Who We Are

J.D. Zamfirescu, Chairman:
J.D. helped to found Stanford ESP in 2008 and co-founded AppJet, a web collaboration startup, in 2007. AppJet produced a web-based real-time collaborative text editor, EtherPad, which was acquired by Google in 2009. 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.

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.

Weizhong Ji:
Wei is a first-year MBA student at MIT Sloan. Passionate about education, Wei has worked with elementary and high school students through her involvement with various educational non-profits. Prior to studying at MIT, Wei worked for three years as a management consultant. She holds a B.A. in Economics-Mathematics from Columbia University. In her spare time, Wei enjoys reading, learning about sustainability, playing musical instruments, and thinking about how to improve education.

Beth Schueler:
Beth is a doctoral student in education policy at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and has an M.A. in politics and education from Columbia University. Her research interests relate to education finance and the role of schools in neighborhood-based anti-poverty initiatives. She was formerly Deputy Legislative Director for a City Councilmember representing Northern Manhattan. Beth has also served as Director of Operations for an academic summer camp company. Throughout college and high school Beth participated in policy debate and has taught debate at the middle school, high school, and college levels.

Yalu Wu, Director of Chapter Services:
Yalu first became involved with ESP through teaching at MIT Splash 2005. After seeing the general chaos and excitement that Splash naturally engenders, she became involved with MIT ESP. Over the years she served as Office Manager, Secretary, and also co-directed MIT Splash 2007 with David Farhi. Topics Yalu has taught includes music theory, economics, and optimization. She has also taught at Splash at the University of Chicago and at Stanford; seeing other organizations administer a Splash is what really gets Yalu excited to be part of LU. MIT Splash has always attracted students nationwide and being able to provide these students (and especially others who are unable to attend due to the distance) a similar experience closer to home is very rewarding.

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 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.

Michael Shaw, Chief of Staff:
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.

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.

Amy Estersohn, Public Relations:
Amy coordinates media and public relations efforts for LU and Splash! Chicago. In other words, she thinks about how to put LU and its programs on a national stage and helps develop LU's public identity. Amy is moved by LU's mission to provide educational opportunities for students that extend beyond what they typically encounter in the classroom. Outside of LU, Amy works part-time for the Office of College Admissions at the University of Chicago and is also working on a novel. She enjoys reading every education blog known to man, pulling lint out of dryers, cooing at babies, making blanket forts, and writing long e-mails.

Luke Joyner, Graphics and Design:
Now a graduate student in architecture at the University of Michigan, Luke Joyner has been involved in Splash since 2003, when he first attended MIT's program as a student. While an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, he founded Splash Chicago, and co-directed the organization through its first few years of growth. Although he enjoys running programs, he especially likes teaching in them; to date, he's taught over 40 classes in 15 programs in five places. He loves allowing students to push classes in different directions, and is constantly amazed at how many different ways Splash programs can work and how many voices they bring together. Although his formal role in LU is graphic design, Luke has also served on the LU board and was active in the conversations that led to the organization's creation and development.

Michael Price, Website Development:
Michael started teaching for the HSSP program at MIT ESP in spring 2005, as a freshman. He particularly enjoys teaching his Audio and Speaker-building classeach year. That class began Michael's involvement in ESP (and he might even get to resume it!) Michael co-directed MIT Splash in 2005 with Lucia Tian, and was elected co-chair (with Nelson Elhage) for MIT ESP in 2007. Michael's current focus is Web site development. He also enjoys taking pictures at programs, which is much easier. Michael currently works at the R&D center for Aurora Flight Sciences, which he claims is like being a grad student except with less work and more pay.

Chris Kennedy, New Chapter Mentoring:
Chris first became involved with Splash when he taught 5 hours of math classes at MIT Splash in 2006. Since then, he has directed HSSP at MIT in Spring 2007 and Summer 2009 and MIT Splash in 2009; he also served as chair of MIT ESP in 2008. After graduating from MIT with B.S. degrees in Physics and Chemistry, he has worked with LU on expanding its written resources for chapters and new chapter mentoring. Chris is also a passionate teacher, having most recently taught a 6-week summer course on college-level math for a hardy bunch of high school students at MIT ESP's Junction program. He will begin as a Ph.D. student in Mathematics at Ohio State this fall.

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.