Meet the 2011 Executive Committee

Hengjie Wang (Chairman)

Hengjie joined the Executive Committee in 2010 and currently serves as Chairman. He is in his third-year of software engineering, enjoying every moment of it. You may sometimes see him walking aimlessly with his Macbook, but fret not, he is only looking for a strong WIFI signal to read his favorite tech blog, Engadget. In his spare time, he is an avid debater at the Debating Society and although he tries to avoid it, can go into a rant advocating Apple fanboys.

Victor Jones (Secretary)

Victor is the committee secretary and token CompSci student. Like Hengjie, he’s a rabid Apple fanboy (and avid gamer) and can usually be found in the Computer Science lab or at the library looking for a good wifi signal. He’s a geek who dabbles in mobile application development in his spare time, and if he isn’t in front of a computer screen he’ll be on some beach, forest or mountain sweating his pants off. He has an obsession with pigs for some reason.

Josheel Pran Lal (Treasurer)

Josheel is one of our longest-serving Executive Committee members, having been on it since ’08. He has previously served as Publicity and Sponsorships officers and now serves as our Treasurer. Currently in the last year of a BE(Hons)/BCom conjoint degree, he’s had plenty of time to develop and expand his interests. Having a keen interest in systems integration, Josheel finished his last year of Mechatronics engineering in 2010. With commerce majors in strategic finance and international economics, Josheel has his eyes set firmly on a leadership role within a top engineering firm – quite possibly his own. On a lesser note, Josheel likes to video game, read and occasionally enjoys a pint or two with friends.

Ly Nguyen (WIE Chairwoman)

Ly has been with the IEEE/WIE group since she started Uni is 2009, and she will be completing her final year of Mechatronics (Accelerated Pathway) at the end of this year. She says she became the WIE Chair as it would be a great experience for her, but we all know she’s actually in it for the free pizza during the meetings (this applies to a few of us). This year you will find her either in the Mechatronics lab working on her Automated Guided Vehicle project, or relaxing in the Engineering cafe.

Dr. Nirmal Nair (Student Branch Counsellor)

Nirmal has been associated with the IEEE, first as a graduate student member and then as a member, since 2000. He has been volunteering as the IEEE Counsellor for our Student Branch since ’05. He was the 09/10 IEEE NZ North Section Chair, and currently serves as the Student Activities Chair for the section and also the IEEE PES/PELS Chapter Chair. Nirmal is an academic in our University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with teaching and research interests in electrical power systems, and has a focus in innovation and commercialization of Smart Grid technologies for the power systems.

Shaun Blyde

Shaun joined the Executive Committee in 2009 and is in his fourth year of his conjoint degree in engineering and commerce. He specialises in electrical and electronic engineering, and wants to go towards communications and computer networks. A water lover, he likes slalom waterskiing or generally just being towed on something behind a boat. But when he gets a chance on campus, you might find him having a quiet drink at Shadows, our student bar.

Shorojeet Dasgupta

Shoro joined us in 2009, and is now in the third year of mechatronics engineering. He has great ambitions to do many wonderful things, but is yet to tell us what they exactly are. In the meantime, he plays and watches a lot or cricket, works two part-time jobs, and studies (when not doing the first two).

Mira Kim

Mira, who joined the Executive Committee in 2009, is in her last year of the Accelerated Pathway as a budding computer systems engineer, and has developed great ambitions in the field of robotics, despite struggling in the third-year robotics project. In her spare time, she spends a lot of time involved in church youth group activities, as well as playing some random computer/nintendo games. She is also a fan of classical music, and a puzzle-lover.

Matthew McCallum

Matt is the postgraduate representative and has been a part of the executive committee since ’07. He is currently studying towards his PhD at the University of Auckland through the research of speech enhancement and acoustic echo cancellation. Basically he just plays around with audio signals and Digital Signal Processors all day. Aside from full time study, he enjoys a bit of bass and guitar and is always keen for a jam. If you enjoy local music in the weekends, you might see him enjoying there. Since he loves to travel his home country, if you’re planning a road trip out of Auckland, take him with you.

Abhilash Kanimeni

Abhilash is a third-year Electronic and Electrical Engineering student who has a passion for working on portable electronics. He joined the student branch in 2010 and is currently the co-memberships officer. He enjoys watching anime and is easily sidetracked by shiny objects that catch his eye.

Lincoln Vaz

Lincoln is the branch’s current Sponsorships Officer and has been on the Executive committee since 2010. He’s an electrical engineering student in his third year of study. When not at the gym committing muscular suicide, he will either be travelling back and forth from Australia, brushing up his knowledge on military history, playing some soothing death metal on his guitar…or learning to salsa. If you want to know how to be like him, you will most definitely find him at our beloved student bar on a regular basis corrupting the minds of today’s youth with politically incorrect jokes and stories of his infamous antics.

Niko Uusitalo

Niko joined the Executive committee in 2011, and IEEE in 2010 to take part in the IEEExtreme programming competition. A second year Software Engineer with a huge passion in Artificial Intelligence. He enjoys drinks too classy for his age, suiting up in inappropriate times and apparantly ‘pwns’ the ‘noobs’ in his downtime.

Sun Kee Hong

Sun Kee joined the executive committee in 2011. He had studied two years of civil engineering, but found his true passion in software, which led him into switching to second-year of software engineering. He has a previous history of being involved in many clubs,  and has drunk more beer than he has drunk soda. He can be found watching TEDtalks for inspiration, or playing StarCraft 2 like the Korean he is.

Hanieh Sanei

Hanieh joined the Executive Committee in 2011 and is in her fourth year of her engineering degree, specialising in engineering science.  She is very interested in the Operations Research side of engineering and project management. Hanieh has an interest in design, fashion and playing basketball outside university life.

Andrew Austin

Andrew joined the Executive Committee in 2008, and has served as corporate sponsorships officer and vice-chairman. He graduated from The University of Auckland with a BE(Hons) in electrical and electronic engineering in 2007, and is now reading toward a PhD, with the aim of a career in research. Andrew’s research focuses on interference modelling and mitigation for wireless systems using computational electromagnetics. He is funded by a NZ Tertiary Education Commission Bright-Futures Top-Achiever Doctoral Scholarship. Outside of research, his interests include reading, building model ships, listening to classical music, and satire.