Members


Alaina Baker-Nigh

Alaina Baker-Nigh is a student in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience (NUIN) program since 2006, and has been singing with the Catatonics since her first quarter at NU. Her work focuses on Alzheimer's disease pathology. She has been an avid choral singer since high school, squeezed voice lessons in with her science classes in undergrad, and can't imagine how sad grad school would be without a musical outlet.

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James Bartolotti

James is a first year PhD candidate in Communication Sciences and Disorders, and is interested in how monolinguals and bilinguals differ when they attempt to learn a new language. When he's not asking people to learn nonsense words, you can find him singing in the Catatonics or the Northwestern University Chorus. He's easily recognized on campus by the soft brown cap that sits perennially atop his head.

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Julia Chamberlain

Enthusiastically outgoing, Julia enjoys singing, science education, and long walks on the beach (and by beach we mean mountains.) A chemist by trade, she is counting down the months before she can finish her PhD and move to warmer climes. Julia frequently suffers from sleep deprivation and bouts of unbridled baking which she cures with a good cup of Peet's coffee and regular visits to SPAC.

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Kelly Lefler

Kelly Lefler is an indentured servant in the Chemistry department.Ê She came to singing by way of musical theater by way of theater and an opera singer sister. A graduate of Georgia Tech, Kelly spent the better part of her life thus far in The South, but she does not have an accent. This is Kelly's first year with the Catatonics and she really hopes they don't vote her off the island at the end of the show.

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Brandy Lipton

Brandy is an aspiring economist and a recent addition to the Catatonics. She is happy to find that there is life outside of Kellogg, and enjoys interacting with such a great group of people. Non-singing interests include baking cookies, jogging at an excessively slow pace along lake Michigan, and salsa dancing, to name a few.

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Eileen Maksym

Eileen is affiliated with Northwestern via her husband, a PhD candidate in Astrophysics. While her husband is gazing at the stars, Eileen takes care of their two children (Kolbe, 4, and Josette, 2) and writes short stories. She's been singing since birth, and is having a great time with the Catatonics.

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Michael Nigh

Celebrated visionary, philanthropist, and sesquipedalian Michael Nigh married into the Catatonics in August of 2008 (The clever will be able to determine to whom). While not a Northwestern student, Mike nonetheless feels a warm welcoming feeling every time he approaches the Music Administration Building for rehearsal. In spring of 2008, Mike graduated from Northern Illinois with a Master's in Music Composition. He has arranged a small number of songs for the Catatonics and plans on arranging more. When not singing, Mike enjoys playing other instruments, music, cooking, and a number of geeky hobbies he will refrain from mentioning.

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Alpana Ranade

Alpana is a third year student in the materials science & engineering department.ÊMusic has always been an important part of her life and she participated in several vocal and instrumental ensembles throughout high school and college.ÊShe also enjoys singing large choral works and currently sings with the Northwestern University Chorus. When not in lab or MAB, some of her other activities and interests include traveling, knitting, and finding free/cheap things to do around Chicago.

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Robert "El Director" Sandoval

Robert is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering. He is originally from Maple, WI, and earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University (which is located up in the frozen tundra). This is his second year as director of The Catatonics. He has performed with numerous music groups throughout high school and undergrad, singing primarily 1st tenor. Currently, The Catatonics have forced allowed him to explore his lower singing range a whole lot more.

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Mike Vagnini

Born in the real Margaritaville, Mike is a cheerful servant to the cause of clean, renewable energy. His only musical claim to fame is winning first-place in an African-American sorority talent show with his four college buds, singing "Eye of the Tiger."Ê When he is not developing schemes to put chloroplasts out of business, he can be found in the kitchen or at the gym. . . trying to squeeze out that seventh pull-up. . .

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Anne Marie Wissman

Anne Marie Wissman is a post-doc in the Neurobiology and Physiology department, studying sex differences in the neural basis of drug addiction. She enjoys singing pop songs in the shower or in the car by herself, and also sang in a community choir in college (at Michigan State) that performed classical works like Handel's Messiah and Beethoven's 9th Symphony. She discovered a capella via an extracurricular class in grad school (at the University of Washington), and was excited to find a group at Northwestern that fits her busy schedule. Anne Marie loves the laid-back camaraderie of the Catatonics, and always looks forward to the weekly musical interlude that takes her away from the lab and leaves her singing out loud on her bike ride home.

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Bo Zhao

Bo has been singing with the Catatonics since starting graduate school, making this her 5th year. She was director for 2.5 years before Rob. When she's not singing, she can be found in the Chung lab of the Materials Science and Engineering Department. Well, sometimes she sings there too.

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Group Alumni

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