Deniz Akin is a fourth year undergraduate student at UCLA majoring in mathematics. She will be assisting in the Advanced 1A class this year.

Mustafa Alelg Mustafa Alelg

Ellery Alkotob Ellery Alkotob is a second year undergraduate student at UCLA, majoring in Environmental Science with a concentration in Environmental Engineering. She taught STEM subjects to elementary and middle school students throughout high school, and is excited to continue teaching with ORMC. Outside of school, she enjoys hiking, traveling, and reading.

Anwita Anil Anwita Anil currently is a rising freshman at Oak Park High school. She is working as an assistant teacher at ORMC. Aside from math, she is passionate about music and dance.

Asher Avisar is a junior at Campbell Hall who loves math. In his free time, he enjoys robotics, astrophotography, programming, and listening to music. Asher is excited to help students who appreciate math just as much as he does.

Mohit Bansil Mohit Bansil is a PhD student in math studying analysis.

America Barrera is a second year undergraduate at UCLA studying Data Theory. She is an active member in the Regents Scholar Society and Salsa Society at UCLA. In her free time she enjoys dancing, trying new foods, and exploring LA!

Miranda Billawala Miranda Billawala is a first-year undergraduate student at UCLA studying pure mathematics. She recently joined Math Circle and looks forward to working with students of all ages. To wind down, she enjoys playing sports or watching sitcoms.

Andreas Boulios Andreas Boulios is a UCLA undergraduate student, studying mathematics.

Raymond Cai Raymond Cai is a High School Sophomore who is enthusiastic about teaching, and enjoys solving challenging math problems.

Evan Chang is a first year mechanical engineering major interested in anything with robotics and computers. In his free time, he enjoys playing chess and video games.

William Chang is a first-year Ph.D. student in applied mathematics mathematics. He finished his undergraduate at USC where he studied mathematics and ECE. He qualified for the AIME 3 times in high school, and was top 500 in 2020 Putnam competition. For more about his academic background please see: williamc.me In his free time he likes to practice TKD and sing; he has a cover channel on youtube @WilliamChangMusic

Brian Chau Brian Chau is a third-year Data Theory major at UCLA. He likes to watch shows, play video games, and go hiking in his free time. He is excited to be able to help the Intermediate 2 class this year.

Alfred Chaw Alfred Chaw is a third year Math student at UCLA. He enjoys teaching and learning Mathematics/Chemistry. In his free time, he is a distance runner.

Hugh Cheng is a junior at Harvard-Westlake and has been a math circle enjoyer since 2013.

Joy Cheng Joy Cheng is a sophomore studying computer science at UCLA. She was an avid member of Math Circle starting in fourth grade and enjoys sharing her love for math with younger students in Math Circle, local elementary/middle schools, and beyond. She is excited to be working with ORMC this quarter!

Asher Christian is a second year undergraduate studying math of computation at UCLA. He enjoys hiking, card games, and days at the beach.

Giovanni Cinque is a 3rd year undergraduate majoring in Physics at UCLA. He has a passion for physics and mathematics, as well as teaching and helping others understand these challenging subjects. Outside of studies, he enjoys playing guitar, cooking, and spending time with friends.

Taneesha Daga is a rising junior at UCLA pursuing Mathematics/Economics. She became an instructor with ORMC this summer for Beginners 1A and 1B.

Mikenever Dai is a junior at Harvard Westlake School and is excited to help teach the UCLA Math Circle AMC 10/12 as an assistant instructor. He has been an assistant instructor for the Circle science 2022. He attended UCLA Math Circle for 2 years. He has been an AIME qualifier since 9th grade with Distinction Honor Roll. He loves math and enjoys solving challenging math problems. Outside of math, he has a passion for computational and data science, as well as philosophy, oil painting, marathon running, reading and fencing.

August Deer is a rising Junior assisting with the Intermediate 1 group. He has attended UCLA Math Circle since 3rd grade, and currently attends the Olympiad 2 and Advanced 3 courses. This will be his second summer volunteering as a table instructor. Besides math, August enjoys film-making, piano, computer science, and is a Junior Member of the Magic Castle.

Natalie Deering is a high school junior and is excited to help teach the Advanced 1A group as an assistant instructor. She has attended UCLA Math Circle for 8 years. Her mathematical interests include set theory and analysis. Outside of math, she enjoys music, history, and hiking.

Vivian Dinson Vivian Moy-Dinson is a K-5 teacher for the past 17 years. She received her Masters with honors in Education from Azusa Pacific University and her Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies from Cal Poly Pomona University. Vivian joined the Math Circle in 2017.

Jiahan Du [Jiahan][Du] is a graduate student in the math department.

Sam Eisenbach Sam Eisenbach is a sophomore at UCLA completing a double major in math and physics. He is passionate about helping kids deepen their understanding of math.

Koffi Enakoutsa Koffi Enakoutsa

Zenith Farin is the Communications Manager at the UCLA Department of Mathematics and assists with the administrative duties of the Math Circle. If you have any questions or concerns regarding donations, please contact Zenith at zenith@math.ucla.edu.

Jack Fasching is co-leading the Advanced 1B class for the 2024/25 school year. Currently a UCLA undergraduate studying Applied Math, he enjoys helping the younger students on their math journey and has assistant instructed various grade levels during the school year and summer sessions for the past three years. Prior to college, Jack was a student in ORMC for ten years, as well as a participant in Olympiad training and multi-year AIME qualifier. In his free time, he enjoys math-related digital design and logic puzzles.

Matthew Gherman is a graduate student in the UCLA Department of Mathematics. He has worked as an assistant and now a lead instructor in the Math Circle for a few years. He enjoys running and rooting for DC sports and, his alma mater, Duke.

Nikita Gladkov is a graduate math student at UCLA. As a student, he has participated in miscellaneous olympiads up to the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). He then served as a coordinator for IMO.

Mya Greene Quargs Greene is a graduate of USC from the Music and Linguistics programs. Quargs has been a docent at ORMC for the past seven years and is currently a part-time freelancer.

Cole Grossman Cole Grossman is a rising junior at Harvard-Westlake. He has participated in Math Circle since 2015. In his free time Cole enjoys playing soccer, watching sports, and playing video games.

David Hadi is a 10th grader at Harvard-Westlake School. He helps teach the ORMC chess club. He loves computer science and math, especially when teaching it to others. He is interested in developing applications that provide meaningful services, whatever that entails—still figuring it out.

Paul Hawkins is a second year Aerospace Engineering major also interested in statistics. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball, running, and spending time with friends.

Daniel Hoff is the Curriculum and Instructional Supervisor for the math circle advanced groups. He received his PhD in Mathematics from UC San Diego in 2016 and now researches and teaches as a postdoc in the UCLA Department of Mathematics, where his primary research is in functional analysis, with a focus on operator algebras and their connections to fields such as ergodic theory and measured group theory. He has been working with the math circle since 2017, when he first had the opportunity to be amazed by its students and program.

Yifeng Huang Yifeng Huang is an Assistant Professor (RTPC) at the University of Southern California. Previously, he was a postdoc at the University of British Columbia and a graduate student at the University of Michigan. His research interest is algebra and combinatorics.

Logan Hyslop is a second year undergraduate at UCLA, broadly interested in many forms of abstract nonsense. My interests will be kept more up to date on my website here: https://loganhyslop.github.io/.

Alexa Kagiwada is a rising sophomore at the Archer School for Girls. Outside of Math Circle, she enjoys doing robotics, basketball, and reading.

Stephen Kelman is a fourth year Computer Science major at UCLA, pursuing a double major in Mathematics. He participated in math competitions from high school and has experience teaching math to students of all ages. In his free time, he enjoys biking, swimming, and playing piano.

Rhea Kommerell is a first-year PhD student at UCLA. Her mathematical interests are in algebraic geometry and assorted abstract nonsense (see Wikipedia!), but her favorite part of math is the people who do it. In her free time, you’ll find her faking it till she makes it at embroidery, cooking, yoga, crossword puzzles, and friendly debates.

Sai Kommireddy is a high school senior. She has been attending math circle since the beginning of high school and has assisted with both the Beginners 1A and 2A classes. She thoroughly enjoys challenging herself through complex math problems and hopes to be able to share her love for math with others.

Irina Kryukov Irina Kryukov

Leonardo Lam is a first-year high school student. This year, he will be an assistant instructor for the Beginners 2A class, while also attending Advanced 1B at the Circle. Leo joined the Math Circle when he was 5 years old and has enjoyed the challenge of math ever since. In the 2021-22 school year, he partnered with a local school district to create an ORMC satellite; Leo taught elementary-aged students from across the district using the curriculum created by Dr. Gleizer and Dr. Radko. Aside from math, Leo enjoys playing the violin, spending time with friends, swimming, reading, and playing board games.

Catherine Lange is the lead instructor for the Beginners 1B class. She has previously been an assistant instructor for the Intermediate 1B, and Intermediate II classes. She is a second year UCLA student currently studying Physics. Her other interests include theater, neuroscience, improv, chemistry, and writing.

Leigh Anne Lemoine is a third year undergraduate student at UCLA majoring in Data Theory. She looks forward to being an assistant instructor for the Beginners 2A class this year. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the outdoors.

Kevin Li Kevin Li is a fourth year Applied Mathematics major with an intention of double majoring in computer science. He informally taught advanced single variable calculus classes with teachers in his high school alongside taking computation and competition preparation courses at WCSU. He loves music (esp. piano), tennis, and playing games.

Curtis Liu is a second year undergraduate studying Mathematics at UCLA. He has experience in various math competitions and enjoys helping students with problem solving.

Jiantong Liu is a fourth-year undergraduate studying pure math and cognitive science. His primary interest in math lies in algebraic topology and algebraic geometry. Outside of math, he enjoys reading and playing chess.

Brad Lowe Brad Lowe

Sean Maguire is a junior undergraduate student studying mechanical engineering at UCLA.

Aman Makhija is a second year undergraduate at UCLA, studying mathematics. When he is not trying to solve analysis problems, he spends his free time playing classical guitar, singing, and going down random philosophical or meteorological rabbit holes.

Atticus Masuzawa Atticus Masuzawa is a rising sophomore at Sierra Canyon School. He is an AIME qualifier and is exited to be an assistant instructor for the Beginners 1 class. Outside of math, he enjoys fishing and reading.

Thomas McCurley is a rising high school freshman and math enthusiast. He is an AIME qualifier. Besides math, he is also a passionate soccer player, chess player and enjoys playing video games with his friends. He is thrilled to be part of the math circle community and an assistant instructor.’

Seth Nabat is a junior in high school. He loves studying machine learning and quantum information theory. Outside of math, Seth enjoys composing on the piano, programming, and biking around Los Angeles.

Zoya Naeem is a third year Financial and Actuarial Mathematics student at UCLA. She is excited to teach at the Circle and expand on her interest in Mathematics alongside students and fellow instructors. In her downtime, Zoya enjoys reading, traveling and exploring new cuisines.

Niket Patel Niket Patel is a forth year undergraduate in applied mathematics at UCLA. He is interested in machine learning, as is researching the foundations of deep learning. In his free time, he goes rock climbing and plays the guitar.

Bryan Patron is a senior at UCLA studying to become a high school maths teacher. His favourite areas of math include set theory, number theory, and logic. He is also an avid chess player.

Saida Piri is a sophomore at UCLA studying Computational Mathematics. She has been a part of Math Circle since the 4th grade. In her free time she enjoys traveling, reading, playing tennis, and programming. She loves to teach math and is really excited to help the Beginners classes!

Mark Ponomarenko is an ORMC and UCLA alumnus, studying discrete math and computer science. He has lead the 'Advanced' group for many years, and also knows a bit about Linux, old tech, and martial arts.

Hengyuan Qi is a fourth year at UCLA. His current major is applied mathematics. Beside math, he is also interested in music and writing. He loves basketball and often watches anime in his free time.

Lydia Qin is a high school senior. She has participated in Math Circle for over ten years. She loves teaching math to enthusiastic kids and has assisted Beginners 1, Beginners 2, and AMC 8 classes. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and playing ultimate frisbee.

Shriya Rajesh is a Junior in high school. She is interested in math and likes to teach others math as well. She also likes programming and solving challenging problems.

Jordan Rowe Jordan Rowe

Michael Salko is a high school student who has been with the ORMC since the third grade and is very enthusiastic about mathematics.

Naji Sarsam is a fourth-year undergraduate math major at UCLA who is interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics. Outside of math, his interest/hobbies include practicing martial arts and language learning. He is excited to be a co-lead instructor for the Intermediate 1A class this 2022-2023 year!

Shimon Schlessinger is a junior at Harvard-Westlake and is excited to be a co-lead instructor for Beginners 2C this year. Outside of math, he is interested in reading Latin, technical theater, and playing board games.

Andy Shen is a fourth year Computer Science undergrad. He joined the Math Circle in 2020, and is excited to pass on his mathematical passion through teaching. In his free time, Andy enjoys sketching and reading to unwind, and playing volleyball/basketball to let loose.

Robert Shen Bobby Shen graduated from MIT in 2017. He works at a startup in the West Los Angeles area working on audio / video signal processing. He othought it would be fun to suddenly join the UCLA Math Circle in free time but it was very strange timing.

Richemond Shin is a UCLA undergrad studying evolutionary and computational biology. He has been with Math Circle since 1st grade and enjoys taking part in introducing students to higher level math.

Dana Soibel is a freshman at UCLA studying applied mathematics. She attended ORMC for 6 years and will be leading one of the Beginners 2 classes. She taught a satellite math circle at the Caltech Postdoctoral Association STEM for Families program throughout middle and high school, and she is excited to continue teaching! In her free time, Dana enjoys going hiking, playing soccer, and reading.

Hannah Steinberg is a third-year undergraduate double-majoring in Cognitive Science and Statistics. She was a math circle student starting at age 7.

Jacob Swenberg is a 4th year Mathematics Ph.D. student at UCLA, studying number theory. He received his B.A. in Mathematics from Dartmouth in 2021. His primary research interests lie in the intersection of Iwasawa theory and arithmetic geometry, especially of Shimura varieties. Jacob finds great joy sharing cool math with others, both as a Teaching Assistant at UCLA and at the Math Circle!

Chynna Swift is a fourth year pre-med student majoring in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics (MIMG) and minoring in Spanish. She has a passion for math and she is honored to be able to carry on Olga Radko‘s legacy by showing young students the beauty of math as well. This will be her 4th year in the Math Circle and she is excited to be the lead instructor of Intermediate 1B this year. She loves that she has been able to see her students grow as mathematicians and kind humans over the years! Outside of Math Circle, she is involved in virology research, she is a part in UCLA’s Afrikan Student Union as president of Curls U, and she loves going to concerts, Disneyland, and the beach.

Diana Tolu is an undergraduate mathematics student at UCLA. During high school, she represented Romania in the IMO and EGMO. Driven by her passion for math Olympiads, she is dedicated to inspiring younger generations with her enthusiasm for mathematics.

Hillary Tong is a junior at Fairfax High and loves anything STEM. She is a member of her schools robotics and cybersecurity teams and has taken on numerous leadership roles to promote enthusiasm and diversity in math and engineering in her school and community.

Marcus Vidaurri is a second-year Mechanical Engineering student at UCLA. This is his first year with ORMC. He is passionate about understanding the universe through mathematics and extending that passion to the next generation. Outside of school he enjoys playing basketball, mountain biking, playing piano, reading, and admiring nature.

Adyanshi Vira Adyanshi Vira is a current junior at Geffen Academy at UCLA. She has been a student at ORMC for over 9 years and an instructor for 2. She participates in countless Math competitions and was a 2023 AIME qualifier. Aside from math, Adi is also passionate about Chemistry, Music, Volleyball, and the Culinary Arts. She loves working with kids and is very excited to lead Beginners 1 during this academic year!

Yash Vora Yash Vora is a high school junior at LACES high school. He has been a member of the math circle since the second grade! Aside from math, Yash is a big chess player and has been playing ever since he was 7 years old. He is very excited to meet all of you!

Benjamin Wang is a 3rd year undergraduate at UCLA studying physics. He has an interest in plasma physics and enjoys playing chess in his free time.

Terry Wang Terry Wang is a current undergraduate pure math major at UCLA, with a particular interest in analysis and optimization. In his spare time he likes to ski and listen to classical music.

Christopher Weng Christopher Weng - Math Circle Student and Summer Assistant Instructor

Eric Wu Eric Wu is a second-year undergraduate student who is majoring in math of computation. Besides math, he is also interested in puzzles and Rubiks Cubes. He is very excited to be an assistant instructor at the ORMC!

Phoebe Xu is a high school junior who loves teaching math and working with kids in general. She has been in Math Circle for over eight years and frequently participates in math competitions. She is also really looking forward to teaching in the AMC 8 Math Circle class. In her free time, Phoebe also loves to listen to music, read, draw, write, and play the piano.

Darren Yilmaz Darren Yilmaz

Jiarui Yu Jiarui Yu is a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA, majoring in Computational Mathematics.

Huaxing Zeng is a third-year undergraduate double majoring in applied math and economics here at UCLA. She is passionate in exploring fun and entertaining ways to appreciate math. She is excited to be working with ORMC this quarter as an assistant instructor.

Qiao Zhang is a high school freshman who joined Math Circle in 2nd grade and is currently an assistant instructor for the Intermediate 2 class. Qiao is passionate about math and is an avid problem solver, getting perfect scores in the AMC 8 and AMC 10 competitions. He qualified for USAJMO since 7th grade and is a recipient of the Spirit of Ramanujan Fellowship. Qiao is excited to pass his love for math to his peers. Besides math, Qiao is also a passionate solo and chamber music player. In his spare time, he enjoys playing chess and board games with his friends, creating math problems, and taking “mathematical” walks with his family.

Frank Zheng Frank Zheng is a third-year UCLA student studying math and computer science. He loves working with students and is excited to be an instructor for ORMC! Outside of school, he enjoys reading, making digital art, and learning new things.

Erica Zhou is a second-year undergraduate student at UCLA studying Mathematics/Economics and Statistics. She has been playing Go, a traditional Chinese chess game, for more than 10 years and enjoyed exploring the interconnection between Go and math. In her free time she also enjoys watching movies/dramas, playing volleyball, painting, cooking, and reading. Having tutored students with math, English, and Go since middle school, Erica is thrilled to join ORMC!

Hongyu Zhu is a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA. His major is pure mathematics. He likes to talk about mathematical ideas with friends. He served as the leader of his high school math club for two years. Apart from mathematics, he also likes running, reading, and playing the piano. His favorite natural number is currently 112.

Sophie Zhu is a rising senior at Pali. She has been with the Math Circle for several years and is excited to teach younger students. Outside of math, she enjoys playing violin, swimming, and crocheting.