Gouthami Rao has dedicated her life's work to improving water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in developing countries. She has volunteered on water infrastructure projects in Uganda and Honduras, conducted water quality research on river waters of Ecuador and Atlanta, and worked as a lab coordinator on a large randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of WASH interventions on children in rural, western Kenya for almost two years. Currently, Gouthami works as an environmental microbiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch and is focusing on an outbreak response capacity building project in Sierra Leone, and assisting with other global WASH projects in Guatemala and Zambia. In her free time, she enjoys learning new forms of dance such as bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance form, traveling internationally (backpacking style), hiking, and scuba diving. She earned both her Bachelor of Science (BS) in Environmental Science and a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Environmental Health from Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

Nathan Huxtable is currently in his fourth year of undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Physics and a Bachelor of Music in Musicology- Ethnomusicology track. He is currently working on his honors thesis in Ethnomusicology which focuses on the intersections of musical performance, American militarism, histories of racial oppression, and ethnic community building amongst Chicago's Japanese Americans in the 1960s. As a percussionist, Nathan has performed with numerous concert musical ensembles, including the Northwestern University Symphonic Band, the Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble, Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy's Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, and Student Orchestra. He also sports over five years of world class marching percussion experience with the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps, the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps, Cavaliers Indoor Percussion and Green Thunder Percussion. Nathan resides in Batavia, Illinois, where he has held both performing and teaching roles with the Batavia High School Marching Bulldogs.