Speaker and Panelist Bios

Charles VestCharles M. Vest

Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering and vice chair of the National Research Council, the principal operating arm of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. He is also President Emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a past and present member of many government task forces and advisory committees that have helped shape national and international policies on research, science, education, and national security.

Read more...

Ilesanmi AdesidaIlesanmi Adesida

Ilesanmi Adesida is the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1979. He has previously worked at Cornell University and at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria. He has been at the University of Illinois since 1987 where he is currently the Donald Biggar Willet Professor of Engineering, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and also the Director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology. He has chaired many international conferences and he is a Fellow of many national and international societies. He is a past President of the IEEE Electron Device Society. He was a Co-Founder of Xindium Technologies and has consulted for and served on advisory boards of many companies. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

A. Paul Alivisatos

A. Paul Alivisatos

Paul Alivisatos was appointed interim director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory by UC President Mark G. Yudof on January 21, 2009. Alivisatos replaced former laboratory Director Steve Chu, who was sworn in as U.S. Energy Secretary. Prior to becoming interim director, Alivisatos was the deputy director of Berkeley Lab, serving as the lab’s chief research officer, overseeing the discretionary research budget, key research initiatives and technology transfer functions. In addition, he assisted the director in developing the overall strategic direction and institutional planning for the laboratory. Alivisatos is a leader of Berkeley Lab’s Helios solar research initiative, where he is spearheading ground-breaking research on artificial photosynthesis and photovoltaic technology through the creation of nano-inspired devices. Alivisatos has published widely and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, the Eni Italgas Prize for Energy and Environment, the Rank Prize for Optoelectronics Award, the Wilson Prize, the Coblentz Award for Advances in Molecular Spectroscopy, and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Awards for Sustained Outstanding Research in Materials Chemistry and Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment in Materials Chemistry. He has held fellowships with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Read more ...

Annie AntonAnnie Antón

Annie I. Antón is a professor of computer science in the College of Engineering at the North Carolina State University.  She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science in June of 1997, with a minor in Management and Public Policy, from the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She received a BS in Information and Computer Science with a minor in Technical and Business Communication in 1990 and an MS in Information and Computer Science in 1992 (also from Georgia Tech).  Dr. Antón joined the computer science department at NC State in 1998. An NSF CAREER Award winner (2000) and a CRA Digital Government Fellow (2002), Annie served on the 2004-2005 IDA/DARPA Defense Science Study Group, and received the CSO (Chief Security Officer) Magazine “Woman of Influence in the Public Sector” award at the 2005 Executive Women’s Forum. She is currently the cognitive issues area editor for the Requirements Engineering Journal and a member of the International Board of Referees for Computers & Security. Antón has testified before congress and was appointed by Secretary Michael Chertoff to serve on the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee in 2006.  Dr. Antón is director of ThePrivacyPlace.Org (http://theprivacyplace.org). 

Anna BarkerAnna Barker

Anna D. Barker, Ph.D., serves as the Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).  In this role she plans and coordinates the implementation of integrative, multi-disciplinary and multi-sector programs to accelerate the development and translation of new knowledge and advanced technologies into effective interventions to prevent, detect and treat cancer.  Under her leadership, the NCI has recently launched programs in bioinformatics and nanotechnology and is currently developing initiatives in proteomics and biospecimens to enable cancer research.   Dr. Barker completed her Ph.D. at the Ohio State University, where she trained in immunology and microbiology.  Her research interests include experimental therapeutics, tumor immunology, and free-radical biochemistry in cancer etiology, prevention and treatment.

Read more...

Tom ByersTom Byers

Tom Byers is a professor at Stanford University, where he focuses on technology entrepreneurship education. He is founder and co-director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), which serves as the entrepreneurship center for the engineering school. STVP includes the Mayfield Fellows work/study program, Entrepreneurship Corner website of video clips and podcasts, and its global Roundtable on Entrepreneurship Education (REE) conferences. He is co-author of a popular textbook called Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise published by McGraw-Hill. He was given the Gordon Prize from the National Academy of Engineering and received Stanford’s highest honor for excellence in teaching (Gores Award). He currently serves on the governing boards of BioFuelBox, Flywheel Ventures, and MyThings. Tom was executive vice president and general manager of Symantec during its formation.

Joe EyermanJoe Eyerman

Joe Eyerman is the co-director of the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions and a senior research methodologist and the director of RTI’s Health Security Program. Dr. Eyerman has more than 17 years of professional experience statistically modeling social behavior and managing data collection and analysis projects. His substantive interest is in the formal and statistical modeling of decision processes related to political behavior, terrorism, and radicalization. His recent methodological work has focused on the relationship between the data collection process and error in population estimates on a variety of bioterrorism, public health, and surveillance studies. Dr. Eyerman has conducted methodological studies to investigate ways to improve data quality and studies of survey nonresponse. He is an experienced project manager, survey methodologist, and data analyst. 

Read more...

Moira Gunn

Moira Gunn

Moira Gunn is host of Tech Nation and BioTech Nation, which air in such venues as National Public Radio's SIRIUS Satellite Radio channels NPR Now and NPR Talk, and internationally to 133 countries via American Forces Radio International. Produced at the studios of KQED in San Francisco, the programming can also be heard on over 200 domestic public stations and through podcasts via iTunes and other Internet distribution venues.

Read more... 

 

Peter HartPeter D. Hart

Peter D. Hart is one of the leading analysts of public opinion in the United States. Since 1971, he has been Chairman of Peter D. Hart Research Associates.As an established leader in survey research, Mr. Hart, along with the late Robert Teeter, and currently with Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, have been the pollsters for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal since 1989. In the political realm, Mr. Hart has represented more than 40 U.S. senators and 30 governors, ranging from Hubert Humphrey and Lloyd Bentsen, to Jay Rockefeller and Bob Graham. Additional focuses on public policy and cultural issues have included work for such clients as the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Kennedy Center. In the international realm, Hart Research has undertaken studies in South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The firm also has conducted strategic planning projects for such corporate clients as Coca-Cola, IBM, Fannie Mae, AT&T, and Tiffany & Co. Mr. Hart appears frequently on the major television programs that discuss public policy issues, including Meet the Press, The Today Show, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. For the past 26 years, he has been a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. He has taught public opinion and public policy at Duke University, the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and currently at UC Berkeley. Mr. Hart holds a Bachelor's degree from Colby College.

Read more...

Jeff HawkinsJeff Hawkins

Jeff Hawkins is the founder of Palm Computing and the inventor of the Palm Pilot. He is also the founder of Handspring and the inventor of the Treo. He has since turned to work on neuroscience full-time, founded the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience in 2002, and published On Intelligence describing his memory-prediction framework theory of the brain. In 2003 he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering "for the creation of the hand-held computing paradigm and the creation of the first commercially successful example of a hand-held computing device." In March, 2005, Jeff Hawkins, together with Donna Dubinsky and Dileep George founded Numenta, Inc. to further develop the pattern recognition software they call Hierarchical Temporal Memory. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. 

Read more...

Bill HawkinsWilliam Hawkins

William A. Hawkins is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Medtronic, Inc. He became Chairman of the Board in August 2008.  Hawkins was named President and Chief Operating Officer in May 2004 after joining Medtronic as Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic's Vascular business in January 2002. Hawkins received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and biomedical engineering from Duke University in 1976 where he also conducted medical research in pathology. He received a Master of Business Administration Degree from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, in 1982. Hawkins is a member of the Board of Visitors of the Engineering School of Duke University and the Guthrie Theatre Board.

Read more...

Emil JacobsF. Emil Jacobs

Emil Jacobs is the Vice President of Research and Development at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. Emil is a member of the Chemical Engineering Advisory Council at Princeton, the Advisory Board of the College of Chemistry at University of California (Berkeley), the Board of Trustees at Liberty Science Center, the Industrial Research Institute, and the Research and Development Council of New Jersey.  He is also a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineering. He has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.
 

Leah JamiesonLeah Jamieson

Leah H. Jamieson is John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue University, Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and holds a courtesy appointment in Purdue’s Department of Engineering Education.  She served as 2007 president and CEO of the IEEE.  She is co-founder and past director of the EPICS – Engineering Projects in Community Service – Program. Jamieson has been recognized for her achievements in research, service, and education.  Her research has focused on speech analysis and recognition and the design and analysis of parallel processing algorithms for signal processing applications.  She was elected a Fellow of the IEEE for her research on parallel processing algorithms and was elected to the U. S. National Academy of Engineering “for innovations in integrating engineering education and community service.” Jamieson has an S.B. in mathematics from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University.
 

Paul KedroskyPaul Kedrosky

Paul Kedrosky is a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In this capacity, he uses his experience as a technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist and academic to explore new programming opportunities for Kauffman in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation, and capital markets. Most recently, Kedrosky has been the Executive Director of the William J. von Liebig Center in San Diego, California. Using an innovative seed capital program, the Center catalyzes the commercialization of technologies from the internationally ranked University of California, San Diego. He is a venture partner with Ventures West, Canada's largest institutional venture capital firm, where his interests include consumer technologies, media, semiconductors and life sciences. He is currently on the board of Marqui Corporation, a marketing automation software firm, as well as Dabble DB, a hosted data management company. Kedrosky is also a sought-after speaker, an analyst for CNBC television, a columnist for TheStreet/RealMoney, and the author of one of the most popular business blogs. He is frequently quoted in major publications around the world.

Read more...

Robert LangerRobert Langer

Robert S. Langer is one of 13 Institute Professors (the highest honor awarded to a faculty member) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (MIT). Dr. Langer has written approximately 1,000 articles. He also has more than 600 issued or pending patents worldwide. Dr. Langer’s patents have been licensed or sublicensed to over 200 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies. Dr. Langer has received over 160 major awards including the 2006 United States National Medal of Science; the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers and the 2008 Millennium Prize, the world’s largest technology prize.

Read more...

Trevor  LoyTrevor Loy

Trevoy Trevor founded Flywheel Ventures and has led its growth firm to a full-time staff of 7 people and nearly $40 million under management.  He oversees firm strategy, team development and external relationships and leads Flywheel investments in Comet Solutions, Filtrbox, Micromanipulator, Tuscany Design Automation, SAMBA Holdings, and Aravo Solutions.  He previously led the firm’s investments in, and eventual exits from, Rdestiny and WorkingWild. Trevor holds a BS Electrical Engineering, MS Electrical Engineering, and MS Management Science & Engineering, all from Stanford University.  He also studied at the Stanford Center for Technology & Innovation in Kyoto, Japan and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology in China.

Read more...

Kevan  MartinKevan Martin

Kevan A.C. Martin has been Full Professor of System Neurophysiology and Director of the Institute of Neuroinformatics, which was founded in 1995 by the ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. His research explores the basic microcircuits of the neocortex and their generic functions through a synthesis of experimental and theoretical work. This has led him (jointly with Prof. Rodney J. Douglas) to develop a unified model of the structure and operation of the basic cortical microcircuit. Kevan Martin was awarded the first Wellcome Prize of the Physiological Society in 1986 for outstanding contributions to physiology by a young physiologist. In 1989 he became an Adjunct Professor of the University of Alabama, Birmingham. He is a Foreign Associate of the Royal Society, South Africa and was Henry Head Research Fellow of the Royal Society, London, from 1990-1995.

Read more...

Louis Martin-Vega

Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega is the Dean of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. A registered professional engineer in Florida and Puerto Rico, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), a Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and a member of INFORMS, ASEE, Tau Beta Phi, Alpha Pi Mu and Sigma Xi. He received the Albert Holzman Distinguished Educator Award from IIE in May 1999. He holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, an M.S. in operations research from New York University and M.E. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida. His efforts in college education and the promotion of diversity were nationally recognized in 2000 through his receipt of the HENACC-Hispanic Engineering National Education Achievement Award. He was inducted into the Pan American Academy of Engineering in 2002 and served as President of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) in 2007-08. He also received the 2007 National Hispanic Scientist of the Year Award from the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa, Florida, and in that same year was recognized by Hispanic Business magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S. The North Carolina Society of Engineers honored him as the Outstanding Engineer in North Carolina for 2008.

Richard K. Miller

Richard K. Miller

Richard Miller was appointed president and first employee of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering on February 1, 1999, where he also holds an appointment as professor of mechanical engineering. Before joining Olin College, he served as dean of engineering at the University of Iowa from 1992-99. He spent the previous 17 years on the engineering faculties at the University of Southern California (where he held the position of associate dean for Academic Affairs) and the University of California, Santa Barbara. With research interests in earthquake engineering and aerospace structural design, he has served as a consultant to several aerospace companies and directed research programs funded by NSF, NASA, and industry. Miller is well published in the field of applied mechanics, and has won five awards for teaching excellence. He is a member of the governance boards for two independent colleges and one engineering corporation, and serves on several advisory boards for non-profit organizations and universities. He serves as a consultant to the World Bank in education, is a member of the Council on Competitiveness, and recently chaired the Association of Independent Technological Universities.  He earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of California, Davis in 1971, and is the recipient of the 2002 Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award from that institution. He received an S.M. in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1972, and a Ph.D. in applied mechanics from Caltech in 1976

Steve Nichols

Steve Nichols serves as a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas - Austin.  He also serves as the director of the Chair of Free Enterprise and the director of the Advanced Manufacturing Center in the Cockrell School of Engineering.  Nichols focuses on creating and nurturing a culture of technology innovation, creativity, and leadership at the University of Texas and the global community that the University serves. He organized the Roden Scholar (leadership) program, supported the start-up of the Engineering Entrepreneurship Society, and founded the Idea to Product®(I2P®) technology competition. He is a fellow of ASME and has received the Kauffman Outstanding Entrepreneur award, the Olympus Innovation award, the Fred Merryfield Design Award, and the Joe J. King Engineering Professional Achievement Award. Nichols received his Ph.D. in engineering in 1975 and his J.D. in 1983, both from the University of Texas - Austin.
 

Matthew O'Donnell

Matthew O'Donnell is the Frank and Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering and also a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington. His most recent research has explored new imaging modalities in biomedicine, including elasticity imaging, in vivo microscopy, optoacoustic arrays, optoacoustic contrast agents for molecular imaging and therapy, thermal strain imaging, and catheter based devices. O'Donnell received his B.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Notre Dame in 1972 and 1976.
 

Lincoln PratsonLincoln Pratson

Lincoln Pratson is an Associate Professor of Sedimentary Geology at the Nicholas School for the Earth and the Environment at Duke University. Dr. Pratson's research revolves around the role of sedimentary processes in shaping continental margins. Specific research interests include the dynamics of both current- and gravity-driven sediment transport, submarine canyon formation and seafloor evolution, the causes and consequences of submarine slope failure, and the interplay between marine sedimentation and tectonics.

Read more...

 

William ReesWilliam S. Rees, Jr.

Dr. William Rees is the former deputy under secretary of defense for Laboratories and Basic Sciences, DUSD(LABS). In this capacity, he was responsible for providing scientific leadership, management oversight, policy guidance and coordination of the more than $1.3 billion annual Basic Research (6.1) programs of the Military Services and Defense Agencies. In addition, he was responsible for DoD Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and workforce issues, grants policy, Defense Laboratories policy, and international S&T programs. Dr. Rees holds seven patents, has over 120 publications in archival journals, has edited one book, and has delivered invited lectures at more than 20 international meetings, over 75 universities, and over 200 other locations. Dr. Rees has been Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Chemistry of Electronic Materials (1999); Member, Defense Science Study Group (1998–2000); Member, Defense Science Board Task Force on “Roles and Missions in Homeland Security” (2003); Member, National Research Council (NRC) Scientific Review Panel on “EPA Homeland Research” (2003); Member, NRC Chemical Sciences Roundtable (2003–Present). His honors include Fellow, American Institute of Chemists (1998); Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry (1998); Outstanding Faculty Leadership Award for the Development of Graduate Research Students (Georgia Tech, 1998); and Outstanding Interdisciplinary Activity Award (Georgia Tech, 1997). 

Read more...

James RogersJames E. Rogers

Jim Rogers is chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy. Rogers has nearly 20 years of experience as a chief executive officer in the electric utility industry. He was named president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy following the merger of Duke Energy and Cinergy in April 2006. Before the merger, Rogers served as Cinergy’s chairman and chief executive officer. Prior to the formation of Cinergy, he joined PSI Energy in 1988 as the company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. Rogers has served as deputy general counsel for litigation and enforcement for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); executive vice president of interstate pipelines for the Enron Gas Pipeline Group; and as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Prior to those appointments, he served as assistant to the chief trial counsel at FERC; as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of Kentucky; and as assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where he acted as intervener on behalf of state consumers in gas, electric and telephone rate cases. He was also a reporter for the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader.

Read more...

Terrence SejnowskiTerrence Sejnowski

Terrence J. Sejnowski is a Professor and Laboratory Head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute. A pioneer in the field of computational neuroscience, Sejnowski is interested in the hippocampus, believed to play a major role in learning and memory; and the cerebral cortex, which holds our knowledge of the world and how to interact with it. In his lab, Sejnowski's team uses sophisticated electrical and chemical monitoring techniques to measure changes that occur in the connections among nerve cells in the hippocampus during a simple form of learning. They use the results of these studies to instruct large-scale computers to mimic how these nerve cells work. By studying how the resulting computer simulations can perform operations that resemble the activities of the hippocampus, Sejnowski hopes to gain new knowledge of how the human brain is capable of learning and storing memories. This knowledge ultimately may provide medical specialists with critical clues to combating Alzheimer's disease and other disorders that rob people of the critical ability to remember faces, names, places and events.

Read more...

Robert SocolowRobert H. Socolow

Robert H. Socolow is a professor at the Princeton Environmental Institute at Princeton University. His current research focuses on global carbon management, the hydrogen economy, and fossil-carbon sequestration. He is the co-principal investigator (with ecologist, Stephen Pacala) of Princeton University's new Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI), a $20-million dollar, ten-year (2001-2010) project, supported by BP and Ford. Under CMI (www.princeton.edu/~cmi/), Princeton is launching new, coordinated research in environmental science, energy technology, hydrology, and economics. In July 1997 Socolow co-chaired the Workshop on Fuels Decarbonization and Carbon Sequestration, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.  Other research interests include efficient use of energy, renewable energy, nuclear fission and fusion, the nitrogen cycle, advanced technologies for vehicles, and metals recycling.

Read more ...

Matt Tirrell

Matt Tirrell is the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California,  Santa Barbara. An eminent polymer scientist who has led the evolving field of soft materials, especially in adhesion and biomolecular materials, he has co-authored 270 papers and one book and has supervised 70 Ph.D. students. He received his undergraduate education in chemical engineering at Northwestern University and his Ph.D. in 1977 in polymer science from the University of Massachusetts. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He has received numerous other honors throughout his career, including Guggenheim and Sloan fellowships, a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the John H. Dillon Medal from the American Physical Society and the Allan Colburn Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
 

Phil WeilersteinPhil Weilerstein

Phil Weilerstein is the Executive Director of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). He began his career as an entrepreneur as a student at the University of Massachusetts. He and a team including his advisor, launched a start-up biotech company which ultimately went public. This experience, coupled with a lifelong passion for entrepreneurship, led to his work with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. Phil’s tenure at the NCIIA is marked by his skill for network-building and expert leverage of resources. He has a special talent for seeking out gifted educators and other important contributors and putting them to work for the betterment of invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship education in the U.S. and worldwide. As an entrepreneur in a not-for-profit organization, he has grown the NCIIA from a grassroots group of enthusiastic faculty to a nationally known and in-demand knowledge base and resource center. Phil also serves as the Chair of the Entrepreneurship Division of the American Society of Engineering Education.

Read more...

Summit TopicsSummit SpeakersSpeaker InterviewsSpeaker Topics

How can business, academia and government partner to build the manufacturing and engineering capabilities needed today and in the future?

How can research produced by universities better align with industry to address real world challenges?

How can research produced by universities better connect with industry to address real world challenges?

How do we make manufacturing a desired career?

How do we make manufacturing a desired career?

How do we make manufacturing a desired career?

How do we make manufacturing a desired career?

What are the critical skills needed by the U.S. workforce to tackle the Grand Challenges?

What are the critical skills needed by the U.S. workforce to tackle the Grand Challenges?

What are the critical skills needed by the U.S. workforce to tackle the Grand Challenges?

What is North Carolina's competitive edge?

What next steps should be taken at the conclusion of the Manufacturing for the Grand Challenges conference?

What next steps should be taken at the conclusion of the Manufacturing for the Grand Challenges conference?

What next steps should be taken at the conclusion of the Manufacturing for the Grand Challenges conference?

What type of manufacturing can and should be located in the United States?

What type of manufacturing can and should be located in the United States?