The Fourcast Interns are a growing transdisciplinary group of graduate, undergraduate, and high school students based at the University of Chicago. With the Fourcasters, we are working on the problem of the Futures Design Challenge and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Click on bios to learn more about what our interns do on and around campus!
Jersey Fonseca
Intern, Computer Science
Jersey Fonseca is a rising 4th year studying Computer Science with a minor in Media Arts & Design. He seeks to find ways to use new technologies to create unique artistic experiences, especially with videogames. Jersey has created multiple videogames, both educational and artistic. On campus, Jersey can be found working at the Media Arts Data Design center, or working with Hack4Impact, an RSO that provides software development services to non-profits. On his spare time, he enjoys working on various art forms including comedy, film, music, and painting. His favorite word is nostalgia.
India Weston
Intern, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities
India Weston is a digital media theorist and transmedia performance artist studying games as tools for social change. She has spoken at the National Diet during the TEPCO indictment about her anti-nuclear performance art and is beginning to plan a large-scale protest piece for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with NEIS. She hopes her work with Fourcast Lab will help advance transnational goals of nuclear peace.
Evan Wisdom-Dawson
Project Manager, English PhD Student
Evan Wisdom-Dawson is a PhD Student and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow in the Department of English. Her favorite punctuation mark is not a period, but an em dash. Her research considers the social, cultural, and political paradigms in narratives of climate change and environmental apocalypse across media.
Peter Forberg
Intern, Sociology
Peter Forberg is a rising third year in the College studying sociology and media arts & design. He hopes his work as a Fourcast Lab intern will further his understanding of how collectivized action can make the world a more welcoming place for the disadvantaged. On campus, Peter works as an LGBTQ health researcher, is an editor of Sliced Bread Literary Magazine, a member of improv troupe Occam’s Razor, and a member of Fire Escape Film’s screenwriting seminar. No one does as much as him! A Chicago native, Peter spends his free time exploring the city’s many gardens, concerts, avant-garde theatre, and ice cream shops.
Saniyya Dunning
Intern, Art
Saniyya Dunning is a rising junior at Vistaridge Highschool in Cedar Park Texas. She was given the amazing opportunity to work as a Fourcaster at the University of Chicago developing ways to teach incoming students about our climate, while bringing them together. In her free time, she draws, dances, and swims. She wants to major in art and is currently working as a lifeguard.
Rebecca Husk
Intern, Philosophy
Rebecca Husk is a rising fourth year in The College majoring in philosophy and minoring in theater and performance studies. She is fascinated with the metaphysics of performance, especially the connection between entertainment, ritual, and social change. She is also a proud member of the a cappella group Medusa (whose initial name was Men in Drag).
Hurston Mazard Wallace
Intern, Psychology
Hurston is a rising third year at the college. He has the coolest name of any intern, and he is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Media Arts Data & Design. He is a game designer and artist, having created multiple video games and abstract/psychedelic video projects. He has worked at the UChicago’s Game Changer Lab to create social impact games and is currently assisting with research into climate change, along with helping to organize the Future’s Design Challenge. During the school year he works at the Media Arts Data and Design Center and is a member of Fire Escape Films and the Organization of Black Students. In his free time he enjoys making and playing games, creating videos and animations, and watching cartoons.
Sam Schwartz
Intern, Computer Science & Music
Sam Schwartz is a rising third-year in the College double majoring in Computer Science and Music. My oh my, does he do a lot. At the University, he is involved in a variety of RSOs including Fire Escape Films, The Music Forum, MUNUC, and ChoMUN. During the school year, he also works as a student staff member at the Media Arts, Data, and Design Center and as a residential assistant for Linn-Mathews House in Burton-Judson. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games (especially JRPGs), jamming with friends, and watching professional League of Legends.
Ella Beiser
Intern, Lab School
Ella is a rising junior at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and is working as an intern at the Fourcast Lab this summer where she is doing research on climate change. In her free time she plays competitive soccer and volunteers at the Hyde Park Refugee Project. She also works on her school newspaper, the Midway, as the sports editor.
Hamlet Fernandez
Intern, Mathematics
A rising 2nd year, Hamlet Fernandez is an aspiring math major and media, arts, and design minor. Driven by a passion for both STEM and arts, Hamlet aspires to combine the fields creatively, hopefully in the video game industry. A Questbridge Scholar flying from New York City, he participates in the Organization for Latin American Students (OLAS) and can speak and write fluently in Spanish. During the winter he spends a lot of time on the Midway Plaisance Ice Skating Rink on campus as part of the UChicago Figure Skating Club. His favorite meme is LMAO (in all caps); however, he is not laughing. Further hobbies include pottery, drawing, and video gaming. Hamlet works at the Logan Arts Center as a Production Assistant where he manages the stage, the lighting, and the sound for various events throughout Logan. As a Fourcaster Intern, Hamlet is excited for the prospects of helping new students acclimate to the University of Chicago.
Elizabeth Ashby deButts
Intern, Mathematics
Ashby is a rising third year at the college studying mathematics and visual art. This summer she is working as a web designer for Fourcast Labs. During the school year she works in the MADD center. She also teaches beginning trapeze classes at Le Vorris and Vox Circus at the college. If you want to try circus for the first time, ask her! In her free time, she attends Outside the Lines (the college’s figure drawing group).
Leland Culver
Intern, Lab School
Leland Culver is a rising senior in High School about to start his last year at the Laboratory Schools (a school right here at the University). He was brought on as an intern at the Fourcast Lab through the U-High SummerLink business, social sciences, and humanities program, a program that connects students at Lab with internship opportunities with university professors and Chicago for-profit and not-for-profit corporations. Leland is an Assistant Editor on the U-High Midway and the founder and president of Lab’s first game development studio. In his free time, he enjoys writing, random research, reading, singing, and video games.
Théo Evans
Intern, Sociology
Théo Evans is a rising third year at the University of Chicago majoring in sociology with a minor in media arts and design. He is the creator of the YouTube channel TheLetterFifteen and is particularly interested in online communities and the sociology of the internet. (Find the pun in his username!) During the school year, he works as an Outreach Intern in the UChicago Office of Admissions.
Daniel Lee
Intern, Economics
Daniel Lee is a rising second-year at the University of Chicago studying Economics and Urban design. He likes to pass the time watching movies, playing games, and drawing. Currently serving as a Fourcaster for the Terrarium Project, he hopes to make a positive impact on the environment. He is a visual artist who has showcased artworks in national exhibitions (Congressional Arts, National Arts League, YoungArts, Strokes of Genius, Notre Dame of Maryland University, etc.) and manages the competition section of the UChicago Architecture RSO.
