USMSC Leadership

2024-2025 Executive Board

Vainavi Gambhir, President

Vainavi Gambhir is an undergraduate student and Banneker/Key scholar at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is an advocate for youth holistic health and has pursued this through a diverse range of experiences including Ayurveda therapy, yoga, developing educational materials for the National Cancer Institute, oncology research with Fulbright Canada, and health policy as a U.S Senate intern.

Vainavi's journey with the University System of Maryland began as both a 2022 Student Regent Finalist and Director of Student Affairs for the USMSC, later elected as the Vice President for Undergraduate Affairs. During her time as Vice President, she helped establish initiatives such as the USM Board of Regents Student Excellence Awards and most recently, as President, launched the inaugural USM Student Speaker Forum to empower innovative student perspectives across the system.

Vainavi is excited and grateful to serve a second term as the President for the USMSC. She looks forward to collaborating with both student representatives and system administrators, keeping the needs of over 165,000 students at the forefront.

Arsalan Siddiqui, Vice President of Graduate Affairs

Arsalan Siddiqui is a graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park. With a strong passion for research and innovation, Arsalan was selected for the First-Year-Innovation and Research Experience program where he worked on cutting-edge research alongside UMD's research faculty. Specifically, his research lab dealt with using synthetic DNA and RNA to serve as aptamers and bind to biomarkers in cancer cells that would help with an early cancer diagnosis.

Arsalan also has experience working at the National Institute of Health where he is currently interning as fellow in the Pediatric Oncology Branch. Arsalan is also the Chair of his city's Youth Advisory Council where he was appointed by the City Council to advise them on issues impacting youth and families such as: child human trafficking, crime prevention among youth, and youth engagement. There, he was successfully able to lower the municipal voting age from 18 to 16. He also worked in the Maryland General Assembly for the House Majority Leader, Delegate Keith Haynes, as a legislative assistant and has worked on several pieces of legislation dealing from the Maryland budget to juvenile justice reform.

In his previous role at the USMSC, Arsalan served as the Co-Director of Government Relations, advocating for over 170,000 students to the Maryland General Assembly and to the Executive Branch of Maryland. He helped coordinate a continuous System-wide advocacy campaign focusing on higher education funding, renewable energy policy, civic engagement, and affordability. Arsalan is honored and excited to serve as the Vice President of Undergraduate Affairs for the USMSC. He is focused on making sure that issues of tuition affordability, campus hunger, and mental health services are raised and that needs and concerns of the USMSC students are brought to the table.

Meghna Chandrasekaran, Vice President of Undergraduate Affairs

Meghna Chandrasekaran is an undergraduate student and a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is currently serving as President of the UMBC Student Government after serving as the Executive Vice President, Senator, and Governmental Affairs Committee Representative. She also was an intern and affiliate to both the UMBC Center for Democracy and Civic Life and Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion and Belonging (i3B).

Meghna also has a specific interest in higher education public policy and grew that passion while an intern for Delegate Gabriel Acevero in the Maryland General Assembly. In her previous role at USMSC, Meghna was the Director of Governmental Affairs for the past two years where she advocated for all the students in the USM on a multitude of bills including those related to religious accommodations, collective bargaining, and extending SNAP benefits for college students.

Meghna is excited to serve as the Vice President of Undergraduate Affairs and is focused on food and housing insecurity issues for students for this upcoming year.