also worked as an undergraduate research assistant in Cornell’s History and Government departments and is an editor for Ezra’s Archives (Cornell’s Undergraduate History Journal). After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in law and/or public policy. |
Tairan Zhang
Co-VP and Website Chair Tairan is a rising senior from Dayton, Ohio, majoring in Government and Information Science, with concentrations in Data Science and Ethics, Law, and Policy. He is also pursuing minors in Law and Society, Music, and European Studies. Tairan’s passions lie at the intersection of policy, law, and computing, with a particular focus on workplace surveillance and algorithmic management. He currently studies these interdisciplinary topics in public interest technology as a Summer Fellow at Upturn and Siegel Summer Fellow at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy. He has previously researched rural-urban linkages in Uganda using data science techniques and served as a teaching assistant for “Choices and Consequences in Computing” and “Networks.” Outside of the classroom, Tairan is the President of the Cornell Orchestras, Executive Director of Cornell’s Undergraduate Labor Institute, and Academic Chair of the Information Science Student Association, as well as an orchestral violinist and lover of all things tennis. |
Daisy Tseng
Co-VP and Alumni Chair Daisy is a rising senior from Diamond Bar, California majoring in Information Science and minoring in Business. She is passionate about the intersection between computational sustainability and global development and enjoys being a teaching assistant for courses such as Designing Technology for Social Impact. Outside of Phi Beta Kappa, Daisy’s primary involvement is serving as the President of the Information Science Student Association, where she was awarded the Compassionate Leader Award by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In her spare time, she enjoys pottery and sharing her clay sculptures on YouTube to teach others, garnering over ten thousand views. |
Hannah Drexler
Newsletter Chair Pasa Suksmith is a senior at Cornell majoring in chemistry and biology. He is conducting research with the Ando lab on the evolution of ribonucleotide reductases, utilizing biophysical techniques such as x-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. Outside of classes, he is part of Cornell Eastern Music Ensemble and the Big Red Marching Band. |
Krishay Sridalla
Philanthropy Chair Krishay is a rising senior from Troy, Michigan majoring in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Neurobiology and Behavior, and he intends to attend medical school after graduation. As an undergraduate research assistant in the Crickard Lab, Krishay focuses on elucidating the function of the human protein Rad54L in DNA repair and cancer development by examining the effects of mutations on the yeast protein Rad54. He has presented his research at various conferences including the Yale Undergraduate Research Symposium and Cornell CURBx. Krishay also serves as a teaching assistant for Introductory Biochemistry and a student advisor for the Office of Undergraduate Biology. Outside of Cornell, Krishay is involved as the editor-in-chief of two nonprofit organizations, Project Bodhan and YouthUp Global, which focus on addressing societal issues such as mental health, women’s health, and life skills. In his spare time, Krishay enjoys playing the piano and working out. |