People

MESCIT would not be possible without our fantastic and dedicated team of coordinators and tutors.

MESCIT was founded by Dr. Irene Shivaei and Dr. Gurtina Besla in 2017

Current Leadership Team

Amber Laughing

Program Administrator

Contact: amberlaughing@arizona.edu

Gurtina Besla

Program PI

Professor (Astronomy, UA)

Graduate Student Coordinator ()

Current Tutors

Gabriella Newcomb (Astronomy/Math/Physics, Returning Tutor)

Quinnlan Frick. (Aerospace Engineering, Returning Tutor)

Elizabeth Victoria Abraham Achom (Software Engineering, Returning Tutor)

Caydence Palmer (Biosystems Engineering)

Duc Nguyen (Chemical Engineering)

Nathaniel Bidwell (Biomedical Engineering)

Previous Leadership Team Members

Irene Shivaei

Program PI / Founder

Joe Adamo

Graduate Student Coordinator (Astronomy, UA)

Everett Schlawin

Program Co-I

Paul Rogozenski

Graduate Student Coordinator (Physics, UA)

Ryan Keenan

Graduate Student Coordinator (Astronomy UA)

Aaron Goldtooth

Graduate Student Coordinator (Astronomy, UA)

Vanessa Rivera

Graduate Student Coordinator (Astronomy UA)

Elijah Keeswood

Graduate Student Coordinator (Biomedical Engineering)

Past MESCIT Teams

2024-2025

Coordinators:

Amber Laughing (Feb 2022 - Present)

Gurtina Besla ( Professor of Astronomy, UA)

Graduate Coordinator:

Elijah Keeswood (Biomedical Engineering)

Tutors:

Elizabeth Achom (Software Engineering)

Quinlan Frick (Aerospace Engineering)

Vaibhav Joshi (Astronomy & Physics, returning)

Nancy LNU (Biology)

Collins Maiyo (Biology, returning)

Gabriella Newcomb (Astronomy, Physics, returning

Undergraduate MESCIT Student Tutors with the UArizona Native American SOAR team at Sunnyside High School, arriving for tutoring.

2023-2024

Coordinators:

Amber Laughing (Feb 2022 - Present)

Paul Rogozenski (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Joe Adamo (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Everett Schlawin (Research Faculty of Astronomy, UA)

Gurtina Besla (Associate Professor of Astronomy, UA)

Tutors:

Reem Alhatri (Biology)

Isaiah Hackett (Psychology)

Vaibhav Joshi (Astronomy)

Collins Maiyo (Biology)

Lucas Mellinger (Biomedical Engineering

Gabriella Newcomb (Astronomy and Physics)

Ruben Reynoso (Information Science)

Ashley Tittelbaugh (Electrical and Computer Engineering)

2022 MESCIT team participating in a training program on the importance of cultural responsiveness when working with Native American scholars, led by Dr. Doug Clauschee (right).

2022-2023

Coordinators:

Ruben Cu:k Ba'ak (Aug - Dec 2022)

Amber Laughing (Feb 2022 - Present)

Paul Rogozenski (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Joe Adamo (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Ryan Keenan (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Everett Schlawin (Research Faculty of Astronomy, UA)

Irene Shivaei (Research Faculty of Astronomy, UA)

Gurtina Besla (Associate Professor of Astronomy, UA)

Tutors:

Aaron Goldtooth (Math, Physics, and Astronomy)

Binh Nguyen (Astronomy and Physics)

Gabriella Newcomb (Astronomy and Physics)

Beverly Perez (Computer Science)

Ruben Reynoso (Statistics and Data Science)

Ashley Tittelbaugh (Electrical and Computer Engineering)

2021-2022

Coordinators:

Saray Argumedo (Graduate Student, College of Education, UA)

Vanessa Salazar-Rivera (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Ryan Keenan (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Everett Schlawin (Research Faculty of Astronomy, UA)

Irene Shivaei (Postdoctoral Researcher of Astronomy, UA)

Gurtina Besla (Associate Professor of Astronomy, UA)

Tutors:

Grace Chmielinski (UA undergraduate, Statistics and Data Science) -- Fall semester

Sebastian Diaz (UA undergraduate, Biomedical Engineering)

Aaron Goldtooth (UA undergraduate, Math, Physics, and Astronomy)

Hannah McCollum (UA undergraduate, Chemical Engineering)

Tintin Nguyen (UA undergraduate, Astronomy, Physics, Mathematics)

Beverly Perez (UA undergraduate, Computer Science)

Olivia Pitcl (UA undergraduate, Physics and Optical Engineering)

Sartaj Rauf (UA undergraduate, Computer Engineering)

Shambhavi Singh (UA undergraduate, Electrical and Computer Engineering) -- Fall semester

Ashley Tittelbaugh (UA undergraduate, Electrical and Computer Engineering)

2020-2021

Coordinators:

Ryan Keenan (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Noah Salazar-Rivera (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Everett Schlawin (Research Faculty of Astronomy, UA)

Irene Shivaei (Postdoctoral Researcher of Astronomy, UA)

Gurtina Besla (Associate Professor of Astronomy, UA)

Tutors:

Leo Bia (UA undergraduate, Mathematics and Civil Engineering.)

Ibrahim Bokhari (UA undergraduate, Physics & Astronomy)

Grace Chmielinski (UA undergraduate, Statistics and Data Science)

Aaron Goldtooth (UA undergraduate, Math, Physics, and Astronomy)

Samuel Nagy (UA undergraduate, Physics and Optical Engineering)

Beverly Perez (UA undergraduate, Computer Science)

Olivia Pitcl (UA undergraguate, Physics and Optical Engineering)

2019 - 2020

Coordinators:

Ryan Keenan (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Everett Schlawin (Postdoctoral Researcher of Astronomy, UA)

Irene Shivaei (Postdoctoral Researcher of Astronomy, UA)

Gurtina Besla (Assistant Professor of Astronomy, UA)

Tutors:

Ibrahim Bokhari (UA undergraduate, Physics & Astronomy)

Grace Chmielinski (UA undergraduate, Statistics and Data Science)

Eva Huie (UA undergraduate, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics)

Joseph Moullet (UA undergraduate, Astronomy & Physics)

Easter Niyongabo (UA undergraduate, Biochemistry)

Beverly Perez (UA undergraduate, Computer Science)

Carlos Urrea-De La Puerta (UA undergraduate, Biomedical engineering and Math

The MESCIT Team at one of the weekly tutors meeting, along with one of the program's donors, Larry Allen (right).

2018 - 2019

Coordinators:

Ryan Keenan (Graduate Student of Astronomy, UA)

Everett Schlawin (Postdoctoral Researcher of Astronomy, UA)

Irene Shivaei (Postdoctoral Researcher of Astronomy, UA)

Gurtina Besla (Assistant Professor of Astronomy, UA)

Tutors:

Mark Dalthorp (UA undergraduate, Mathematics major)

Javier Frausto (UA undergraduate, Mechanical Engineering major)

Jason Fukumoto (UA undergraduate, Computer Science major)

Eva Huie (UA undergraduate, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics major)

Megan Irby (UA undergraduate, Math and Biology major)

Blake Laclaire (UA undergraduate, Mathematics major)

Madison Uli (UA undergraduate, Applied Math and Biochemistry major)

2017 - 2018

Coordinators:

Everett Schlawin (Postdoctoral Researcher of Astronomy, UA)

Irene Shivaei (Postdoctoral Researcher of Astronomy, UA)

Gurtina Besla (Assistant Professor of Astronomy, UA)

Tutors:

Jordan Gotwalt (UA undergraduate, Nuerocience and Cognitive Science major, Math minor)

Megan Irby (UA undergraduate, Math and Biology major)

Alexis Tinoco (UA undergraduate, Math and Computer Science major)

Madison Uli (UA undergraduate, Applied Math and Biochemistry major)