Conference Staff Board
Meet our Conference Staff Board, the group that strives to make the annual UCIMUN an engaging and valuable experience for students across California.
Nick Young
Secretary General, He/Him
Nick Young, is a third-year Environmental Engineering student from Los Angeles, California. Nick attempted to start competing in middle school but wasn’t able to officially start competing in MUN competitions till 9th grade. MUN has been instrumental in shaping his outlook on the world and ability to connect with his peers. Nick has been a chair of a Specials committee for the last 2 years at UCIMUN and has competed all over the country. Although he isn’t currently in a major normally associated with MUN, his skills allow him to bring nuances to the team from a STEM outlook.
Nick joined the UCIMUN Team in his fall quarter of his Freshman Year, jumping right in as a chair and looks to keep his streak of all 4 years of school in MUN. He is eager to see the unique topics this year’s conference holds and be surprised by all the delegates bring to the table this year.
ucimunsg@gmail.com
Rhea Remesh
Under Secretary General of Specials, She/Her
Rhea Remesh is a third-year in the Cognitive Sciences from both the Bay Area and Seoul, South Korea. After joining Model United Nations in her junior year of high school, Rhea has affirmed it as the ideal place to grow her public speaking and leadership skills. Rhea has continued to pursue her interests in Model UN at UC Irvine, making strong friendships within the Conference team and getting the chance to work in all kinds of roles in her three years of joining. Her experience in MUN at UCI has furthered her love for engaging debate, teamwork, and event management. Outside of her Cognitive Science and Informatics-related commitments, Rhea loves designing posters and learning new languages.
Rhea joined MUN at UCI in her fall quarter of freshman year as a Assistant Director, before becoming a director for the Olympus committee in her second year. She has serviced Model UN as a previous Social Media and Communications Director, and looks forward to committing to Model UN throughout all of her years at the University of California, Irvine.
ucimunusgmains@gmail.com
Vanessa Trinh Van
Under Secretary General of Mains, She/Her
Vanessa Van is currently a third-year Biological Sciences major. She was first introduced to Model United Nations (MUN) in middle school, and decided to join for a year with the intention of improving her public speaking skills. Shortly after attending her first conference, Vanessa found a passion for learning about international affairs and has remained in the program ever since.
This is Vanessa’s third-year with UCIMUN and her eighth year in the program overall. She first joined UCIMUN during her freshman year as an Assistant Director of UNICEF, followed by serving as the Director of UNICEF her second year, and now currently holds the position of Under Secretary General of Mains. Although all of her years in MUN have been meaningful, she is especially grateful for her time at UCIMUN and all of the friendships she has made here. Her experience has helped her improve not only her public speaking, as she had originally intended in middle school, but have helped her improve her interpersonal, teamwork, and leadership skills. Being surrounded by hard-working and driven peers, she has been inspired to continue her journey in MUN and hopes to give back to a program that has provided her with invaluable experiences that she carry beyond college. She is very excited to work with the conference team this year to help ensure a memorable conference for all delegates! ❤
ucimunusgmains@gmail.com
Dianna Rose Dominguez
Administrative Director, She/Her
Dianna is a fourth-year student double-majoring in Political Science and Education Sciences. In high school, she developed a strong interest in learning about government and politics. This cultivated her aspiration to one day work in public policy. It was not until college, however, that she realized how much she also loved teaching. Because of this, before committing to a career in politics, Dianna hopes to become a high school teacher. Her extracurricular involvement reflects these interests and includes volunteering, tutoring, and assisting in a research lab focused on the study of learning.
This is Dianna’s second official year involved in the Model United Nations. Her high school did not offer MUN, and the lack of experience made joining MUN in college intimidating. She later decided to join after a friend encouraged her to apply and quickly grew to enjoy the experience. She especially values learning the behind-the-scenes work that goes into organizing a conference for high school students across California. With her experience at UCIMUN, Dianna hopes to apply the skills and experiences she has gained to her future classroom and professional opportunities.
Outside of academics, Dianna enjoys going to cafes with friends, reading, and rewatching her favorite shows, like Star Wars: The Clone Wars (currently on her fourth watch).
ucimunmanagement@gmail.com
Armon Alemzadeh
Socials & Communications Director, He/Him
Armon Alemzadeh is a 2nd-year Psychology & Public Health Sciences double major from Mission Viejo, California. He is on the pre-medical track at UCI and hopes to become a family practitioner. He found his joy for public speaking & MUN years ago when he started his first MUN training in elementary school. From the first meeting the history teacher had, explaining everything & anything about the United Nations, he was hooked! He could not wait to learn all about the various topics & problems that the UN has discussed over the years and was so excited to be able to do the same in a similar setting. His first conference, although nerve-racking & being the only one in elementary school in a room of 30+ high school freshmen, taught him the tips & tricks that were needed in order to succeed in this newfound passion. Now almost 11 years later, he has debated in hundreds of conferences, chaired several, and is thrilled to hold a position on the MUN @ UCI Conference Board & have a Director position for the conference this year.
Besides partaking in MUN, he is also involved as the Secretary of the Iranian Student Union at UCI & an undergrad researcher at a neuro-cardiology lab on campus. Between his busy schedule, you’ll find him enjoying time with his family, playing poker or at a bonfire with his friends until all nights of the hour, listening to music, or finding some excuse to party & have a good time.
ucimunsocialdirector@gmail.com
Krishnadev (Krish) Lakshminarayanan
Crisis Director, He/Him
Krishnadev Lakshminarayanan is a fourth-year Molecular Biology and Biochemistry major at the University of California, Irvine. Since his first year at UCI, Krish has been deeply involved in MUN’s specials committees, previously serving as an Assistant Director for the Security Council, a crisis staffer for President Grant’s Cabinet, and Director of the 2024–2025 Art Theft Committee.
Beyond academics and extracurriculars, Krish enjoys cooking, traveling, and the occasional board game. He is thrilled to serve as your Crisis Director this year, bringing new challenges and unexpected twists designed to push delegates’ creativity and crisis response skills to their limits. He looks forward to the chaos, excitement, and unforgettable memories the committee will create together this year!
Aditya (Adi) Sawant
Crisis Director, He/Him
Hey everyone! I’m Aditya Sawant, a junior Computer Science & Engineering major and international student from Mumbai, India. I’ve been involved in Model UN since 8th grade, which means I’ve spent a significant portion of my life enjoying diplomatic chaos. Crisis has always been my favorite space because it combines fast thinking, creativity and things rarely like to go according to plan. I joined UCIMUN as a Crisis staffer and have since worked my way up through Assistant Director to Crisis Director. My goal has always been to design engaging and unpredictable committees that keep delegates on their toes — think the minions invading the world :))
Outside of MUN, I’m the Chief of Avionics Systems for Design, Build Vertical Flight at UCI, a student engineering team focused on designing and building autonomous drones. I’ve always loved working with electronics, FPGAs, and embedded systems. In my spare time I love to play PC games, sample unique food and listen to music (my unique Spotify playlist is witness). My love for music has led me to learn new languages. Fun fact: I know six languages — English, Hindi, Marathi, and French. I’m currently learning Turkish and reading Cyrillic. I’m incredibly excited to serve as your Crisis Director and can’t wait to bring the chaos to your committees.
MUN at UCI Conference Staff
We work hard throughout the year to ensure the conference is a success—and we would love to have you as part of our team!
Conference Staff Applications for Crisis Staff and Admin Staff have been re-opened for the 2025-2026 year!
MUN at UCI holds a high school conference every year for students all over Southern California for two days of debate and discussion. This conference is entirely run by UCI students, and is held right at our student center
What does a Member of the Conference Staff Do?
Members of Conference Staff here at MUN at UCI work include our Directors, Assistant Directors (ADs), Crisis Staff and our Administrative Team. We welcome students of any major and year, and no experience is necessary to join; all we ask is that you have a passion for international affairs and the United Nations, and are willing to work hard to make MUN at UCI the best it can be!
Our Directors envision and build their core committees in the Mains and Specials agendas for students in our United Nations Simulations. Over the course of a year, Directors form their team of Assistants and bring their committee to life, from the Topic Synopsis to the days of chairing with their assistants. Directors maintain close communication with our Conference Board and create the pillars of our conference for students to showcase growth in their problem-solving and speaking skills. Crisis Directors, in particular, organize an ongoing crisis in their committees, and create an engaging and continuously changing experience for students in Specials Committees.
Assistant Directors are the backbone of our program and are vital to the continued success of MUN at UCI. ADs work alongside our Directors in developing and refining topics, and on the day of the conference will chair alongside their Director(s), helping to take notes, score speeches, and moderate debate. ADs will be expected to attend meetings during the winter quarter to learn about MUN at UCI procedure and will be writing an Update Paper to their Director’s Topic Synopsis, which will be posted on the MUN at UCI website for delegates to use for their research.
Crisis Staff is a section of our team delegated to our Specials committees. The flexible, in-time, and ever-changing aspects of our Specials Committees require knowledgeable and quick-thinking Crisis Staffers to create new points in Crisis Arcs, respond to the actions of members of each committee, and carry out transitions between resolutions and incoming crises. The Crisis Staffers are meant for those who hope to use their knowledge to advance committees and create an engaging experience for Specials Committees at UCIMUN.
Our Administrative Team is integral in ensuring that the conference runs smoothly. Responsible for the organizational aspect of our conference, the Administrative Team works behind the scenes during the conference and assists with troubleshooting, providing supplies to committees, printing committee awards and aiding the chairs whenever necessary. The administrative team is perfect for those who are interested in helping out MUN at UCI but cannot fully invest the time into becoming an AD, or those who are simply curious about Model UN and want to see how it is run.
Updated 4 February 2026
MUNUCI XXXIII 