Team

Jule Krüger is a Program Manager for Big Data and Data Science in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Jule has more than ten years of experience in leveraging social science research and methods to better understand socio-behavioral phenomena in the fields of political violence and human rights advocacy. In recent years, Jule's deep passion for data, measurement and inference has increasingly expanded to environmental issues because she believes that peace, justice and a healthy climate are intrinsically connected. The success of ContaMiNot at Hacks With Friends 2019 to her is a sign that many people are interested in learning how to properly dispose of their waste, and that technology offers an incredible opportunity to help us lower our environmental impact. Jule is super excited to work with the ContaMiNot team to launch this new sustainability app into the wild.

As a ​Chemical Engineer turned ​​Geneticist/Data Scientist, ​A. Bilge Ozel​​ is​ a Research Specialist at the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School, where​ ​her ​ultimate goal is to devise and apply analytical and computational approaches to discover the genetics behind complex traits and rare diseases​​. She has led and contributed to many ​exciting ​collaborations​ and discoveries over the last 10 years. Her passion with environment and sustainability ​started when she was a teenager during a summer gig at a local newspaper, where she wrote a short op-ed about the piling trash by the river she used to play as a kid. She feels lucky to have met like-minded people along the way, which finally brought her to the amazing ContaMiNot team that worked tirelessly over two days and won Hack with Friends 2019. She is very excited to be a part of such a high impact effort that will help alleviate the contamination problem not only at the University of Michigan but also at many other communities around the world for years to come.

Jessica Ankley is a Program Assistant with the Office of Campus Sustainability. As a recent U-M graduate, Jessica earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2019 for Political Science and Environmental Science, with a focus on Conservation and Resource Management. This is her first time working in app development and she is excited to help make ContaMiNot a useful tool to not only manage waste disposal, but to also reduce waste altogether. She looks forward to working with the team and building her skills in the realm of technological development!

Chris Hedly is a graphic designer at Michigan MultiMedia, part of HITS, specializing in photography and web design. He has participated in Hacks with Friends four times and this is his first win! This year, he learned that it helps to be part of a team that is passionate about their project and that recycling can be very confusing. Chris would love to to see the ContaMiNot project continue to improve and be a helpful tool to help the U-M community reach its 2025 sustainability goal!

Kyle is a Desktop Support Specialist at CAEN, part of the College of Engineering. 2019 was his first time participating with Hack with Friends and Kyle was ecstatic to be a part of the 1st Place team! Although he doesn't have a lot of experience with app/web development, Kyle hopes to build his skills in learning more about developing databases and to efficiently test it against applications in order to fine tune any bugs or processes. He also hopes that this will be a good opportunity to network with other leaders of the University and further his experience in IT Project Management.

Tom is a programming analyst at the Office of University Development and a first-time participant in Hacks with Friends. Tom went to the School of Information where he studied User Experience Design. He was able to bring these skills to the Contaminot team and helped them take first place. He is passionate about fighting climate change and jumped at the chance to be a part of a team of like-minded individuals.

Chris has been an iOS programmer for 8 years and was excited to bring his expertise to ContaMiNot. He currently works as a Research Support Programmer on the Research Computing team within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Chris takes climate issues seriously and wants to use his programming skills to make it easier for others to do their part to protect the environment.