Sean Batir ’14

Age: 18

Hometown:North Hollywood, CA

Major: Biology w/ spec. in Neuroscience, Minor in Computational Neuroscience

Favorite book:The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Aspirations:
I’m pretty set on Neural Engineering, creating neuroprosthetics to restore blindness, hearing loss and lost limbs.  

Inspirations: Just two. 
1. Leonardo DaVinci, the very definition of a Renaissance man, who taught me to look for 
unexpected patterns in every dimension of my life and to always be curious about every interesting piece of data in our universe. 

2. Battlestar Galactica.  Get ready for some serious nerding out here.   So a Cylon is a Cybernetic Lifeform Node.  In Battlestar Galactica, there are organic based Cylons, with artificially constructed brains and neural networks.  Maybe I’m majoring in Neuroscience and into neural engineering because I eventually want to make them.

Guilty pleasure:
Eating at spotlighted Chicago cafes and restaurants, and consequently spending obscene amounts of money on food.  Having proportions for two probably doesn’t help either.

Celebrity crush: 
Rachel McAdams, from The Notebook & Mean Girls
Mitch Hewer, from Skins Season 1 

If you were an ice-cream flavor, what would you choose? 
Probably gianduja.  It’s a nice balance of light chocolate with hazelnut, almost like nutella. 
Ever had a good crepe? Nutella is essential.

One thing most people don’t know about you: 
I can make dolphin calls, squirrel chirps, and a wide variety of animal sounds! 

Favorite hangout spot: Hallowed Grounds, free pool + metropolis coffee?  Check yes! 

Motto/quote you live by: “The world belongs to you for only a season.”