Rangr Outpost Richard Lee

Introducing Jillian Verbeurgt !

A Canadian American currently residing in Reykjavik, Iceland, and has been the co-founder of a GreenTech startup called GreenBytes! GreenBytes started off as a service to a platform that tackles the ever-growing challenges of the world's food waste.

We will follow her journey from studying to be a GeoPhysicist in British Columbia to become a leader in Iceland's eco-friendly tech sector. With an unquenchable curiosity, she dived into the world of archaeology partly due to the ole Indiana Jones and his series of onscreen adventures. She realized during her studies she actually loved physics and did a quick pivot! She earned a Geophysics degree from the University of Calgary where she also partook in some universities traditions that include but not limited to Couch Surfing ( literally) down snow-covered hills.

After some economic downturn in her neighborhood, she looked at her options to pursue a Master's degree at the Iceland School of Energy with a focus on Sustainable Energy. This led to her new life in Iceland, meeting a previous guest and good friend Renata Bade, and co-founding a startup to answer some really difficult questions.

How by taking on new challenges, not sweating the small stuff, and thinking about the big picture, Jillian took many turns that didn't follow the traditional career path. She discovered a new way to work and how that work would leave an impact.

Introducing the DandyHacks Team, comprised of Anna Zimmerman, Carolina Lion He, Ethan Yang, and Tony Lai.

DandyHacks 2020: a virtual hackathon experience created by the students of the University of Rochester This will be the 8th year as the University of Rochester's hackathon, and our 1st as a virtual one! Being a fully student-led organization at a tier 1 research university, we try to embody our school's values as we seek to encourage participants to question the world and learn more.

We will follow the journey of how the team got together in the first place, explore the environment of the city of Rochester, and the many obstacles the team had to overcome to host a complete virtual hackathon in the wake of a global pandemic. 

Team Introductions: 

Anna is a senior studying computer science at the University of Rochester, and the co-head of Logistics for DandyHacks 2020

Carolina is a senior majoring in Digital Media Studies at the University of Rochester. She is the director of DandyHacks 2020.

Ethan is a Computer Science undergraduate, looking to broaden his horizons!

Tony Lai is a brilliant individual who is not afraid to speak his mind. He is a Luddite and loves learning about whatever he can get his hands on, except physics. Currently, he is doing research for a URMC PhD student.

Introducing Andrew Kim!

Korean American alumni of Georgia Tech and current Project Manager at Pure Power Engineering, a nationwide solar engineering firm specializing in commercial solar systems. We will go through his journey and the many challenges and questions he had to answer to overcome his own degree. He grew up in New Jersey as a Korean American and felt like he was one foot in both the American and Korean world but didn't feel like he belonged in either. As a Chemical engineering major in school, he quickly realized that the field of study didn't match with the life he envisioned for himself in New York, so he quickly pivoted into something a bit more creative. He discovered acting and all the different avenues such as voice acting and music videos. He saw that the skills such as quick problem solving and grit allowed him to pivot as necessary to solve problems regardless of the field.

Introducing Claudia Chu!

The fearless leader and co-director of 2020's HackGT, a nonprofit student organization known for organizing one of the largest hackathons in the SouthEast that challenges thousands of students to innovate and create new ideas every year.

She is a graduating senior at Georgia Tech finishing up her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. To recap, she started her journey with her parents in the most scientific corner in Huntsville,Alabama where she discovered her love for biology later married with her genetic research and computer science. While she developed a strong understanding of the beauty of a diverse community in Alabama, she grew to become a leader in one of the most respected organizations at one of the most difficult technical universities in the nation.

Claudia approaches challenges with a game-plan and tenacity to continue to learn more in the process. When given many choices to make, she employed a concept from computer science known as the regret function: an ecomomic theory that models choice under the pressures of uncertainity with the anticipation of regret. She used this model while deciding to go on a last minute ski trip to South Carolina and uses it on larger decisions such as which career to pursue.

We dived dep into her many evolving passions and her abilit to weave different thoughts cross traditional academic boundaries.

This is Jared Meyers, the co-founder and fearless leader of Augment Health, a medical device startup that allows users to safely and comfortably monitor their bladder fill in order to restore freedom and independence. 

He is currently a senior at Georgia Tech pursuing his Biomedical engineering Bachelors degree. He started life with multiple allergies one being allergic to peas and also suffered an ACL injury during his high school soccer career. These moments in life allowed him to really think about what he wanted to do and why.  His perspective was forever changed to solving problems and not just any problems, problems associated with one's health. 

Jared learned to use multiple productivity tools and tips such as putting everything he does on a calendar and time boxing specific tasks so he can focus on one thing at a time. Apparently, the easiest way his girlfriend could get a hold of him is to schedule herself on the calendar. 

We dived deep into his favorite way to psych himself up which is blasting either Eminem's 8 miles or Hamilton the Musical's My Shot! 

This is Madeleine Cruz, a creative based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is an experienced performance dancer specializing in hip-hop and contemporary dance and enjoys teaching different styles internationally.  She took many pivotal decisions from changing her sleep schedule to mirror the Great Jimmy Butler's 3 am wake-up call, pursuing a master's in social work, and taking on the new challenge of writing a mystery novel.