Bye Bye Bug Artist Bios

Jennifer Naalchigar has dreamed of being an illustrator since she was young, and she eventually followed her dream and became one! Her artistic style is cartoony, doodly, and sometimes comical. Among her many inspirations are Toulouse Lautrec, Quentin Blake, and Richard Scarry, as well as Studio Ghibli films. She loves being a part of the wonderful, colorful illustration community.

One of her favorite family traditions is having pancakes every Saturday morning. In her dream house, the pancakes would be supplemented by an enormous chocolate fountain.

Jennifer’s favorite dinosaur is the patient and peaceful Diplodocus. Venus is her favorite planet because it is the only one in the solar system to spin clockwise on its axis—so it is a little different from everyone else!

Nathaniel Ahn is 11 years old. When he grows up, he wants to be a game developer because he likes coding games and troubleshooting and fixing problems. He likes to make games on Scratch and share them with his friends and family. 

Nathaniel enjoyed trying out his voice acting skills by recording the voice of Kenji. Mosasaurus is Nathaniel’s favorite prehistoric organism because he likes sea creatures and because Mosasaurus was very, very big! 

Nathaniel enjoys all the different places he and his family go on vacation during the summer.

Ari Vaisman is 9 years old and in the fourth grade. He likes math, tennis, and sport cup stacking. He also enjoys playing ping pong and billiards with his dad. Ari is fluent in both English and Spanish. He would like to be a professional tennis player and a doctor when he grows up. 

Ari’s favorite dinosaur is the Triceratops because they are vegetarian, and Ari loves veggies—especially cucumbers! Ari enjoyed getting to use his Spanish for this project and had fun recording his lines inside the closet with his mom.

Olivia Ahn is 13 years old. Her primary language is English, but she also speaks a little Spanish, Korean, and Chinese. This was Olivia’s first chance to try voice acting, and she enjoyed reading the lines for Emi and speaking to Kenji. 

Neptune and Earth are Olivia’s favorite planets. Neptune has a pretty color and a pretty name. Earth is the planet we live on, which makes it the most unique out of all of them. 

Olivia’s family always celebrates Chinese New Year in February. They wear red and eat oranges, mandarins, and a lot of good food. They place a red covering representing Chinese colors over their coffee table and spend time with family. 

When Olivia grows up, she wants to be a K-pop star. She likes singing and dancing to K-pop choreography and music at home. She wants to debut her skills with her best friend—it would be a lot less terrifying than trying to do it all alone! 

Juliette Maya Peña-Chazelle is 11 years old and loves to play the ukulele. In fact, her favorite dinosaur is the Tyrannosaurus rex because she is certain that it would be very good at playing the ukulele! She grew up speaking French with her mom, Spanish with her dad, and English in school. She and her dad both worked on this project, and she enjoyed recording together in the closet to get the best sound quality. 

Juliette has a fraternal twin sister. They are taking part in an ongoing genetic study of twins at the University of Texas. Juliette has performed in several community musical plays and one television commercial, and she loves spending time on her bike and skateboard. 

She would love to work with cheetahs as a hobby one day and wants to grow up to be a medical scientist who finds cures for serious diseases. 

Kelly Rizk is premiering her voice acting talents in this project. Her other talents include being a STEM Learning Design Manager for EiE. She is excited to share her enthusiasm about engineering with families all over the country! Her younger self would be very proud that she has found a way to combine her love of science with a bit of creativity.

Kelly had a lot of fun trying this new skill of voice acting. She usually speaks English, although she could use her French or Spanish skills for basics like finding a restroom or ordering a meal.

Weekends are very active in Kelly’s home. She and her family like to kick Saturday morning off in style with breakfast tacos. After that, they usually head out for a swim meet, lacrosse game, tennis match, or kickball game.

Kelly’s favorite dinosaur is the Stegosaurus. Her oldest daughter absolutely loved dinosaurs as a child, including her big plastic Stegosaurus toy. As a result, it will always have a special place in Kelly’s heart!

Dalila is originally from Argentina, but she lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two children now. Spanish is her native language, but she also speaks English fluently. She enjoyed recording lines with her son and is happy to have been part of a great project to support kids’ science education. 

Dalila and her family spend time together on weekends—walking the dog, playing tennis, or exploring new places to eat lunch together. Superman is her favorite superhero because he has a strong moral code and is always willing to help with empathy. 

Taiga Miyajima loves to dance! He spends his weekends dancing and enjoying his friends. He thinks his 12-year-old self would admire that he dances and that he has friends all over the world! In fact, he would really like to plan an around-the-world trip someday. 

Japanese is Taiga’s primary language, but he also speaks English. He enjoyed playing the father in this story and wanted to sound like a gentle dad for the kids.  

Pteranodon is his favorite dinosaur because it could fly, and Goku from Dragon Ball Z is his favorite superhero because he can fly fast! 

Victor’s native language is Spanish, but he is also fluent in English and speaks some Italian and French. Victor has enjoyed promoting and teaching science literacy and medicine to people of all ages, but he has a special affinity for working with children. The Museum of Science holds a very special place in his heart as it was the first place he worked after college—more than 25 years ago! He was absolutely thrilled to work with his daughter, Juliette, and to see her take this project so seriously. 

Victor was a surgeon for many years and has taught science and medicine. He is now very passionate about his work as a lifestyle medicine health coach. Science for the benefit of all people inspires him.   

Victor’s favorite superhero is Batman, because he uses his wit and his technology to get himself out of a jam and to get the bad guys. Victor thinks that his younger self would admire the fact that he is happy, that he has made the time to spend with his beautiful family, and that he loves his job teaching and helping people stay healthy and happy.