Field notes, class of 2030

Ravi
Khanna

PPE at USC. Second-degree black belt. Varsity golfer since sixth grade. Somewhere between a Yale AI lab and a private debt trading floor, he's still the guy who'll teach your kid brother how to break a board.

Los Angeles, CA Fairfield, CT 4.077 GPA Founder, Break Thru Cancer
Portrait of Ravi Khanna
2°
Black belt, Tang Soo Do
Est. 2018, Break Thru Cancer
The throughline

Four rooms, one person

"Orchestrated a board-breaking event for 500 people, then went and labeled a thousand training images for a computer vision model."

Most people pick a lane. Ravi picked a golf course, a dojo, a research lab, and a trading floor, and got serious about all four at once. He's spent eight years working toward a second-degree black belt while carrying a varsity golf bag every fall, then turned around and spent a year in a Yale computer vision lab, labeling foreground-extraction data by hand for a paper headed to CVPR.

The pattern underneath it: whatever room he's in, he ends up teaching in it. He taught karate to thirty aspiring black belts before he could drive. He trains new hires at Golf Galaxy on POS systems between customers. He co-leads a two-hundred-student club built entirely around including peers with learning differences. Different rooms, same instinct.

$14,000+
raised for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia through Break Thru Cancer, the karate fundraiser he founded at 14
500+
participants at his annual board-breaking event for cancer patients
200+
students in the Woofgang chapter he co-leads
400+
images hand-labeled for a CVPR-bound AI research paper
$124k
student-managed endowment, one of 26 analysts on the fund
30
black belt students mentored in Tang Soo Do
Where he's been

The working record

Yale University, Applied Learning and Optimization Lab April 2025 — Present
Research Contributor
New Haven, CT
  • Contributed to research on AI foreground extraction models, co-authoring a paper submitted to CVPR 2026
  • Worked alongside faculty and graduate researchers to develop, test, and refine model methodology
  • Labeled and processed 400+ images using command-line tools to prepare training data
Audax Private Debt May 2026
Credit Extern
New York, NY
  • Selected for a two-day program covering live private debt deal structures and underwriting fundamentals
  • Completed two practice case studies, presenting credit analysis and deal recommendations to senior management
  • Reviewed past deals with senior management to understand real-world underwriting decisions
Golf Galaxy May — Aug. 2026
Sales Associate
Milford, CT
  • Trained new hires on store procedures, POS systems, and customer service standards
  • Assisted an average of 50+ customers per shift across clubs, bags, apparel, and accessories
Break Thru Cancer Nov. 2018 — Nov. 2023
Founder & Certified Second-Degree Black Belt Instructor
Radnor, PA
  • Orchestrated an annual board-breaking event with 500+ participants in honor of cancer patients
  • Raised $14,000+ for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia through sponsorships and community outreach
  • Taught karate while mentoring 30 aspiring black belts in Tang Soo Do
Leadership & involvement

What he shows up for

Team Woofgang and Co

Chapter Co-President

Led a 200+ student club chapter built around inclusion and interactive play, pairing 50+ private school students with peers with learning impairments. Recognized on local news as a Fairfield County Leader for the work.

Fairfield, CT · Aug. 2025 — Aug. 2026

Fairfield Prep Investors

Industrial Sector Lead

One of 26 students on a student-managed fund overseeing a $124k school endowment. Led 4-5 industrials pitches to the full membership, with the majority approved for capital allocation.

Fairfield, CT · Oct. 2026 — May 2026

Campus Ministry & Cardinal Key

Leadership Team

Serves on the leadership teams for Fairfield Prep's Campus Ministry and its honor society, alongside varsity golf and Hurricane Junior Golf since 2020.

Fairfield Prep · 2022 — 2026
Education

Two schools, one standard

University of Southern California
B.S., Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesMay 2030
Fairfield College Preparatory School
Weighted GPA 4.077 / 4.0
Fairfield, CTAug. 2022 — May 2026
Coursework & activities
AP PhysicsAP GovernmentAP StatisticsBusiness & EntrepreneurshipClub WoofgangCardinal Key
Off duty

The rest of the mixtape

Golf
DJing
Country music
Running
World religions
Traveling
Good food
Data & research