Lana Bridi is a third-year undergraduate studying Human Biology and Mathematics. Lana is passionate about teaching, motivating young students to explore different subjects, and challenging them to step outside of their comfort zone. That is why she joined Shaukat Initiative when it first launched and will be teaching for her second year in the program. On campus, Lana is also involved in Dornsife Admissions as an Ambassador, works for the Office of Health Promotion Strategy as a Community Health Organizer, and runs the organization Students Organize for Syria. Outside of campus, she enjoys spending time with her co-teacher Soroush trying new foods and watching TV shows, thrifting, painting, and expanding her plant collection.

Lana Bridi

Global Health

Han Cai is a fourth-year student in the undergraduate Business Administration program at Marshall School of Business. Since her freshman year, Han has worked on two startups of her own in the area of clean energy. She is deeply passionate about the cause of sustainability and circular economy. She is a part of the Warren Bennis Leadership Scholars program at USC Marshall Brittingham Lab of Social Entrepreneurship. In the future, she hopes to make an impact accelerating the world’s transition to a sustainable, zero-carbon, zero-waste and equitable one

Han Cai

Sustainability: Circular Economy

Advaita Chandramohan is s second-year undergraduate student studying
Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Applied Analytics. She volunteered as a tutor throughout her high school years for students of all ages, teaching different cohorts of student everything from reading and writing to science and engineering. Combined with her love for literature, she is very excited to be working with the Shaukar Initiative this semester! She hopes to teach
students not only how to engage deeply with what they are reading, but impart lessons from the books into their own lives. In her free time, Advaita enjoys baking, napping, and of course, reading.

Advaita Chandramohan

The Hero's Journey Through the Ages (English Literature)

Olivia Dang

Introduction to Sociology and its Applications to Television and Cinema

Olivia Dang is a junior majoring in health and human sciences (with a sociology emphasis) and a cinematic arts minor. As the co-president of Remedy through Music - a club which performs live music for hospital patients - she has witnessed firsthand music’s cathartic and therapeutic power. Moreover, it serves as a tool to initiate a meaningful dialogue with patients. Olivia hopes to uncover more enriching experiences like these - those that fuel her love for the arts or for teaching. As a literacy and math tutor in the Joint Educational Project’s Readers Plus program, she has witnessed the great impact one person can make on a student’s self-esteem and quality of education. As an instructor of the Shaukat Initiative, she hopes her sociology and cinema course will challenge students to find connections between course concepts and their everyday lives. On campus, she helps the USC Concerts Committee prepare for upcoming student-run concerts, serves on the executive board of the pre-medical honor society Alpha Epsilon Delta, and does research at the Brain and Creativity Institute. During her free time, she enjoys watching movies, discovering new music, bullet journaling, or reading a good book!

Soroush is a third-year majoring in Mathematics and Human Biology. He was born and raised in a small town in Iran, and he moved to the US during high school. He is passionate about teaching and encouraging students to take a multidisciplinary approach to learning, something he has incorporated in his classes and education. This is his third semester being a teacher in the program and he is excited to continue his involvement. On campus, Soroush works at Joint Educational Program as the Assistant Director of Trojan Health Volunteers and a Counselor at Troy Camp. Outside of school, Soroush enjoys discovering with his co-teacher Lana. Currently, they’re on their journey of discovering the best French pastry and most authentic Italian pizza in LA (Stay tuned!).

Soroush Ershadifar

Global Health

Sofia Fruet is a sophomore at USC from Sao Paulo, Brazil majoring in Political Science with a minor in Musical Theatre. On campus, Sophia is also a member of Brazilian Student Association and the International and Domestic Services Chair of the American Red Cross. Sophia loves music and volleyball, and her past experiences in volunteering and teaching, and how fun and rewarding they were, make her so excited to be a part of the Shakaut Initiative this semester!

Sophia Fruet

The Impact of the US Supreme Court

My name is Ziming Liu and feel free to call me Jim! I was born in Qingdao, China and I went to middle and high school in Pennsylvania for six years before coming to USC. My pronouns are he/him/his. I am a sophomore B.A. in Dramatic Arts with an Acting Emphasis with double minors in Screenwriting and Songwriting here at SC. I am an Orientation Advisor, an intern at Volunteer Center, a member of Trojan Actors for Film and Televisions (TAFT), a student ambassador for School of Dramatic Arts, the webmaster and assistant videographer at Trojan Dance Marathon, director of programming for Service Student Assembly and one of the Media Staff at USG, a singer at University Chorus, and a member of Alpha Lambda Delta honors society.

Ziming (Jim) Liu

Acting

My name is Rosa Noriega-Rocha and I am currently a Junior at USC studying American Studies (Empathis on Latinx Studies) and double minoring in Sociology and Education. My interests include reading as a means of liberation and spending time with my dog!

Rosa Noriega-Rocha

Sociology of Race & Migration

Spencer Petty is a journalism major in her senior year from Nashville, Tennessee. She is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and led as the Service Director. She founded the Tennessee branch of Miss Amazing giving a platform to young women with disabilities to sharpen communication skills and went on to serve on the leadership team of the California branch. She served a year in undergraduate student government on the business relations team, was a producer for Annenberg TV News and has reported on the impact of the Special Olympics, the CMA Awards with Inside Edition, the homelessness crisis in LA, economic development in Mexico and Dyson’s move to Singapore from London where she studied for a semester. She now manages PR for Duet- a platform that connects donors with resettled refugees’ requests for items to rebuild their life. Spencer is passionate about journalism’s ability to give a voice to the voiceless and hold those in power accountable.

Spencer Petty

Journalism

Dustin Wong is currently a junior studying Public Policy, with minors in Education, and Classics. He is an Australian citizen, born in Hong Kong, and raised through British international schools from kindergarten up until college. In the past Dustin has taught at rural primary schools in Thailand and Cambodia, and for the past two years has served on the USC Norman Topping Student Aid Fund’s Governing Board. He has worked closely with first-gen students from underrepresented backgrounds, and also mentored students at Manual Arts High School with their writing. He firmly believes that only through education, can we correct the injustices of today and write a better narrative for tomorrow. Dustin is also a 3D artist, a public transit enthusiast, and eats a LOT of pasta.

Dustin Wong

Globalisation

Jessica is a second-year USC undergraduate studying Neuroscience and Data Science with academia interests in education, Alzheimer's Disease research, and data analysis. Her prior teaching experience includes being a teaching assistant for introductory statistical methods and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley where she taught a three-hour lecture period once a week, determined strengths/weaknesses of student outcome and created a database for instructor evaluation, and attended weekly TA lectures that covered educational psychology such as the zone of proximal development. Jessica decided to be a Shaukat Initiative instructor not only because of a personal affection for youth empowerment through education but also because a thematic writing course taken at USC about Human Values and Belief Systems that expanded her abstract thinking, counter-argument skills, and self-reflection. Apart from neuroscience and research, shes enjoys her side hustles of being an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), a Team Paddler for the USC Dragon Boat Team, and being a lifetime member of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society.

Jessica Wong

The Study of the Mind: Neurobiology + Neuroethics

Melissa Xu just graduated from USC with a B.S. in Neuroscience and a minor in Spanish. She is now staying on to pursue a masters in Global Medicine. On campus, she works as a student research assistant in a Linguistics and Electrical Engineering Lab, where she is able to explore the intersection between her interests in science and language. She wants to pursue a future in Global Medicine, where she can use her language abilities and knowledge to help relieve the inequalities in medicine. She has studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa and Madrid, Spain and hopes to visit all 7 continents. Besides traveling, she enjoys going to the beach, hiking, scuba diving, and surfing (even though she isn’t very good).

Melissa Xu

Science of Everything

Fall 2019 Instructors