Alumni Weekend

Dr. Barrett Anderson

Barrett Anderson is an alumnus of UROP-in-Residence (UIR), now known as MRADS.  He lived in Mosher-Jordan for three years and continued in UIR as a student mentor.  He graduated from the University of Michigan majoring in biology and Japanese.  He attended medical school at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his residency in urological surgery at the Detroit Medical Center. He then completed a fellowship in endourology and minimally invasive surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.  Barrett enjoys piano, violin, tennis, golf, video games, computers, and travel. He has been to Japan several times and always looks forward to returning.

Alec Beljanski '19

Alec Beljanski is an embedded software engineer at Glydways, a public transit startup which develops software to run a fleet of autonomous vehicles as a public transit option. In this role, Alec develops device drivers for these autonomous vehicles, including external sensors (lidar, radar, cameras) and internal cabin devices (NFC readers, touchscreens, lighting, speakers, etc.). 
At MRADS, Alec worked with a team of other undergraduate students to test and refine a microplastic filter as his research project. Alec stayed for a second year at MRADS as a peer mentor and led the study groups for Physics E/M and Differential Equations. After leaving MRADS, Alec worked for the Marine Renewable Energy lab and the Real Time Water Systems lab doing embedded software work. He finished his college experience by going on the 2019 Greenland Expedition for Undergraduate Research where he wrote data logging software for a radiometer and wind anemometer. He graduated Michigan in 2019 with a Computer Engineering BSE. He currently lives in Boulder, CO where he likes to climb, snowboard, practice handstands, and play board games with friends.

Brenna Budaitis '18

Brenna Budaitis grew up in the Chicago suburbs and received her B.S. in Chemistry, with high distinction, from the University of Michigan in 2018. She was first exposed to research as a MRADS student and returned her second year as a Peer Advisor. During her first two years at Michigan, she conducted genetics research under Prof. Catherine Keegan. After discovering her interest in organic chemistry, she finished her research studies with Prof. Pavel Nagorny, contributing towards the synthesis of a spiroketal, chiral scaffold as an alternative ligand-analogue for asymmetric transition-metal catalysis. Brenna recently received her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2024 under Prof. Christina White. Her thesis focused on the development of electrophilic palladium(II)-catalyzed allylic C—H aminations that cross-couple amines and terminal olefins, with applications towards the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and their derivatives. Outside of research at UIUC, Brenna was the lab safety officer, served on the board for the Women Chemists Committee and the Gender Equity in Chemical Sciences Conference, and mentored two students. Brenna recently joined AbbVie in 2024 as a Senior Scientist I in Process Research and Development, and is collaboratively contributing towards the development of innovative chemical processes that supports the advancement of transformative medicines.

Drake Baglietto

Drake Baglietto is a Manager in Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis’ Los Angeles office. With a diverse background in consumer-focused awareness campaigns, public affairs, and crisis communication, Drake uses his unique experience to help clients simplify complexity through creativity. His non-traditional path, down which a love of strategy propelled him, has included crisis communications work for films and film festivals, developing executive thought leadership strategies for Fortune 500 companies, and conducting media training for prominent actors, directors and public officials.

Eduardo Batista

Eduardo joined MRADS in the Fall of 2015, and stayed for a year. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Business and another degree in Cognitive Science. Then, he went to Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University for a Master's. While there, he was accepted to a few of the top PhD programs in the U.S. mostly in Management (out of Business School). He deferred Stanford MS&E for two years, before ultimately pursuing other ventures in Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, and Venture Capital. He still researches actively with Professors at Tsinghua, Michigan, and with a former HBS Professor, on a variety of topics, and most likely he will eventually pursue a PhD soon. 

Harsh Jhaveri '20

Harsh Jhaveri joined the Michigan Research Community (now MRADS) in 2016 and was a part of the community for two years, returning as a peer advisor as a second-year student. Harsh completed his double major in Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science Engineering in December 2020. As an undergrad, Harsh was active as a student researcher (Solid State Battery Development with Prof. Jeff Sakamoto), Show Coordinator for the Indian American Student Association, Founding Member and Operations Director for University of Michigan Science Olympiad, Treasurer for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Instructional Assistant for ENGR 101 and EECS 280, and a member of multiple DEI and Advisory Boards (e.g., Dean of Students, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Engineering Education). Harsh returned to the University of Michigan for a Masters in Robotics, graduating in Spring 2023. As a graduate student, Harsh was a Graduate Student Instructor for ENGR 101, Department Representative for the Graduate Employees Organization, and Treasurer for the Robotics Graduate Student Council. Harsh is currently a Tactical Autonomy Engineer at Merlin Labs, a recent transition after working across Autonomy Engineering and Business Development for four and a half years at Aurora Flight Sciences, A Boeing Company. Additionally, Harsh is a Deferred MBA Admit to the Stanford Graduate School of Business, with the eventual goal of having a career intersecting between robotics technology, education, and business. In his free time, Harsh enjoys cooking, staying active, traveling, and taking on various woodworking/car/etc. projects to keep himself busy. 

Jakob Hoellerbauer '13

Jakob was part of MRC (the predecessor of MRAD) as a freshman scholar in 2010 and then as a peer mentor the following year. He finished his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering in 2013 and then went on to complete his master's in electrical engineering: Systems in 2014. During his time at Michigan, he was a member of the UM:Autonomy student project team where they designed and built an autonomous boat. It was partly through this experience that he discovered his passion for robotics and autonomous systems.
After graduation, he worked for Ford Motor Company on their autonomous vehicle development program for close to 3 years. In 2017, he switched to working for the Toyota Research Institute, also writing software for autonomous vehicles. In 2022, he wanted something a little different and transitioned to working for Skyspecs, a company headquartered here in Ann Arbor. Among other things, Skyspecs uses autonomous drones to inspect wind turbines, and he is part of the robotics team responsible for those drones.

La'Joya Orr '08

Originally from Romulus, MI, La'Joya Orr is a first-generation college graduate. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and the Arts in 2008 and went on to complete a Master of Arts in Social Foundations of Education from Eastern Michigan University in 2013. During her time at Michigan, she participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, In Residence (UIR), now known as MRADS, from 2004 to 2006.

La'Joya Orr has served the University of Michigan for 15 years. She currently serves as the Associate Director of the Office of Undergraduate Student Affairs at the University of Michigan's School of Kinesiology, a role she has held since October 2013. In this position, she works closely with students and staff to support academic success and specifically manages admissions, recruitment and career development. Prior to this role, La'Joya worked for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, for a total of over 15 years of service to the University of Michigan. 

Before entering higher education administration, La'Joya taught English in Japan for a year (April 2009–April 2010), immersing herself in both the language and culture while expanding her global perspective.
In addition to her professional career, La'Joya is the founder and designer behind Le'Lonnie Couture, a women's clothing brand she has run for over 10 years. With a keen eye for fashion and a commitment to quality, she has built a successful business that merges her love of people with her entrepreneurial spirit and creativity. La'Joya is also a lover of travel, with 44 countries visited, she continues to work toward her lofty goal of exploring 100 countries in her lifetime.

La'Joya is passionate about empowering students, creating opportunities for growth, and continuing to learn and evolve through both personal and professional experiences.

Leah Lambart

Leah has over 14 years of research experience in academic medical centers. Her current position is as a postdoctoral fellow with the Kansas University Cancer Center office of Community Outreach and Engagement. She started with MRADS or UROP, as it was called at the time, during her undergraduate degree program at the University of Michigan doing research in a kinesiology lab. Next, she started the MPH program at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC), she worked in an NIH-funded laboratory (1R01CA101963-01) as a graduate research assistant (GRA) on smoking cessation. After completion of her MPH, she worked for a spinal surgeon at KUMC. Next, Leah worked as an infectious disease epidemiologist for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. She conducted outbreak investigations, managed the state Perinatal Hepatitis B program, and tracked immunizations in kindergarteners. They innovated a method to detect and trace Hepatitis B positive mothers and their newborns by auditing hospital records and she presented the work at a national CDC conference and at the Kansas Public Health Association (KPHA) conference. Next, she worked as the project director for an NIH-funded laboratory (5R01HL087643-04) that assessed Telemedicine for Smoking Cessation in Rural Primary Care. Leah was a co-author on three publications from the project. Next, she worked at The KU Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (KU ADRC) as a Clinical Research Coordinator. She obtained the Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP) certification. During that time, she realized she wanted to be part of the science and research trial development. She applied and started the PhD program at KUMC, during which, she worked as a GRA within the department of Population Health at KUMC and helped run four research studies (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers: NCT04996940, NCT05510154, NCT05887947, and NCT06477601). For these studies, they looked at acceptability, subjective effects, and nicotine delivery in three nicotine products: cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco. Leah presented work from these, and other projects related to cannabis and tobacco cessation at Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and KPHA in 2020. As she learned more about how science can inform policy, she grew passionate about conducting more research to lessen disparity-related health burdens from the patient level to the federal policy level. Her passion is to find ways to reduce suffering by working to continue to reduce cancer burden using evidence-based methods. Leah's next step is to conduct her own, original research. Her postdoctoral position will help her gain critical experience and knowledge in each of the following areas: (1) cancer care delivery in diverse environments; (2) clinical environment of cancer screening in rural environments; (3) advanced statistical skills for epidemiological studies; (4) Dissemination and Implementation Methods. The broad objective of Leah's research agenda is to contribute to the understanding of how to improve cancer care delivery with a specific focus on screening. A primary aspect of her research has been to understand how and why rural healthcare disparities exist and how to reduce them. 

Sahil Dagli '19

Sahil is currently wrapping up a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. His current research interests are in nanoscale optical devices, and using computational and experimental approaches to develop devices for optical communications and sensing. He graduated from University of Michigan in 2019 after completing his undergraduate degree in Materials Science and Engineering. He was a peer advisor in MRC/MRADS and worked on research projects spanning solid-state batteries, computational materials science, and virtual reality tools for education. He has also completed internships at General Motors (undergrad) and Applied Materials (grad) and enjoyed seeing how materials science plays a role in the automotive and semiconductor industries. During grad school, he co-instructed a class on Energy Materials and helped start a program to give undergraduates funded opportunities to do research in the Materials Science department at Stanford. Looking forward, he hopes to find a full-time position focused on translating photonics and optoelectronics technologies from the lab to industry.

Tori Bonn '16

Tori is a 2016 LSA grad and a 2012-2015 MRADS (formerly MRC) alum. She came to U of M from a very small town near Lansing, so Ann Arbor was initially a big culture shock for her. The community she found at Mosher Jordan was essential in helping her face uncertainty in her first two years of college in terms of finances and wondering if Chemical Engineering was the right major for her. (It wasn’t.) Tori ended up graduating with a degree in International Studies and then moved to DC for a few years. She worked first at a nonprofit and then as an Immigration Paralegal at an employment law firm before coming back to Michigan in 2021. Tori is now in her second year of law school at Michigan State, studying environmental and tribal law.