Members & Alumni
Active Members
All e-mail addresses are in the andrew.cmu.edu domain and have been truncated for brevity.
| Name | Class/Major | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Trevor Davis President | 2011 ECE | trdavis@ |
| Mark Levine Secretary | 2009 Computer Science | mrlevine@ |
| Daniel Schafer Tournament Director | 2010 Computer Science | dschafer@ |
| Aaron Hernley Treasurer | 2009 Physics | ahernley@ |
| Shweta Kumar | 2009 Pyschology | shwetak@ |
| Tye Wang | 2010 Computer Science | tianyuan@ |
| Kevin Chang | 2007 Engineering | kychang@ |
| Joe Gershenson | 2009 Computer Science | jgershen@ |
| Greg Hanneman | Masters Language Technologies | ghannema@ |
| Mitchell Jewell | 2008 MCS | mjewell@ |
| Paul Litvak | Doctoral Social & Decision Sciences | plitvak@ |
| Brian Tice | 2009 Physics | bgt@ |
| Sharon Wong | 2009 Computer Science | gswong@ |
| Michael Young | Doctoral Mathematical Sciences | michaely@ |
Advisors
We would like to also acknowledge the kind assistance provided by our two three
advisors.
Dwight Kidder
A native of Washington, PA, Dwight graduated from Cornell University with
Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Dwight participated
in academic competition throughout high school and college, and is currently
a writer and Executive Director at National
Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC
.
Although Dwight frequently advises the team on various matters, he does not play on the Carnegie Mellon teams in tournaments. Dwight more often plays as a one-man team, with particularly fearsome skills in the field of TRASH.
Dwight's weblog, "S'anyway...",
contains various insightful commentaries on topics selected at random.
Dwight's other web page,
the Fraught Machine, is somewhat light in content, but contains the ever-useful Reference Desk.
Doug O'Neal
Doug spent most of his formative years in West Virginia, but came to Pennsylvania to earn his Bachelor's degree and Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Penn State. In 2002, Doug accepted an assistant professor position at Allegheny College, a liberal-arts college about an hour north of Pittsburgh.
Doug continues to take an active interest in academic competition, and occasionally attends practices with the team. Doug can often be found moderating tournaments at Pitt or Carnegie Mellon when not at Penn State volleyball games.
Peter Freeman
Ever devoted to increasing the number of founders of other school's teams and NAQT board members attending our practices, the Carnegie Mellon College Bowl team achieved a major coup when they hired Peter to join the Statistics Department's faculty.
Alumni
Evan Beach
- Class: 2001
- Degree: B.S. in Chemistry
- Evan's Web Page
- ebeach@andrew.cmu.edu
Carey Clevenger
- Class: 2001
- Degree: B.A. in English
- Carey joined College Bowl in his senior year, but led the team to great success in TRASH competition thanks to his remarkable knowledge of the entertainment world. He immediately became very active in the quiz bowl community at large, and continues to play on CMU teams following his graduation, even returning to play for the team at TRASHionals 2003, where he was a top-five scorer, and at TRASH Regionals 2004. We regard him as one of the best things to come out of West Virginia.
- Carey can be reached by e-mail at VwlssWndr@yahoo.com;
he maintains a weblog
as well.
Kermin Elliott Fleming
Michael Fontaine
- Class: 2002
- Degree: B.A. in Architecture
- Mike was willing to take time out from his grueling five-year architecture program, for which Carnegie Mellon is very well-known, to participate in College Bowl events. He made his debut as "Spirit One," a one-man team at an intramural tournament, where he made an impressive showing and joined our intercollegiate teams soon afterwards. During the 2000-01 and 2001-02 academic years, Mike frequently was our "sports guy" at trash tournaments. Hopefully, we will be able to find a new sports guy among the class of 2006.
Andrew Francis
- Class: 2001
- Degree: B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering
- ajf@andrew.cmu.edu
Shayon Ghosh
- Class: 2004
- Degree: B.S. in Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Shayon is now on the West Coast working for Microsoft. Write more bio stuff here.
Jeremy Horwitz
- Class: 1997
- Degree: B.S. in Mathematics/Computer Science, M.S. in Mathematical Sciences
- Jeremy was the captain of Carnegie Mellon's CBI team for its first two
years. A bonafide computer scientist, Jeremy went on to CS doctoral study
at Stanford. Apparently Jeremy is playing better at Stanford than he did
here. You may observe his peer dominance at their 1997 Fall Intramurals . With 55 points per game,
Jeremy assimilated the competition and led his team The Borg to
first place.
Hormuzd Katki
- Class: 1997
- Degree: M.S. in Statistics
- Also known as the god of light, Hormuzd originally attended Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. While an undergraduate at Chicago, he was on the 1994 CBI championship team. A great inspiration to the Carnegie Mellon team in his year here, Hormuzd was liked by all and feared for his play. He now works at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington DC, in the Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics. He works to model the unemployment rates of all the states. How appropriate that while modeling unemployment he should be living in Washington DC!
- katki_h@bls.gov
Erin Korber
- Class: 2005
- Degree: B.S. in Logic and Computation, after wimping out on Physics
- Erin spent three years as CMU's Tournament Director, running tournament after tournament with skill and wit. She was also the unofficial "team mom" for much of her time, a position she also invented. We thank her for being the least lazy of the officers, the one who actually got things done.
- She left to be a Ph.D. student in Logic at Berkeley. You can stalk her department at their website.
Michael Brian McElroy
- Class: 2000
- Degree: B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering, B.S. in Mathematics
- McElroy, as he is best remembered by his teammates, was a firestorm of excitement whenever he played. He leaves the team with many a lexicon entry, and the hope that we should never have to face him in academic competition as an opponent.
- McElroy went on to graduate study at Harvard.
Sravan Narayan
- Class: 1998
- Degree: B.A. in History
- One of our old-school players, Sravan is our only player to play all four years on our CBI team. Sravan was our version of John Nam, a trash talker par excellence. Sravan also maintained Old Guard traditions by insisting that the team frequent Taco Bell after any tournament.
Arthur O'Dwyer
Jim Puls
Michael Roke
- Class: 2000
- Degree: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, minor in History
- One of Mike's proudest achievements was his version of The Simpsons' "Good
Morning Burger."
We take eighteen ounces of sizzling ground beef, and soak it in rich, creamery butter, then we top it off with bacon, ham, and a fried egg. We call it the Good Morning Burger.
For posterity, Mike saved his receipt from one such order.
Aneek Roy
- Class: 1999+1
- Degree: B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Shannon (Sisk) Watt
- Class: 2002
- Degree: M.S. in Chemistry
- Shannon Sisk, a five-year veteran of College Bowl and long-time officer
(secretary from 1998-2000, president from 2000-02), officially became Shannon Watt on July 20, 2002 as she married
her fiancé Terry. She will be fondly remembered for selflessly leading
the organization for years with grace, dignity, and a never-say-die attitude.
Even when faced with adverse conditions, like rooms being cancelled 48 hours
before a tournament, Shannon stepped up and made sure everything was put
in its place. After getting married in Pittsburgh, she and Terry settled
down in Atlanta.
- Shannon's Web Page
Jonathan Small
- Class: 1998
- Degree: B.S. in Computer Science
Emily Spencer
- Class: 1999
- Degree: B.A. in Psychology
- Nickname: mle
- Emily was the president during the 1996-1997 season. She came from Kentucky, which indulged McElroy to tell the statistic that 60% of all Kentuckians grow their own marijuana. He suggests they must sell it to the other 40%.
Eric Steinhauser
- Although he will be best known as an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh, Eric also spent the 2001-02 academic year studying chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon's graduate program. During that time, he served as our first official tournament director, helping to run E-Bowl A (a collegiate academic tournament which he wrote), our high school and IM events, and a NAQT sectionals tournament. We join with Pitt in wishing a fond farewell to Eric, who is now working in the private sector.
David Taylor
- Class: 1997
- B.A. in Chemistry and Economics
- A tall blonde, Dave doesn't know yet what he'll be doing in the future. We do know that he will continue to harass young women for his own amusement. Furthermore, Dave has explored the dark world of stalking those women who refuse him. He is pursuing his higher education in this field (Dave is as yet unemployed), and he has published a web manual on computer harassment. His UNIX Stalker's Guide was honored as the final Site of the Day on the GSOTD page.
- Dave is truly a beast in trash questions. He ranked third individually at both the Michigan Trash Tournament in spring 1997 and second at both the Manute Bowl in fall 1997 and TRASHionals. In a strange return visit, Dave recaptured some of his former glory by captaining a nameless four person team to the finals of our 1997-1998 College Bowl Intramurals. Dave may stay in the Pittsburgh area. As of 1999-2000, Dave has disappeared, last seen in Europe.
- Update: Joe Wright reports that as of 2003, Dave may be in the Los Angeles area trying to become a successful stand-up comic.
Michael Tolan
- Class: 2003
- Degree: B.S. in Computer Science
- Ending a tradition years old, when he graduated in 2003, Mike left the team without anybody named "Mike" remaining. This created such funny jokes as Jim playing under the pseudonym "Obligatory Mike" at TRASHionals 2003 and having the Mellon Bowl high school tournament that fall subtitled "Where's the Mike?". Really, those jokes were funny! Thankfully, two additional Mikes joined the team in fall 2004.
Bill Tressler
- Class: 1999
- Degree: M.S. in Statistics
- The bringer of the X-Bowl, Bill Tressler was a valuable member of the team. The "Z-Team," consisting of Shannon, Evan, Aaron, and led by Bill traveled to tournaments hoping for questions about soaps, movies, the X-Files, and game shows and ancient China. At one point, Bill did mention that "despite having run a few trash tournaments and played in several more, I really am not a trash player."
- Bill now teaches high school mathematics and coaches high school quiz bowl at the Charter School of Wilmington in Delaware. He notes that his students are very good at "swinging the dead cat".
Benjamin Wang
- Class: 1997
- Degree: B.S. in Chemical Engineering
- The founder and first president of Carnegie Mellon College Bowl, Ben didn't
attend an out-of-Pittsburgh tournament until his senior year. He created
and maintained this web page until he graduated. His mentor, Professor Jhon,
once remarked to McElroy that Ben was on the level of a Master's or doctoral
student. To Myung Jhon, Ben was the model student. Now working for International
Business Machines (IBM) in San Jose, his starting salary is around $??,000.
Oops, Ben has asked the author to remove his salary information. Well, if he wants revisionist history, so be it. The author is sad to report the recent tumultous events in Ben's career:
- Ben has recently been abducted by aliens who sucked out all his brain to make a chunky stew. Ben can now be contacted at either Shady Acres Mental Hospital or benwang@vnet.ibm.com.
Jason Weill
- Class: 2002 (December)
- Degree: B.S. in Computer Science, minor in Japanese
- A true organizational force for the latter of his years, Jason may be
best remembered for his showing of strange and perhaps slightly inappropriate
movies on the projection screen during the lunch break of tournaments hosted
at CMU. Playing TRASH, he was our expert in all things Japanese as he spent
the summer of 2002 studying
abroad in Japan.
He's also the original author of Livestat,
the most excellent quizbowl statistics program that has been used at several
tournaments in recent years and is growing in popularity.
- You can learn more about Jason – probably more than you ever wanted
to know – at Jason Weill Web Productions.
Joseph Wirzburger
- Class: 2002
- Degree: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
- Being the only student on the team with access to a car for quite some time, Joe was our Official Donut Acquisition Officer for his season or two. Write more bio stuff here.
Felicia Wu Morris
- Class: 2002
- Degree: Ph.D., Engineering & Public Policy
- Despite her nonthreatening appearance, Felicia was a fearsome player, with a base of knowledge that stunned all but the most hardcore of ACF players. Always jumping at the chance to compete, Felicia served as club president for the 1999-2000 academic year. Although her 2001-02 year was devoted almost exclusively to the completion of her doctoral thesis, Felicia contributed immensely to the club and will be sorely missed every time we go winless at an ACF event.
Andrew Zimdars
- Class: 1999
- Degree: B.S. in Computer Science and Cognitive Science; M.S. in Mathematics
- zimdars@andrew.cmu.edu
- The originator of several lexicon entries, Andrew Zimdars was revered both for his traditional and TRASH play. We were all disappointed early in 1999 when it was learned that he broke his 4.0 average en route to his 17 degrees. In addition to the college bowl team, Zim was repeatedly involved in the annual Trivial Pursuit tournaments.