CREATIVE SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP

Sean Nesamoney is a Menlo School student here in the Bay Area. He is passionate about using technology to pioneer innovation in the field of neuroscience as well as using music as a means to improve the well-being of individuals, especially teens.

Sean is an H.S. intern at the Panlab, part of Stanford's Center for Precision Mental Health & Wellness. With mentorship from Dr. Leanne Williams, he's worked on various projects in the field of neuroscience. Some of these projects include developing a user interface for Mentaid, a wearable device to monitor individuals' mental health that the lab had created prior to Sean joining. He is currently working on an individual research paper, studying how various mental health diagnoses impair cognitive function. Sean is also the student leader of PMHW's Creative Science Communications Group, a cohort of H.S. students passionate about raising mental health awareness from a scientific lens. 

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Sean is the founding director of "Menlo Voices for Hope,” a student-led organization that recently put on a benefit concert to raise awareness about teen mental health, with a focus on how students have used the arts to cope with the COVID pandemic. 

Additionally, Sean is a published app developer of a free mobile app called "Muse: Music for the Mind."  Muse is a music recommendation platform to help teens find songs that suit their mental health needs. Using an emotionally-cognizant machine learning algorithm, Muse suggests songs to users based on their current mental state.

A two-time semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition, Sean is eager to continue his musical endeavors, his work with Menlo Voices for Hope, and his research at the Center.

Kali Boone is a 12th grader at Marin Academy High School in San Rafael, CA. Kali’s interest in the brain began during her freshman year in an elective class called “Mind, Body, Brain”. During her sophomore year, Kali attended Stanford’s Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience. As a Junior, Kali’s curiosity about the brain grew when she completed Marin Academy’s yearlong Neuroscience program. Kali loves a wide variety of music, keeps a personal collection of pencil sketches and poetry, and challenges her naturally introverted ways onstage in Marin Academy’s theatre program.

Maddie Boone is a 12th grader at STEM Marin's Biotech academy based at San Marin High School in Novato, California. She is interested in a variety of topics related to the human body, nutrition, and how both influence our mental health. Maddie represents the California Teen Advisory Board of a non profit called Bring Change to Mind (BC2M). She has worked on a variety of projects including producing the BC2M podcast now available on Spotify. BC2M is fighting to end the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness and works with industry-leading scientists to make real differences in the lives of teens and adults. Through her work at STEM Marin's Biotech academy she has grown more curious about what it means to be human. She joins the Creative Sciences Communication group with plans to empower more people so we can continue talking about mental health and do everything we can to end the stigma. 

Jonathan Hardan is a high school senior at Henry M. Gunn Senior High School in Palo Alto, CA, from which he will be graduating in June 2022. Jonathan is interested in engineering, specifically how engineers can create and implement solutions to improve people’s lives. He is passionate about how science and technology can be used to solve the world’s problems. Jonathan believes that a big part of tackling those problems is informing the public of their existence. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, reading, as well as tinkering with his bike.

Jasmine Hasan is currently a sophomore attending Mission Hills High School. Through a college psychology course, youtube lectures, and browsing through neuroscience courses, she has confidently adjusted her passion to the field of clinical psychology. Through podcasts, tutoring students, writing articles, conducting surveys, etc., she has gained a great deal of research-worthy information and hopes to learn more each day. Jasmine has joined Stanford’s PMHW Creative Science Communications Group, in hopes to provide insight to mental health concepts and create connections by utilizing high-order thinking.  Aside from school, she deeply enjoys the art of painting, watching television, and working with organizations in the realm of social justice.

Jack Poon is a junior ('23) at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. He has always had a passion for biology and recently found a new one in psychology through his research project on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in LGBTQ+ populations. He is interested in learning more about ways he can serve his school and community in terms of mental health, particularly through the lens of student leadership and activism. In his free time, he enjoys reading, writing when he finds the motivation to, and listening to the occasional K-pop his friends recommend.

Kate Richardson is currently a 12th grader at Menlo School in Atherton. She is particularly interested in Precision Psychiatry and the improvement of medication prescription through methods such as neurocircuitry, neurochemistry, neurocognition, symptom dimensions, and genetic testing. Kate's interest in psychiatry has bloomed in her two years as an intern under The Harris Neuroscience Internship at Stanford. She is fascinated by molecular neuroscience and is planning on majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology in college. In her free time, she enjoys singing opera, writing poetry, and painting.

Maddie Schin ('24) is a student at Middlebury College, majoring in Neuroscience. She is passionate about finding ways to better understand the drivers of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia, as well as identifying and advancing more effective treatments for these disorders. In her free time, Maddie enjoys playing on the Middlebury Women’s Varsity Soccer Team, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with friends and family.

Arhan Surapaneni is a junior('23) at Stanford University's Online High School. He has a love for neuroscience and all things biology and has a deep interest in innovation and research as it applies to mental health and other health care challenges. Some recent work includes vaccine advocacy and climate change projects as it applies to STEM and legislation. In his free time, he enjoys painting, fencing, and playing with his pet tortoise.