Who We Are

The leaders of Learning Unlimited have all been leaders of local programs in the past, while in college or graduate school. They are:

Our Board of Directors

Michael Shaw, Chairman:
Michael Shaw is a 3rd year doctoral student in the Stanford Physics Department. His research interests center on the physics of "gamma-loud blazars," supermassive black holes in the cores of galaxies that power the universe's natural, most energetic particle accelerators. Michael shares his passion with students, having taught at the City College of New York, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and now at Stanford. Michael's involvement with local LU-style organizations began in 2003 as a freshman at MIT when he taught and was an assistant director for the Splash program there. Since then, he has served as Chair of both the MIT and Stanford programs.

Dr. Catherine Havasi, Director of Development:
Dr. Catherine Havasi is a researcher in artificial intelligence at the MIT Media Lab. Ten years ago, she co-founded the Open Mind Common Sense project, which uses information about the world to understand natural language text and make computers easier to use. In the past, she has worked with self-funded theater and arts and was involved in restarting the Computational Linguistics Olympiad in the United States. She has taught graduate students, undergraduates, high school students, and younger students at places such as Brandeis University, MIT, Canada/USA Mathcamp, and a number of LU-style organizations across the country. Her first LU teaching experience was with MIT.

Luke Joyner, Graphics and Design:
A recent graduate of the University of Chicago, Luke Joyner is currently devoting most of his time to LU and Splash! Chicago, a program he founded in 2007. Luke began his involvement with our programs as a student at MIT's Splash program in high school, and has since taught at programs around the country as he's developed the one in Chicago. Starting next fall, he plans to pursue dual professional degrees in architecture and urban planning. In the meantime, he's supplementing his work for LU with freelance graphic and typeface design projects, and cooking jobs. Luke is particularly excited about the potential LU programs have to play host to incredible diversity, both in the backgrounds of students and teachers alike and in the wide variety of experiences the programs make possible.

Anya Thetford:
Anya is completing her bachelor's degree in psychology and beginning a master's in social service administration at the University of Chicago. Her research interests in urban education were inspired by years of volunteer work tutoring and mentoring at-risk children and youth. She has been active in Splash! Chicago since its founding.

J.D. Zamfirescu:
J.D. helped to found Stanford ESP in 2008 and co-founded AppJet, a web collaboration startup, in 2007. Before moving to San Francisco, he directed programs at MIT ESP and spent a year as a software engineer at Google in New York. J.D. holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from MIT.

Our Staff

Daniel Zaharopol, Chief Executive Officer:
Dan Zaharopol majored in mathematics at MIT, and went on to study both mathematics and mathematics education at the University of Illinois. In addition to his current work with LU, he is also leading an initiative by the Art of Problem Solving Foundation to provide high-quality mathematics instruction and resources to underserved middle school students in New York City. While pursuing his studies he also served as Director of Operations for the summer program Canada/USA Mathcamp, Chairman of the MIT Educational Studies Program, and as a conference organizer for the Graduate Student Topology Conference. In addition, he has teaching experience ranging from undergraduates at MIT and the University of Illinois to middle and high school students at Canada/USA Mathcamp and the Boston Math Circle. He holds awards in teaching from the MIT Experimental Study Group and from the University of Illinois Department of Mathematics, and was a top-ranked instructor at Canada/USA Mathcamp.

Jason Alonso, Chief Financial Officer:
Jason Alonso has over six years of experience managing finances for small organizations prior to coming to LU. This includes over two years as Treasurer of the MIT Educational Studies Program. He has a history of serving in volunteer teaching positions around MIT, in addition to educational outreach through MIT ESP. Jason holds an S.B. in Computer Science and Computer Engineering from MIT (2004) and an S.M. in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT (2008). He is currently working towards a Ph.D. from MIT as a Research Assistant at the MIT Media Laboratory, Personal Robots Group.

Roshini Zachariah, Secretary:
Roshini discovered her love of teaching at MIT when she joined the MIT Educational Studies Program. In addition to directing the High School Studies Program, she has shared her love of biology and research with her students, using her extensive research experience to teach both theoretical and experimental biology. Roshini currently works as a Technical Assistant in the Health Sciences and Technology Department at Harvard and MIT. She holds a B.S. in Biological Engineering from MIT.

Our Volunteers:
The Learning Unlimited volunteers are composed of former program leaders working alongside others who never had a chance to run a Splash. Some are still in college, while some have long graduated, but they all help to make our programs a reality. They bring diverse talents, from business and legal advice to web programming to graphic design, and together form the backbone of our organization. We invite anyone with interest to join us in volunteering; find out more.