Alumni Lab Members - Wood Neuro Research Group - Carnegie Mellon University

We appreciate the work of all former members of the Wood Neuro Research Group. We hope that your endeavors are going well and encourage you to keep us posted on your career journey.

Elizabeth Meinert-Spyker

Former Research Associate, Biomedical Engineering

Bio

Elizabeth Meinert-Spyker is currently a medical student at Downstate Medical in New York. She was a research associate in the Wood Neuro Lab from 2021 to mid-2025. Hailing from Tallahassee, Florida, she is an alumnus of Florida State University, proudly being part of the very first biomedical engineering class. Her research interests while in our lab were diverse, including therapeutic gene delivery, developing inclusive imaging devices, and studying how sickle cell disease affects cognition. Outside the lab, Elizabeth enjoys spending time outdoors, weightlifting, and trying new vegan restaurants.

Sharadhi Bharadwaj

Doctoral Student, Neuroscience, Mellon College of Science

Bio

Sharadhi Bharadwaj is a Master's student at CMU and has been in the Wood Neuro Lab since September 2021. She is from Bangalore, India where she obtained her bachelors degree in Medical Electronics Engineering from B.M.S. College of Engineering. She joined CMU for her Master's in Biomedical Engineering under Dr. Wood in August 2021. Her primary research interest is Neuro Engineering and specifically Neuroimaging and Neural Signal Processing. She likes to read, paint and DIY in her free time.

Email: subharad@andrew.cmu.edu

Jiashu Ren

Alumni Masters Student Member

Bio

Jiashu Ren has been a lab member in the Wood Neuro Lab since the beginning of 2022. He is currently pursuing his Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering. He is originally from Xi'an, Shaanxi, China, and he recently graduated from Xian Jiaotong University with a bachelors degree in Computer Engineering. His research interests include chronic pain mechanisms of sickle cell disease, bi-directional brain computer interface and development of wearable devices for data acquisition. In his leisure time, he loves cooking, reading novels, gaming and listening to all kinds of music.

Email: jiashur@andrew.cmu.edu

Junhao Lin

Alumni Masters Student Member, Biomedical Engineering

Bio

Junhao Lin was a masters student at Carnegie Mellon University in Biomedical Engineering from fall of 2023 to Spring 2025.

Yuxuan Gu

Alumni Masters Student Member, Biomedical Engineering

Bio

Yuxuan Gu is a doctoral student in Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She was a master's student in Biomedical Engineering at CMU and graduated in Spring 2025. She has always been passionate about understanding the mysteries of the brain and cognition, particularly how AI can enhance brain research. She earned her bachelor's degree in Intelligent Medical Engineering from Tianjin University, China, where she discovered her interest in neuroengineering. Since joining the Wood Neuro Research Group in the fall of 2023, her thesis was focused on developing deep learning methods to explore the brain's functional differences across SCD genotypes. Her research interests include neuroimage analysis, multimodal neural data analysis, and leveraging deep learning algorithms to investigate cognitive functions. Outside of research, she enjoys reading, making coffee, cooking, watching musicals, and hip hop dancing.

Research Interest: fMRI, EEG, deep learning, cognition, functional connectivity, brain modeling

Alexis Duong

Alumni Masters and Undergraduate Student Member, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Bio

Alexis Duong is an alumnus of CMU. She had the pleasure of being an undergraduate research assistant since June of 2022 until she graduated. She is currently pursuing a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as a minor in Biomedical Engineering with hopes to finish her B.S. and M.S. in ECE within 4 years. Alexis has always been interested in designing, developing, and improving medical devices and diagnostics. Specifically she is focused on reducing the bias in neuro-imaging modalities at the Wood Neuro Lab. Alexis doesn’t sit still and is always busy with something! From research, building circuits, coding to playing tennis, hiking, and drinking boba there’s almost nothing she doesn’t want to try or do.

Sena Flo

Alumni Undergraduate Researcher, Biomedical Engineering

Bio

Sena Flo is an sophomore undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University and has been an Undergraduate Researcher Assistant in the Wood Neuro Research Group since February 2023. She is currently pursuing her BS in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering and is interested in various topics, including the intersection between neuroengineering and biomedical device design and along with cardiovascular mechanics. In her free time she plays flamenco guitar and is a member of Carnegie Mellon Racing, CMU’s F1 style racing team.

Anyssa Oden

Alumni Undergraduate Researcher, Biomedical Engineering

Bio

Anyssa Oden was an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon University, double majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering. She participated in the Wood Neuro Research Group from summer 2023 to spring 2024. Since 2020, she has been researching with Dr. Steven Abramowitch on 3D modeling of female pelvic anatomy and simulations of childbirth and gynecologic mesh. She is interested in using 3D software to model and simulate pathophysiology in human anatomy and biomaterials, particularly in Black populations. Outside of research, she enjoys watching anime, playing video games, and listening to music.

Anita Jain

Alumni Undergraduate Researcher, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Bio

Aditi Jain is an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University pursuing Electrical and Computer Engineering. She has been working with the Wood Neuro Research Group since May 2024 and currently researching the use of DCS waveforms to identify a biomarker of sickle cell disease. Outside of research, Aditi enjoys tinkering, volunteering, and the outdoors.

Wanetta Osei-Bonsu

Undergraduate Student

Bio

Wanetta Osei-Bonsu is an undergraduate student at CMU and joined in Fall 2023. She is originally from Collegeville, Pennsylvania and is currently a second year undergraduate student studying Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at CMU.

Email: woseibon@andrew.cmu.edu

Moaz Ibrahim

Alumni Undergraduate Researcher, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Bio

Moaz Ibrahim is an undergraduate researcher pursuing a degree in Computer Engineering at The University of Pittsburgh. Though originally from Egypt, he spent much of his life in Maryland and his current home is in Kentucky. His main interest is in computational applications within medicine, predominately imaging, and he joined the Wood Neuro Lab in the summer of 2023. He is working to develop a pipeline using machine learning and fMRI to find impairment in information flow between different regions of the brain in patients with Sickle Cell Disease. This will ultimately be used as a method for tracking neurodegeneration within these patients. Outside of academics and research, some of his hobbies include reading, listening to indie rock, and playing ping pong.

Email: MWI1@pitt.edu

Anjali Angal-Balen

Alumni Undergraduate Researcher, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Bio

Anjali Angal is an Electrical Engineering undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh. She was a member of the Wood Neuro Group in May 2023 as part of a summer research internship and continued through August 2024. Currently, Anjali is working on creating a computer vision algorithm that can determine hair type from dermoscopic images with the aim to make fNIRS device more inclusive. She was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Pittsburgh a few years later. Her primary research interests include devices and electronics, computer vision, and machine learning. Anjali enjoys playing tennis, racquetball, table tennis, and volleyball.