What now?still looking?

01 ON THE PAGE

The Orator, original Gleaner character art

02 IN THE RUINS

03 IN THE CIRCUIT

THE
BROOKERSTONY BROOK SCHOOL

04 IN THE ROOM

05 THIS PERSON

The Stoic, original Gleaner character art

— A THORN

Often thinking,
always making.

WRITER · BUILDER · GLEANER

LATEST ON THE DESKEntroMusic

hello, I'm Anna!

I'm a sophomore at The Stony Brook School. I move between mathematics, engineering, technology, art, and writing, turning abstract questions into tangible experiments.

Sometimes that means translating brainwaves into music. Sometimes it means a mechanical prototype, a game character, or an essay that began as a question on an ordinary day.

See what's on the desk

02 / ON THE DESK

Things I've been making.

An assortment of experiments, half-filled notebooks, working prototypes, sketches, and occasionally successful ideas.

FEATURED WORK / 01

EntroMusic

Turning brainwaves into harmony.

↗

OpenBCI EEG cap and electrodes used for EntroMusic — OpenBCI cap and electrodes · project photograph

Hands assembling the OpenBCI board — Inside the prototype

EntroMusic research pipeline diagram — From EEG to a musical control signal

It started with a very strange hat. ↗

An EEG-guided adaptive music prototype that explores how changing signal features can shape generated sound.

OpenBCI data is screened for artifacts. Relative alpha power (8–13 Hz) and permutation entropy feed an arousal-related, within-session index; that control signal changes musical parameters in a MIDI-based system.

EEG acquisitionSignal filteringAlpha + entropyControl indexAdaptive music

The index is an experimental control signal, not a clinical diagnosis or treatment. The browser studio uses manual input; public EEG dataset participants are separate from prototype users.

Explore the project ↗Research & results ↗

from brainwaves to the conference floor

Presented as a poster at the IEEE HealthCom 2026 Young Researchers Symposium. This is a symposium presentation, not a journal publication.

EntroMusic analysis comparing listening impressions and a music metric — One of the original music evaluation figures

FEATURED WORK / 02

The Gleaner Protocol

A game about the things we leave behind.

↗

ARCHIVE / 1517

“You push the door. Rain becomes a screen. Welcome to the game, gleaner.”

Five characters, their relics, and a sixth arrival build a world around memory, identity, fear, and imperfection. Entropy is a proposed game mechanic as well as a story idea.

A playable browser prototype exists. The larger narrative and character systems remain in development.

Play the prototype ↗Visit the Vibe Cave ↗

Original concept illustration of The Orator — The Orator · original concept art

The people in the ruins

Five original character concepts · scroll to explore →

The Stoic character drawing — The Stoic Pride

The Cynic character drawing — The Cynic Wrath

The Archivist character drawing — The Archivist Greed

The Orator character drawing — The Orator Envy

The Nihilist character drawing — The Nihilist Sloth

FEATURED WORK / 03

Science Olympiad

Two years of building & breaking things.

Two consecutive years on The Stony Brook School's A Team, working across engineering, physics, and cryptography.

I've built and tested Electric Vehicle and Hovercraft ideas, planned Mission Possible mechanisms, worked on circuits and 3D CAD designs, and helped B Team members get familiar with Codebusters and cipher solving.

Events: Electric Vehicle · Hovercraft · Mission Possible · Codebusters · Write It Do It. For 2026–27: Codebusters, Mission Possible, and Hovercraft.

Our team placed 4th at Regionals and qualified for the New York State Tournament. This is a team result.

A little CAD, a little cryptography,
and a lot of first tries.

Science Olympiad Electric Vehicle build — Things that move

Science Olympiad workbench — On the workbench

Science Olympiad team at the state tournament — More than a competition

Circuit design diagram — From sketches to circuits

In the workshop

Design, make, test, revise. The engineering work also lives in the drawings, component models, wiring, and conversations around the bench.

Electric Vehicle film ↗Rocket launch ↗Ultrasonic levitation ↗

STILL ON THE DESK

LearnFit

A privacy-minded focus experiment that compares eye signals with a personal baseline. Camera processing stays on-device; the estimate is experimental, not a measure of everything happening in a learner's mind.

Explore LearnFit ↗

PhyloSquizz

A personality mirror built around fifty philosophers: more mood and questions than score.

Take the mirror ↗

EDUOH

An oral-history archive of ordinary voices across decades of Chinese education, from the restored gaokao to AI classrooms.

Open archive ↗

Health Guard

An earlier health technology exploration from the software notebook.

Project archive

ART & WRITING / AN OPEN SKETCHBOOK

A little creative chaos.

Drawings, stories, essays, and questions that refused to stay in one medium. Scroll sideways →

Ocean-themed illustration with a whale and figures — Ocean worlds Illustration

At the Edge of Becoming illustration — At the Edge of Becoming Illustration

Anna's original four-panel identity collage — Anna / Xiyue Collage

Original line drawing with roses and lattice — Cage, roses, lattice Drawing

Original adventurer character drawing — Thorns and a sack Drawing

Original artwork From Chain to Light — From chain to light Art

Golden mean, three burgers artwork — Golden mean, three burgers Illustration

Freshman year Polaroid pile artwork — Freshman year Collage

Freshman year collage study — Freshman year study Collage

At the Edge of Becoming study — At the Edge of Becoming · study Illustration

ESSAY / PHILOSOPHY

Apologizing to the Algorithm

On the category mistake of treating an attention-extracting system like a friend.

Read the work ↗

ESSAY / PHILOSOPHY

The Optimization Illusion

Who pays when efficiency on paper becomes harm in the world?

Read the work ↗

LETTER

What Is Real Childish

A letter about the difference between maturity and obedience.

Read the work ↗

FEATURE

Beggar's Blue

A girls' camp, blue paint, and the relief of not performing.

Read the work ↗

FICTION

Soul Lease

A 2100 marketplace where personality can be rented.

Read the work ↗

ESSAY / MEMORY

What Nostalgia Means

A Polaroid, an argument about a word, and what memory is allowed to do.

Read the original work ↗

REVIEW

Welcome to New York

Taylor Swift, 1989, and the sound of arriving.

Read the work ↗

03 / LITTLE STARS

A few things that shone.

Recognition, publications, and moments shared with teams. The labels matter as much as the medals.

PRESENTED

IEEE HealthCom 2026

EntroMusic poster presentation at the Young Researchers Symposium.

Symposium poster · research

TEAM RESULT

American Rocketry Challenge

National Finalist · team 15th place, 2026.

Rocketry · national finals

TEAM RESULT

Science Olympiad

4th at Regionals; the team qualified for the New York State Tournament.

Engineering · collaboration

WRITING

Words in print

Scholastic Silver Key, Paumanok, and writing in The Brooker.

Recognition & publication

Rocketry team with their rocket — On the pad

Science Olympiad team at States — With the team

Some of the nicest stars are the people standing next to you.

04 / IN THE ROOM

The work with other people.

Campus life, leadership, service, and the moments that become a photo on the fridge.

Showing up

Art Council / National Art Honor Society

I proposed an SBS merchandise design competition. My bear design was selected and printed on a school shirt; I also helped organize Paint Night.

Activity Council & Student Ambassador

Helping plan campus events and welcoming people into school life.

World Family Children Foundation & CFALA

Community and service work beyond campus.

1517 Community

A founder-side community for the developing Gleaner Protocol.

National Honor Society

Membership and service.

The Brooker

Writing and contributing to the school paper.

Anna's selected SBS bear shirt design — The shirt that got printed

Art Council Paint Night workspace — Paint Night

Class Challenge group photograph — Service beyond self

After the bell

Cross Country, Rocketry, Science Olympiad, school traditions, friends, and the little rituals of being here.

Please leave the photos a little crooked.

Cross Country teammates outdoors — Cross Country

Cross Country team photograph — With the team

Sophomore classmates Polaroid — Sophomores

Often thinking,always making.

Things I've been making.

EntroMusic

The Gleaner Protocol

The people in the ruins

Science Olympiad

In the workshop

LearnFit

PhyloSquizz

EDUOH

Health Guard

A little creative chaos.

Apologizing to the Algorithm

The Optimization Illusion

What Is Real Childish

Beggar's Blue

Soul Lease

What Nostalgia Means

Welcome to New York

A few things that shone.

IEEE HealthCom 2026

American Rocketry Challenge

Science Olympiad

Words in print

The work with other people.

Showing up

Art Council / National Art Honor Society

Activity Council & Student Ambassador

World Family Children Foundation & CFALA

1517 Community

National Honor Society

The Brooker

After the bell

Often thinking,
always making.