# Culture & Community ## expand\_more The Culture and Community team is here to help all students thrive. We are here to build community, support students and connect them with resources. We hold a number of events throughout the year. Always feel free to be in touch with us about anything you might want to talk about. We are really looking forward to spending time and meeting you all! ## Culture and Community Team [### Radhika Agarwal ](/people/radhika-agarwal) [radhika\_agarwal@hms.harvard.edu](mailto:radhika_agarwal@hms.harvard.edu)Resident Tutor Community is something I deeply value, and I'm thrilled to be a part of the resident tutor team. I grew up in Indiana and earned my degree in Biochemistry from Indiana University Bloomington in 2015. During my undergraduate years, I also had the... ![Radhika headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/r.agarwal_rt2_1_0.png?itok=csW9D7z9) [### Matt Agboola ](/people/matt-agboola) Resident Tutor Hey Winthrop! I’m excited to join the community as a resident tutor this year alongside my partner, Michelle. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved with my family to Washington, D.C. at a young age. I attended high school in Rockville, MD, and later... ![Headshot of Matt, wearing a maroon sweater with a tan background.](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Matt%20Agboola.jpg?itok=sPzOF-nt) [### Zahra Ahmed ](/people/zahra-ahmed) Non-Resident Tutor Hi Winthrop! I’m Zahra, an educator, artist, and leadership coach who’s passionate about helping people grow into thoughtful, creative, and courageous leaders. By day, I work in faculty development at the Harvard Division of Continuing Education, where I... ![headshot Zahra](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-03/Photo_Zahra_Ahmed.jpg?itok=u6KY23EN) [### Iman Alshawk ](/people/iman-alshawk) Non-Resident Tutor Hello Winthropians!! My name is Iman Alshawk and I recently graduated in May 2023. I’m super excited to be returning to Winthrop after having spent 3 years of my undergrad there! I’m originally Iraqi, and my family and I moved to Dearborn, Michigan when I... ![Iman headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/img-7427.jpg?itok=oMhe5EjK) [### Mamfatou Baldeh ](/people/mamfatou-baldeh) Resident Tutor Hello! My name is Mamfatou Baldeh and I am overjoyed to be a part of the Winthrop House Resident Tutor team! I was born and raised in The Bronx, New York to parents who emigrated from The Gambia and Senegal in West Africa. I've spent nearly all my life... ![Mamfatou Baldeh](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/mamfatou.jpg?itok=b7jwiGVF) [### Michelle Bartolo-Cruz ](/people/michelle-bartolo-cruz) Resident Tutor Michelle is originally from Mexico City and is excited to be part of the Winthrop House community. She’s a biochemist and molecular biologist by training, focused on infectious disease. Previously worked in academia on point-of-care diagnostics research... ![Headshot of Michelle with a gray background wearing a black and white stripped top.](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Michelle_Bartolo-Cruz.jpg?itok=LREIFCCr) [### Paulo Carvão ](/people/paulo-carv%C3%A3o) [paulo\_carvao@harvard.edu](mailto:paulo_carvao@harvard.edu)Scholar in Residence Paulo Carvão is a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. He researches the complexities of AI regulation in the United States to propose a framework that supports rapid technological... ![Paulo Carvao](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Paulo%20Carvao%20Aug%202025.JPG?itok=3PYbW14C) [### Ian Chan ](/people/ian-chan) Non-Resident Tutor I'm Ian (he/they) and I'm thrilled to be a Winthrop NRT! Born in Hong Kong and raised in Toronto, I graduated from Harvard in 2023, concentrating in Linguistics and Mathematics with a secondary in Music and a Concurrent Master's in Linguistics. As an... ![Photo of Ian](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/ian_png.jpg?itok=sgQXDo64) [### Alice Hu ](/people/alice-hu) Non-Resident Tutor Hey Throp! I'm a second-year at Harvard Law School, and I'm thrilled to be a Non-Resident Tutor. I grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Harvard College, where I was a proud Thropian! I completed a joint concentration in Government (focusing on... ![Alice Hu](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/alice_hu_headshot_s23.jpeg?itok=F4JTStNs) [### Zeshan Hussain ](/people/zeshan-hussain) Resident Tutor Hey Winthrop!! I'm excited to continue as a resident tutor this year. Originally, I am from Hyderabad, India, and my family moved to Ohio when I was young. I spent some time in California, doing my undergraduate and master's studies in Computer Science at... ![Zeshan Hussain](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Zeshan%20Hussain%20Aug%202025.jpg?itok=YAbMNweC) [### Aaron Jennings ](/people/aaron-jennings) [aaron\_jennings@mail.harvard.edu](mailto:aaron_jennings@mail.harvard.edu)Non-Resident Tutor Hi, my name is Aaron Jennings, and I’m a proud recovering Hollis North Proctor! I love advising, coaching, and supporting Harvard College students so much that I decided to become a Non-Resident Tutor—while also serving full-time as the Chief of Staff for... ![Aaron Jennings](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/jennings.jpg?itok=CG8zXfhb) [### Grant Jones ](/people/grant-jones) Resident Tutor "Hello! My name is Grant Jones, and I am thrilled to be a part of the Winthrop House resident tutor staff. I was born and raised right here in Boston, attended Harvard as an undergrad, and lived in Winthrop House during my college years. It feels great to... ![Grant Jones](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Grant%20Jones%20Aug%202025.jpeg?itok=8Gl0b_Qx) [### Lily Katz ](/people/lily-katz) Non-Resident Tutor Hi Winthrop, I’m Lily and I’m excited to be a Winthrop non-res tutor! I grew up in NYC and graduated from Stanford in 2017 where I studied Material Science and Engineering with a Biomaterials concentration. While there I was also on the varsity sailing... ![Photo of Lily](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/14821.jpg?itok=X_4_9mRf) [### Jeff Perrotti ](/people/jeff-perrotti) Non-Resident Tutor Senior Common Room Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, I studied Psychology at Northwestern, UCSB, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Harvard I’ve assisted in teaching Positive Psychology, Human Sexuality, Psychology and Law, Creativity, Adolescent Development... ![photo of Non-Resident Tutor, Jeff leaning against a red brick wall](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/jeffpicharvard_1.jpg?itok=4R_p4HiJ) [### Lia Pikus ](/people/lia-pikus) Non-Resident Tutor Hi Winthrop! My name is Lia and I am super excited to be one of your NRTs this year. I graduated from Rice University in 2021 with dual degrees in Political Science and Cello Performance and am currently entering my second year as an MTS student at... ![Lia headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-07/LiaPikus.JPG?itok=LIsnMxNA) [### David Selles ](/people/david-selles) [david\_selles@gsd.harvard.edu](mailto:david_selles@gsd.harvard.edu)Non-Resident Tutor Hello! My name is David Selles and I'm excited to be a non-resident tutor for Winthrop House. I'm a Masters of Design student at the Graduate School of Design studying a mix of robotics, computational design, and human-computer interaction/collaboration... ![headshot of David](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-07/selles.jpg?itok=ZRGizXov) [### Zack Steigerwald Schnall ](/people/zack-steigerwald-schnall) Resident Tutor Hey Winthrop! I grew up in the Boston suburbs, and stayed in suburbia for college (read: the Quad). During undergrad, I was involved in activist movements, the IOP, the debate team, the i-lab, a few journals, some RA work, and the First-Year Musical as... ![headshot of Resident Tutor Zack in a winter coat at Fenway Park](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/z.sschnall_res_tutor.jpg?itok=6K0eP2bv) [### Ciara Sypherd ](/people/ciara-sypherd) Resident Tutor Hi Winthrop! I'm so excited to be joining the community this year as an RT! My name is Ciara (see-air-uh) and I'm a PhD student in bioengineering. I study animal communication using machine learning and try to answer questions like: "Do chimpanzees have... ![Tutor, Ciara sitting in front of the NASA logo statue](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Ciara%20S..jpg?itok=2-U1HcHi) [### Lauren Tassone ](/people/lauren-tassone) Resident Tutor Lauren is a PhD student in Harvard's Committee on the Study of Religion. She is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and attended the University of Michigan (2017), where she studied cognitive science and organizational studies. During her professional career... ![Photo of Lauren](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/img_1014.jpg?itok=A0_m0qdU) [### Azeb Yirga ](/people/azeb-yirga) [Azeb\_Yirga@hms.harvard.edu](mailto:Azeb_Yirga@hms.harvard.edu)Resident Tutor Hi Winthrop! I'm so excited to be a resident tutor in the house. I was born in Vancouver, Canada to Ethiopian parents. My family moved around a lot when I was growing up, so I consider both Richmond, VA and Durham, NC to be home. I graduated from Duke... ![Headshot of Azeb](/sites/g/files/omnuum9706/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/winthrop-house/files/nrt_azeb_y.jpg?itok=CPZ0Hfx-)