Ari Benveniste
Ari began the Math MS MLB program in Fall 2025. Ari enjoys playing soccer (he played club throughout college), running, novels, and being outdoors in almost any context. Ari's family has traveled extensively for his father's work. He lived in Bangkok, Thailand for three years when he was young, and has traveled frequently to other places across the globe. Ari's family is Argentinian, so they visit Buenos Aires almost every winter. Ari has also studied abroad in Hungary with the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program, and traveled frequently on weekends while he was there. A fun fact about Ari: "I was in Buenos Aires when Argentina won the World Cup in 2022."
Kausik Das
Kausik entered the AIM Ph.D. program in 2023. Kausik's favorite hobby is tennis as he has been playing since he was 8 years old and is a HUGE Roger Federer fan. Kausik has been to several countries including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Singapore, the UAE, and the UK. Most recently, he visited Vancouver in May 2025. His favorite trip was to Istanbul because he had a Turkish friend from our department show him around. A fun fact about Kausik: "I went to preschool and elementary school in New Jersey, then I moved to Bangalore, India for middle school and high school, and then came back to the US for college and grad school!"
Havi Ellers
Havi entered the Mathematics Ph.D. program in Fall 2020. Havi is grateful to be surrounded by her caring family, friends, and cat (also named Havi). Havi did artistic gymnastics competitively for eight years and more casually for another four years. Havi has recently started club gymnastics at U-M. Havi also likes skiing, cooking, and writing poems. Havi's most significant traveling experience was when she was in middle school and attended school in Japan for a year. "It was really fun to be in a new country and learn the language and culture, and I still talk to some of the friends that I met there!" Havi mostly listens to pop music, but also loves classical. For movies, "I tend to like comedies, because it's good to laugh." A fun fact about Havi: She was homeschooled all the way until college. We are thrilled to have Havi in our department.
Ammar Eltigani
Ammer began the AIM MS MLB program in Fall 2024. Ammar likes martial arts and racket sports, especially Badminton. He also enjoys playing percussion instruments: in undergrad he learned the Darbuka hand drum and performed with the local Middle Eastern Music Ensemble! Ammar has been to Czechia, the Bahamas, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Scotland, England, and France. His favorite trip was to the Bahamas because it had been his mom's dream to experience a Bahamian sunrise for as long as he can remember. A fun fact about Ammar: "My dad is Dutch Sudanese, my mom is Lebanese but grew up in Sierra Leone, and I grew up in Lebanon. Because of this, I can speak four languages fluently: Arabic, French, English, and (West-African) Krio."
Bailee Zacovic
Bailee entered the Mathematics Ph.D. program in 2024. Bailee's hobbies include running, figure skating, hip-hop dancing, and calligraphy. In terms of movies, Bailee loves mysteries, documentaries, historical dramas, and aviation history. Bailee lived in Bonn, Germany for one year and has also visited Czechia, the Netherlands, France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Ireland. Her favorite thus far has been the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (a region of Italy) because of the beautiful beaches and seafood pasta. A fun fact about Bailee: "Others definitely do not know that I wrote a parody of the song "867-5309/Jenny" called "3.14159/Pi" when I was in middle school. (I can still recite maybe 60 digits of pi.)"
