Heeya Firdaus

Heeya (she/her/hers) is an incoming Junior majoring in Political Science. During her time at UCLA, she has been involved in the USAC Office of the President and the Internal Vice President while also working as the Vice President of Campus Relations for Alpha Gamma Delta.  Heeya currently serves on the Political Science Undergraduate Council as the Director of Scholarly Engagement and the Editor-in-Chief of the Political Science Undergraduate Journal.  Additionally, she acts as the Director of Marketing for Henna with a Heart and The Roosevelt Network, communities that have helped shape her college experience!

Throughout her time at UCLA, Heeya has had the privilege of being able to cultivate her passion for student advocacy and community care through involvement in student leadership as well as her lived-in experiences as an international student from India. She is excited to use her platform to uplift Bruin voices by prioritizing transparency, representativeness, and accountability in her role.

Tiara Weedagama

Tiara Weedagama (she/her) is a third-year Sociology major with a double minor in Accounting and Film, Television, and Digital Media.  She looks forward to utilizing her involvement with ASUCLA, USAC, and on-campus activities to engage with the student community. 

This past year, Tiara completed her term as a student representative on the Faculty Executive Committee on the Academic Senate, where she actively participated in and contributed the student perspective to discussions concerning the introduction of new majors and minors, cluster courses, and master's programs, among other academic matters.  She also worked as an ASUCLA employee with the Human Resources department for the past two years, where she engaged daily with fellow student employees and managers.  Tiara aspires to leverage her first-hand experience as an employee to advocate for the interests of student employees.  Beyond her USAC and ASUCLA involvements, she volunteers at the PetSmart Adoption Center and serves as a member of the Sociology Undergraduate Advisory Board.

With these experiences in mind, Tiara aims to serve as a resource for the student body, providing support while simultaneously fostering a strong relationship between the Board of Directors and students. 

Alejandra Castellanos

Alejandra Castellanos (she/her/hers) is a third-year Public Affairs major with a minor in anthropology. During her time at UCLA, she's been involved in various Undergraduate Student Association Council (USAC) offices as a part of office leadership, Alpha Gamma Delta as Vice President of Member Experience, and the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute as a Monica Salinas fellow. She currently serves as UCLA's Panhellenic President. These experiences and her own personal, lived-in experiences have instituted a passion for service to the Bruin community and student advocacy. Alejandra is excited to be able to ensure all students feel represented as part of the Board of Directors. 

Jackson Fletcher

Jackson Fletcher (pronouns she/her) is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in Electrical & Computer Engineering at UCLA Samueli, where she is working on terahertz science and quantum sensing. During her time at UCLA, she has been involved with minoritized student populations via the Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED) Department, Women in Engineering (WE@UCLA), and as the Lead Graduate Programmer for the Black Bruin Resource Center, where she managed undergraduate student staff, helped launch large-scale Center initiatives and worked closely with student organizations on programmatic events. 

In her free time, she produces an animated series titled “Action Jackson,” which is focused on teaching Physics in bite-sized shorts. 

Jackson is excited to use her platform on the ASUCLA Board of Directors to increase the sense of belonging for all students at UCLA. 

Muratkhan Abdirash

Muratkhan is a Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering program. His research is in the intersection of control theory, machine learning, and optimization.  It will be his second year on the ASUCLA Board of Directors.  Last year, he additionally served as the Secretary of the Weyburn and Hilgard Residents' Association (WHRA) and interned with Graduate Students' Association (GSA) the year before.

Muratkhan earned his Bachelor’s degree from Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan before joining UCLA for his Ph.D. degree. He wants to help ASUCLA make the campus friendlier and a more affordable place for graduate and international students.

Dylan Kupsh

Dylan Kupsh is a 3rd Year Ph.D. student in the Computer Science program. Dylan currently organizes with the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), COLA for All, Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), Engineering Graduate Student Association (eGSA), and the Computer Science Graduate Student Association (CSGSA). Dylan’s interested in helping create an equitable, affordable, safe, just, and friendly ASUCLA for all students and campus workers.

Dylan’s current researches using machine learning to create faster and more programmable accelerators. Dylan’s researches on the intersection of computer architecture and machine learning. Dylan received a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science and Sociology from UC Santa Barbara.

Daniel Neuhauser

Professor Daniel Neuhauser has been a member of the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA since 1992, first as an Assistant and then Associate Professor, and since 2002 he is a Full Professor in that department.   He did his BSc studies in mathematics and physics in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem between 1979-1982, and got his PhD in nuclear physics in 1987 from Caltech.

Professor Neuhauser's main research interests are the simulation of dynamics and structure of extremely large molecular complexes, using a stochastic paradigm that he developed.  He and his group have published more than 180 peer-reviewed papers, and 17 students have graduated from his group with a Ph.D.

Henry Hsiao

Henry Hsiao is the CEO of 1on1 platforms and Teachers1on1, a startup focused on connecting people and utilizing advanced technology to improve communications and outcomes.

Formerly he was Global Head of Education for Adobe Inc., where he focused on inspiring and empowering the next generation of creators.  He was responsible for the strategy, vision, growth, and performance of this $1B+ business unit across direct-to-consumer and institutional channels.  Prior to joining Adobe Inc, he was Vice President of Strategic Development and Growth GM, for Mattel, Inc., where he was responsible for global growth, strategic business development, digital transformation and management of the company’s ventures and investments across digital gaming, advanced technology platforms & products, and education.  Prior to Mattel, he served in marketing, product, and technology leadership roles at DirecTV Inc. and Deloitte Consulting.  In his spare time, he is a passionate advisor and mentor to the VC, startup, non-profit/education, and innovation communities.

He completed the Stanford Executive Program in 2017 and holds an MBA with an emphasis in strategy and technology from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Columbia Business School, and received his BS in Computer Science from UCLA.

Mitchell Liday

Mitchell Liday (class of ’96) is currently the Manager of Foodservice Cross-selling & Education for Individual Foodservice (IFS), the food service arm of BradyIFS, the nation’s fastest-growing distributor of foodservice disposables, janitorial, smallwares, and dry goods.

Mitchell spent the first half of his career in Hispanic marketing and sales, first producing large-scale events and festivals, and then selling national, regional and local corporate sponsorships for these events, most notably, Fiesta Broadway, formerly the largest Cinco de Mayo street festival in the country. As a result of these accomplishments, he was then hired by former Los Angeles County Supervisor, Gloria Molina, as the Director of Development for LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, the nation’s premiere Mexican American museum and cultural center. After two years, he joined the National Association of Latino Elected and appointed Officials (NALEO), as the national Development Director. After four years working with nonprofits, Mitchell transitioned into his current role in distribution with IFS. During the recent tumultuous pandemic years, with its endless supply chain challenges, Mitchell maintained IFS’ position as an essential food service provider to K-12 public schools, developing creative and sustainable solutions so that CA schools would always have the packaging/supplies needed to provide crucial free meal programs for children.

Mitchell graduated from UCLA with a degree in History. A life-long Bruin, his daughter, Violet, was a Jr. Bruin cheerleader for two seasons, and he has been the Public Address announcer for Men’s and Women’s Soccer since 2009. Mitchell lives in Torrance, with his wife Renee, daughter Violet, and son Weston, (and in his spare time is an amateur BBQ smoker of all meats).

Brian MacDonald

Brian MacDonald is the Executive Director of Communications and Organizational Development for UCLA Student Affairs. Brian has nearly 20 years of experience working in public higher education, with extensive leadership experience in areas of residential life, new student orientation, parent programs, first-year experience, social justice education, student leadership development, and major programs and events.

Brian is in his second year as a staff representative on the ASUCLA Board of Directors.

Brian’s time at UCLA began in 2014, when he assumed the role of Director of Residential Education in UCLA Residential Life, a role he was in for nearly 8 years. Prior to UCLA, he has worked at Rutgers University, Boise State University, and UCSB.

In addition to his professional career, Brian has moderated education-related panels at San Diego Comic Con for a decade, bringing together ideas related to teaching and learning through the perspective of comics, film, and pop culture.

Brian lives in Valencia, CA with his wife Kelly and their two children Charlie and Miles, as well as their lab/shepherd mix, Jax.

Scott Monatlik

Scott Monatlik is a Senior Director in UCLA’s CFO Organization.  He oversees the Tax Department, Global Operations Support, Travel Programs, Insurance & Risk Management, and Mail, Document & Distribution Services.  Scott joined UCLA in 2008. Prior to working at UCLA, Scott worked at Deloitte where he provided tax consulting services to various nonprofit and healthcare clients. Scott graduated from UC Santa Barbara and Loyola Law School. He is a member of the State Bar of California. Scott currently services on the Advisory Board of UCLA’s Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB). 

Pouria Abbassi, P.E.

Pouria Abbassi has been the CEO of large companies in three distinct industries – hospitality, health care, and higher education. In each capacity, he has led organizations through business and cultural transformations to unprecedented results while giving back to the communities they serve.

In 2018, Pouria rejoined his alma mater as the CEO and Executive Director of the Associated Students UCLA (ASUCLA), the largest organization of its kind in the world. Pouria leverages his executive experience and his passion for “all things Bruin” to work with the ASUCLA Board of Directors, its 1,800+ family of employees, campus partners, and other stakeholders. In doing so, Pouria leads ASUCLA to serve the student body through a multifaceted set of businesses and on-campus services and extend the UCLA brand globally through operations in over 100 countries. Pouria has previously led four mental and behavioral health companies amid health care reforms (ACA) through 17 facilities as the President of the Phoenix Houses of California, Inc. (PHC). Prior to PHC, he was the CEO of Los Angeles Convention Center, leading the sports and entertainment district’s unprecedented development and revitalization of Downtown LA’s South Park area. In prior capacities, Pouria has led teams in project engineering, debt financing, financial modeling, environmental analysis, and information technology implementation. He also has done research and published in the areas of cryogenics and high-temperature superconductivity.

A registered mechanical engineer in the State of California and a graduate of UCLA School of Engineering and UCLA Anderson School of Management/Executive Management program, Pouria sits on various boards, including the Los Angeles Business Council, Providence Hospital Foundation Board of Governors, Beyond Vision Music Foundation, PAAIA/IA 100, and the Norooz Celebration Foundation. He also works with various other community organizations, including PARS Equality Center, KCIS, and Farhang Foundation. Pouria is also an active member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and is engaged with various policy and think tank groups at local and national levels. Pouria frequently gives presentations on leadership to student groups and mentors young professionals in their careers. Among more than 30 community, business, and service awards, Pouria has also been awarded the 2022 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, in recognition of his contributions towards the betterment of all the communities he has served throughout his distinguished career. Pouria lives in Los Angeles with his wife, whom he met when they were both studying at UCLA, and their two children.