UmaShankar Medasetti
Team Lead
Office: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Ph.D. Candidate
Uma Shankar Medasetti is from a beautiful city in Southern India, Visakhpatnam. He finished his Bachelors in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Andhra Pradesh, India, and Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Bradley University, Illinois, USA. After finishing his Masters, he worked as Software Developer for three years. With career interests in Robotics, he joined the Ph.D. program at Idaho State University with a primary focus in Disaster Management Robotics. He is currently a Research Assistant working with Drs. Sebastian (academic advisor) and Mashal (supervisor) on the Disaster Response Complex project. His focus is on the Robotics side and he has been working in collaboration with INL aiming to build a robot that can perform tasks in hazardous radiation conditions in case of any disasters. Apart from his studies, he is significantly involved in student Organizations. He served as Outreach Coordinator for Graduate Student Association (GSA) for the academic year 2018-19 and currently serving as ASISU Senator for Graduate Studies for the academic year 2019-20. During his free time, he loves to play cricket and cook food.
Jack Dunker
Graduate Research Assistant
Office: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Major: Master's Degree in Health Physics
Jack is a Graduate student pursuing a Masters's Degree in Health Physics to add on to his Bachelor’s in the same field. He has spent five years in freelance programming and game design with independent studios. With his experience in chemical and radiation safety, he is aiming to blend his experiences in virtual world-building and real-world safety into a new professional career path. Besides making small apps and games at home, he also spends time painting and building miniatures.
Zach Free
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Office: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Zach is a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student. He was born in Utah and has lived in multiple areas of Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, but claims Pocatello as where he was raised. His work for the department includes creating 3D visual representations of various settings to facilitate the Civil Engineering departments' projects. Outside school, he likes playing piano, reading, camping, and spending time with his family.
Sindi Banda
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Office: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Major: Business Informatics
Sindi Banda is an undergraduate student at Idaho State University pursuing a bachelor's degree in Business Informatics. He is from Zambia, Africa. He came to America in the spring of 2020. Outside of school, Sindi loves to play video games, listen to music and play soccer. He joined the Gaming and Visualization Lab as an undergraduate research assistant so that he can gain real-world experience that will enhance his knowledge and skills.