MEET OUR TEAM
Get to Know Us
EMILY PENNOCK
Co-Chair
Emily Pennock is our Co-Chair and has been working hard to plan the best ASCENT 2020 Conference possible. Emily is a 4th year biomedical science student here at the University of Ottawa and plans to pursue a career in medicine or chemistry. She is extremely passionate about chemistry and sustainability in the environment and spends her free time volunteering with other clubs around campus as well as playing guitar, drawing and exploring Ottawa’s best restaurants.
KESHAV GOEL
Co-Founder & Co-Chair
Keshav is a 4th year Translational and Molecular Medicine student at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. As Co-Chair and Co-Founder of ASCENT, he is thrilled for the 2020 Conference. With lack of exposure to the many fields of STEM in high school and only getting experience in new and trailblazing fields such as regenerative medicine, bioinformatics, cancer biology in his undergraduate degree, Keshav wanted to ensure every high school student gets the chance to explore the fields of STEM before graduating high school. With this in mind, and a strong belief in a hands-on approach to learning, he co-founded ASCENT in 2017. With experience in conference planning and leadership in healthcare organizations, Keshav is ready to integrate everything from his own experiences into ASCENT 2020. ASCENT serves to inspire and motivate the newest class of physicians, researchers and scientific minds to pursue new and upcoming fields and follow what they are passionate for.
With a much larger conference in mind, and many more competitive modules and experiences, Keshav is excited for students to get the proper exposure to the new fields of STEM at ASCENT 2020!
AHMED MUSA
Co-Founder & Senior Advisor
Ahmed Musa has recently graduated with a Honours BSc in Biomedical Science at the University of Ottawa. This coming year, Ahmed will be enrolling in the University of Ottawa School of Medicine to become one of our future doctors! Outside of class, he enjoys playing the saxophone, swimming, and and learning about our current technologies. He is very excited for ASCENT 2020! Many competitions in STEM seem to focus a large portion on the health sciences aspect, which is great and has motivated people such as himself to be interested this field. But there are many other niches in technology, engineering, and math as well that students may be interested in should increase their exposure to them! This is where ASCENT shines. By having a larger focus on the “TEM” portion of STEM and including modules that also incorporate some non-STEM (i.e. social) components to make it widely accessible to those who may be curious but unsure about STEM, ASCENT will hopefully motivate high school students to pursue careers in STEM doing what they love.
JENNY LI
VP Social Media & Outreach
Jenny is a fourth year Biomedical Sciences student at the University of Ottawa and is very excited to work alongside the excellent ASCENT 2020 team to make our ASCENT 2020 Conference even better than last year's! She believes that ASCENT provides an amazing opportunity for today’s youth to experience the types of jobs that the STEM fields have to offer. With the correct nurture and guidance, brilliant minds will unlock their true potential and create a brilliant tomorrow.
ANH NGUYEN
VP Volunteer Recruitment
Anh is a fourth year student at the University of Ottawa, and this academic year she is the VP Volunteer Recruiter for ASCENT. Look out for posts nearing the date of the conference for information on volunteering with us!
GIGI HUANG
VP Logistics
Gigi is a fourth year Biomedical Science student at the University of Ottawa. This academic year she is the VP Logistics for ASCENT. As a woman in STEM, she hopes to inspire more girls to be interested in the STEM field. As a DILA facilitator at Youth Ottawa, she also hopes to motivate youths to be more involved and create positive impacts in the City of Ottawa while becoming a paediatric dentist who can bake!
JAHNU RAAM
VP Competitive Events
SHRUTHI KARTHIKEYAN
VP Communications
This year's competitive events organizer is Jahnusha Shriraam. She is a fourth year Health Science student at the University of Ottawa. While she has a passion for all things related health, Jahnusha enjoys taking part in events and activities outside of her field of interest. She enjoys participating in competitions and has joined our team in hopes to help other students enjoy that very experience through creating interactive and critical thinking events. With our new theme this year, she is excited to see what's in store.
Shruthi is a third year Biomedical Science student at the University of Ottawa. As VP communications, she hopes to recruit a variety of fantastic professionals to lend their expertise and judge the several events and competitions at the ASCENT 2020 conference. Shruthi’s interest for ASCENT stems from her passion for science and belief in science based solutions. She has a strong belief in the objectives of ASCENT and the opportunities it creates for students to apply the STEM fields to develop solutions for real world issues. Undoubtedly, science, technology, engineering, mathematics hold the key and presents way forward for the future.
.jpg)
MADDY PATT
VP Registration
Maddy is a 4th year student at the University of Ottawa obtaining a double degree in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry. As VP registration she will be working hard to help register students from various schools across Ontario to participate in the ASCENT2020 conference. Being in both science and engineering, Maddy is excited to give high students the opportunity to explore STEM and find their passion.
SANA ALMANSOUR
VP Registration
Sana is a 2nd year student at the University of Ottawa working towards obtaining her dual degree in Health Sciences and Business Management. She will be working alongside the ASCENT team and Maddy to help successfully register and record students from various schools across Ontario for the upcoming 2020 ASCENT conference. As a female student in a STEM related field, she is excited to promote the STEM opportunity to encourage female students, and high school students in general to explore the world of STEM. She feels that the principle pillars of STEM that entice many is that STEM inspires ingenuity and creativity, fosters experimentation, and encourages knowledge application. Sana is excited to join our ASCENT 2020 team this year as VP Registration!
PRASHANT JOSHI
VP Sponsorship
Prashant is a fourth year Civil Engineering student at the University of Ottawa. For his final year he is keen on involving himself in a variety of clubs and activities. Being one of the few engineering students involved in ASCENT he hopes to bring in professors from the department of engineering as the VP sponsorship to promote ASCENT 2020. Outside of ASCENT he is involved in various concrete competitions. Between classes he likes to go swimming and chill in the sauna at Mont Petit to relieve stress.
BYRON KOITSOPOULOS
VP Sponsorship
Byron is a 4th year student enrolled in the Honours BSc in Biomedical Science at the University of Ottawa. Outside of class he enjoys playing the guitar, tennis, and learning more about the ever changing scientific fields. He is very excited to join the ASCENT team as VP Sponsorship and believes that ASCENT 2020 will provide students with excellent interactive opportunities to experience what a future career in STEM fields has to offer. By getting involved in ASCENT, he hopes to help provide useful information for the next generation of students interested in pursuing a fruitful career in STEM, as was provided for him several years prior.
