Buzz Buddies
Mission
Buzz Buddies is a new mentorship initiative from Graduate Student Government Association (GSGA) aiming at helping first-year international graduate students to acclimate to the new environment through the summer and the fall semester. By pairing experienced mentors with international mentees, the program aims to enhance academic success, personal and professional development, cultural integration, and a strong sense of community.
Project Leads
Amaya McNealy
PhD in Industrial Engineering, ISyE
Donglai Yang
PhD Candidate in Geophysics
Project Timeline
Mentors
Olajide Olugbade
3rd Year PhD in Public Policy
Fun Fact: I have lived, worked, and schooled on three continents in the past decade.
Marika Misabishvili
1st Year Masters in Biomedical Engineering
Fun Fact: I grew up in Georgia (Europe) and moved to Georgia (US) for school.
Vishrut Goel
1st Year Masters in Computer Science
Fun Fact: I love running and swimming!
Pranshu Rajurkar
1st Year PhD in Biomedical Engineering
Fun Fact: When I’m not in the lab, you would find me either hiking up a mountain or exploring a cave.
Jessie Yao
1st Year Masters in Quantitative and Computational Finance
Fun Fact: I’ve slept overnight at airports in 6 different countries to save on travel costs—turning terminals into unexpected budget-friendly hotels!
Degel Agoreyo
2nd Year PhD
Fun Fact: I love road trips!
Collette Thomas
2nd Year PhD in Biomedical Engineering
Fun Fact: I went skydiving and now I’m excited to jump off other stuff like bungee jumping!
Davide Balzerani
3rd Year PhD in Electrical Engineering
Fun Fact: I have visited 19 countries in my life (and more are yet to come).
Lucia Serrano-Marin
1st Year PhD in Biology
Fun Fact: I love traveling, good coffee and I am a firm believer that summer IS the best season!