Mahak was raised in Quebec before moving to Toronto at the age of seven. She is currently an undergraduate student pursuing an Honours B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Chemistry. She has taken a keen interest in mathematical modelling of the life sciences. Mahak is super excited for the opportunity to research the effects of various covariates in long-term care homes in Ontario under the supervision of Dr. Kong, an expert in data science, machine learning, infectious disease modelling, and population dynamics. Outside of research, Mahak is an avid learner, an audiobook narrator, a TEDx speaker, a wholehearted community volunteer, an amateur baker, and an aspiring polyglot (can presently speak English, French, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu).
Mehrdad (mehrdadk.com) has just completed his third year of undergraduate studies in Mathematical Biology. following on his undergraduate thesis on epidemiological compartmental models, he joined the lab to estimate the number of underreported COVID-19 cases worldwide. his work is based on a two-strain mathematical framework built by Dr.Kong and his team. learning from these academic experiences, he hopes to pursue graduate studies in his beloved field, genetics. outside of the lab, he mostly spends his time educating himself on entrepreneurship and soft skills.
Taiye is a third-year Applied Mathematics major with a keen interest in mathematical modelling. His goal is to work in academia and inspire as many black youths to pursue careers in STEM fields as possible.