Meet Your Oden Institute 2025-26 Student Representatives

Although the Computational Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (CSEM) Ph.D. Program is known for its academic rigor and interdisciplinary research, at its core lies community — and four newly elected student representatives are leading the charge to make it stronger than ever. 

These four graduate students are part of an annual process at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences: every year, graduate students elect peers to serve as representatives who advocate on their behalf and improve student life. There are four available positions: a Recruitment Chair who meets with prospective students and encourages undergraduates to apply, two Social Chairs who plan events to foster meaningful relationships, and an Ombudsperson who collects student feedback and presents it to the faculty.

Despite these clearly defined duties, in practice, the roles overlap, and the representatives collaborate regularly. In fact, all of them share a core mission of building community and will work towards that mission together. 

The students are vital to the Oden Institute, and one of its most unique elements. As Nina De La Torre, the Recruitment Chair, put it, CSEM students are “extremely collaborative — everyone is extremely talented and intelligent but wants to help each other…and they are very nerdy [with a shared love for] laughing about math jokes.” This supportive atmosphere does not happen by accident; it is a result of deliberate effort, such as the intentional work the student representatives do.

As Recruitment Chair, Nina De La Torre, a bubbly face who loves doodling, mentors new CSEM students, volunteers for visit days and orientation events, and is a welcoming resource for prospective and new students navigating the program. She hopes to build lasting connections across the cohorts and wants to get to know everyone in the CSEM program better, especially peers she does not routinely cross paths with. In addition to serving as the Recruitment Chair, Nina develops computational techniques to model the birth of stars, advised by Stella Offner, astronomy professor and director of the NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins and co-director of the Center for Scientific Machine Learning, both at the Oden Institute. Outside of her research, expect Nina to be eagerly awaiting the next seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

Austin Kwon, who holds one of the two Social Chair roles, is impressively ambidextrous and somehow manages to reply to emails faster than you can hit “send.” In his free time, he enjoys playing ping pong and ice skating. As a second-year student, he is still figuring out his goals, but will be working under Charles Taylor, a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Dell Medical School, and director of the Center for Computational Medicine at the Oden Institute. Despite the uncertainty, Austin is ready to hustle and looks forward to lightening the mood from the serious and intense work that the Oden Institute requires.

Teddy Gilman also holds the Social Chair role. Teddy is an Austin, Texas native and fourth-generation UT student with a passion for cooking, playing music, and hitting up trivia nights with his friends. He is also working under Charles Taylor, researching patient-specific models of the lungs and heart, so it’s no surprise he brings a lot of heart to the CSEM community. Teddy is full of ideas for social events, from tailgates to sports tournaments. He wants his fellow students to know that he and Austin Kwon are always open to ideas for social events and are eager to help bring those ideas to fruition.

Benjamin Thomas, serving as the Ombudsperson, which he describes as the “point person between students and faculty to present the views and concerns of students.” In this role, Benjamin will host student-faculty feedback meetings, create surveys for students, and relay the responses to faculty in charge. Like the rest of his team, he hopes to enhance the community at the Oden Institute and amplify the voices of students. In his research, Benjamin develops patient-specific cardiac models to optimize treatment of cardiovascular disease. He is in the computational medicine portfolio program, working with Michael Sacks, a biomedical engineering professor, in the Willerson Center for Cardiovascular Modeling and Simulation.   

The CSEM Student Representative program is a crucial part of the Oden Institute, providing leadership opportunities and the chance to build relationships with colleagues. Interested students can find more information on ways to get involved with student organizations here.