P.U.G.S. Members of Fall 2014 - Spring 2015
Graduate Student Advisor
Casey Beel is the Graduate Student Advisor for PUGS. He earned his BSc in Geography from the University of Otago in New Zealand, before completing his MSc degree at the same establishment, investigating fine-sediment connectivity processes in small alpine catchments. Following his MSc, Casey worked as a Hydrological Technician at the West Coast Regional Council before moving to Purdue to pursue his Ph.D. Casey is currently working with Prof. Nathaniel Lifton, where his research focuses on using in situ 14C from bedrock surfaces emerging beneath ice caps in Arctic Canada and West Greenland to investigate if Arctic ice caps are smaller now than during peak warmth of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM). |
Founder of P.U.G.S.
Zach A. Umperovitch is the Founder of the PUGS, forming the group in 2010, having earned his Bachelors of Science in Geology & Geophysics with honors in 2011 and his Master's Degree in Engineering Geology in 2014 relating to Municipal Waste Landfills. In addition to his studies, Zach is an expert of Rube Goldberg Machines having earned 2 Guinness World Records, acting National Chairman for the annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, serving as the Team Building & Corporate Event Director at Rube Goldberg Inc., and consultant to various Discovery Channel projects. He is currently working in Los Angeles developing large scale Rube Goldberg machines utilized in corporate commercials and online advertisements. |
Executive Team
Megan Neary is a junior in Geology & Geophysics, and she currently serves as the President of PUGS. She is also the Public Relations Officer for Purdue's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club. She has a passion to learn and a love for many subjects, so upon graduation, she plans to attend graduate school. Her position as President will be occupied by Callum while she is studying abroad in New Zealand during 2nd semester. |
Callum Wayman is a first year member of PUGS and a Junior in Multidisciplinary Engineering; his area of study is Engineering Geology. Callum is originally from Scotch Plains, New Jersey. He enjoys learning, adventuring, reading, watching movies, and writing short autobiographical blurbs, and he will be occupying the position of President during 2nd semester. |
Ishra Noor is the current Vice President of PUGS, but will be passing on her position during 2nd semester. She is a senior studying Environmental Geoscience, and her plans for the future are to finish her senior year and hopefully attend graduate school. Her research interests include extreme flooding and natural disasters, both from a geological perspective as well as an anthropological one. |
Rejith Raghavan, a junior in Geology and Geophysics, is the current Membership Coordinator of PUGS and will occupy the Vice President position during 2nd semester. After his undergraduate studies, he hopes to attend graduate school somewhere in either California or Texas. He grew up in the United Arab Emirates and loves the sun and sand. Growing up there, he was exposed to the oil industry, so he hopes to specialize in petroleum geology. |
Justin Orr, a junior, is the Treasurer for PUGS, and is majoring in Geology with a minor in English/professional writing. He loves the west coast, and hopes to attend graduate school somewhere in Washington or Oregon. Until then, he spends his time sitting on the ground, covered in dirt, looking for nifty rocks. |
Kenzie McAdams is on the executive team as the Event Planner for PUGS, and majoring in geology and geophysics. She loves planning trips for PUGS on weekends, and meeting all the new members. After completing her undergraduate degree at Purdue University so plans to attend graduate school and study glacial geology. Matthew Capek is the Fundraising Chairperson of PUGS, majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Geology & Geophysics. Some of his favorite activities is to spend time outdoors, perform percussion, and drawing. |
Ad Hoc Team
Tucker McCord is a Chemistry Education major and EAPS minor who loves being the Web Coordinator for PUGS. When he's not working on the website, he's getting involved with other PUGS events, as well as with ACS-SA. By taking every opportunity for educational experience he can get (such as being an Undergraduate TA for EDCI courses), Tucker is always practicing eagerly to become a secondary-level teacher, hopefully in Chemistry or Geology. |
General Members
Other Members
Aedan Beckman
Alex Haberfield Asha Mahtma - Historian Brenda Contreas Chengyang Li Erin Zhang |
Ethan Starling - Alternate
Grant LaDow Ivan France Joanna Zamudia Lauren Weldman Malachi Baker Michelle Schlup |
Paul Nicolai
Riannon Colton Toong Yoong Sin - Public Relations Will Blakeslee Will Rankin Ziyu (Lucia) Liu |