SWAT Team Members

Gabriella Fernando

Gabriella Fernando is a senior at Yale College majoring in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. She is delighted to serve as Lead Accessibility Assistant for the 2023-2024 school year and is looking forward to spreading awareness about the important work our Student Workers in Assistive Technology (SWAT) Team does on campus. In her role, she encourages a greater sense of community among our team by facilitating team communication and staff meetings, amplifies the mission of SAS on social media platforms to a broaderaudience, sustains relationships with various accessibility organizations on campus, and assists our team with resolving document-related accessibility challenges. In addition to her work in assistive technology, she is also passionate about education, social work, and the intersections between accessibility and developmental education. Outside of her role, Gabriella enjoys listening to music, going for long walks in New Haven, cooking, and watching new movies with her friends and family.  

Emily Fu

Emily is a second-year MS student in Health Informatics at Yale School of Public Health. With roots in Shanghai and Hong Kong, Emily has long been enchanted by country life and attended UC Davis for her undergraduate studies in Food Science and Statistics. She’s passionate about photography, rock musicals, and cooking, and even holds a ServSafe certificate that says her cooking is trustworthy. Post-graduation, Emily might work as a Data Engineer in the healthcare sector. However, her ultimate desire is to foster the emergence of Food Informatics, aiming to use technology and information to address and alleviate societal discrepancies in food distribution and access.  

Jacob Ihnen

Jacob hails from Iowa and is a candidate for a Master of Divinity degree at the Divinity School. He is also pursuing certifications through the Institute of Sacred Music, Roman Catholic Lay Ministry Program, Educational Leadership & Ministry Program, and a diploma in Anglican Studies. He attended Brown University for his undergraduate study and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Classics and Medieval Studies. He is interested in liturgy, the history of sacred art/architecture, ecumenism, and many other things (that often serve as distractions from his actual course of study). Before coming to Yale, Jacob worked as a communications director for a nonprofit and was in the transportation industry. He looks forward to helping Yale become a more accessible and equitable community.  

Jany Xu

Jany Xu is currently pursuing a Masters in Architecture at the Yale School of Architecture. She grew up in Dallas, Texas and attended The University of Texas at Austin as an undergraduate where she studied finance. Before coming to Yale, Jany worked as a management consultant in telecommunications and customer experience. In her free time, she enjoys reading, going on walks around campus, and exploring new food places in New Haven. She looks forward to being a part of the SWAT’s team’s initiatives to make the school accessible and equitable for all.

Yuyi Bei

I am Yuyi Bei from Hangzhou, China. I am currently pursuing a dual degree: Master of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Master of Arts in Religion at Yale Divinity School. I study social behavioral science as well as religion and ecology. Before coming to Yale, I earned a certification in assistive and rehabilitative technology, which is a certificate based on the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA). My academic field of interest is the interdisciplinary field of mental health and eco-spirituality for marginalized populations. I am thrilled to work with the Yale SWAT team.

Noel Odhiambo

Noel is a current Master of Architecture student at the School of Architecture. He uses his design skillset and curiosity for technology to aid in finding helpful technologies for students. He approaches every problem like a design brief and works to create solutions which are holistic and empathetic. 

Bolatito Adepoju

Bolatito, a native of Nigeria, is currently a second-year Master of Science in Health Informatics student at the School of Public Health. Before joining Yale, she worked as a clinician and management consultant, where she led initiatives aimed at strengthening healthcare systems and enhancing health outcomes, particularly within underserved communities. Her true passion lies in harnessing her analytical prowess and unwavering empathy to drive improvements in health outcomes and elevate the overall human experience. This profound commitment is a driving force behind her decision to join Yale’s SWAT team, where she continues to apply her skills and knowledge to make a meaningful difference.

Eric Pitts

Eric joined the GSWAT team in the summer of 2023. Eric received his undergraduate degrees in Biology, Environmental Science, and Geology from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and graduate degrees in Agronomy and Agricultural & Biological Engineering from the University of Florida. Eric’s background is in Software as a Service (SaaS) and technology as a tool in sustainable and alternative agricultural systems. Before this, Eric held a research position with the USDA and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), exploring greenhouse gas emissions in the cattle and dairy industries and food insecurity and production in the developing world. At Yale, Eric is a graduate student studying ecotheology at the Yale Divinity School and the Yale School of the Environment.

Vincent Lin

Vincent comes from Taiwan and is currently in the Master of Sacred Theology (STM) program, where he is exploring the theatrical dimensions of Christian ritual. Vincent obtained his Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the National Taiwan University. Prior to coming to Yale, Vincent was a campus pastor working with arts school students; he also founded a theatre company in Taiwan where they produced the first accessible performance with live audio description in the nation. In his spare time, Vincent loves to go to the theatre and cook for friends.

U Jin Seah

U Jin is currently pursuing a Master of Architecture degree at the School of Architecture, with a strong interest in early-stage investments and the startup ecosystem. Previously, he had been a Venture Associate at the Tsai Center of Innovative Thinking at Yale (CITY), where he provided support to startup founders in areas such as branding, marketing, and grant writing. He is dedicated to contributing to Yale’s ecosystem of inclusivity through the work of the SWAT team. 

Basith Nijamudeen

Basith is a second-year MBA candidate at the Yale School of Management, with a clear passion for climate and sustainability issues. He brings valuable prior experience as a Summer Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and a diverse background in the Indian oil and gas industry, where he served in various functional roles. Basith’s intrinsic motivation stems from his belief in the transformative power of accessibility, inspiring his involvement as a dedicated member of the SWAT team at Yale.

Max Wu

Max is a second year Master of Arts in Religion student. He concentrates in Religion and Literature at the Divinity School, and graduated with a BA in English from Williams College. He was born in Beijing, but is technically Taiwanese American. His main research focus is on the history of the sublime and its functions within trauma literature in the postmodernist/contemporary scene. This work on trauma was prompted after his experience in the Taiwanese military (and his subsequent, still-quasi-active teaching in English within a secondary college in Taiwan), which made him question the role of trauma within institutions such as the University. He hopes that his research and work at SAS can help with that. He also loves the smiles of students when they find out technologies that are useful to them.

Felix Aboagye

Samuel Boakye

Sam is currently pursuing a Master of Architecture degree at the Yale School of Architecture, with a conspicuous dedication to becoming a  Sustainability Advocate in his field. 

He conducts himself with integrity and openly takes responsibility for accomplishing assigned tasks. Driven by an insatiable intellectual curiosity and a deep-seated aspiration

to enact meaningful transformation he joined the SWAT team and is optimistic about utilizing his acquired skill sets on new technologies to serve humanity.