Heather Knight, creator of Marilyn Monrobot Labs, is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. Heather's work also includes: robotics and instrumentation at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, interactive installations with Syyn Labs, field applications and sensor design at Aldebaran Robotics, and she is an alumnus from the Personal Robots Group at the MIT, where she earned her bachelor and masters degrees. Her installations have been displayed in New York, Florence, Texas, Los Angeles, YouTube, Boston and Paris.
Paul Hoffman is a journalist and biographer whose work explores the relationship between genius, madness, obsession, and creativity. But there are 168 hours in every week, and so he is also the Editorial Chairman of the video interview site Big Think. The recipient of the first National Magazine Award for feature writing, Hoffman is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the president and publisher of Encyclopaedia Britannica and the long-time editor in chief of Discover, the science magazine. He is a "brain-storming" expert who has worked with magazine publishers, Internet startups, advertising agencies, and scientific organizations. He has advised NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a Moth storyteller and a popular speaker at corporate and professional gatherings. Hoffman is an award winning author of eleven books, including the international bestseller The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, and most recently a memoir, King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game.
Dr. Jennifer Listman is an anthropological geneticist whose research focuses on extrapolating human evolutionary and migratory history
from genetic data of present-day populations. Jennifer received her BA in biology from the University of Pennsylvania. After being a full time stay-at-home mom with her four children she returned to school for her PhD in physical anthropology from New York University. While in graduate school,
Jennifer was awarded grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Currently she is a postdoctoral associate in the Yale University School of Medicine department of psychiatry. As part of her interdisciplinary
approach to the search for genetic components of disease Jennifer’s ongoing research projects include inferring the demographic histories of South East Asian populations, the evolutionary history of genes involved in alcohol metabolism and substance abuse, and relationships between and origins of world-wide Jewish populations. She actively publishes in peer-reviewed journals and recently was invited to be an Expert for BrainGig, a science consulting firm. Her field work has taken her repeatedly to Northern Thailand where she has, so far, collected over 500 saliva samples as a human DNA source.
Dan Menelly teaches science at the United Nations School in New York, and was recently appointed an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator. During this Fellowship he will be working with the National Science Foundation in the Office of Cyberinfrastructure. He is also involved in a number of science-related projects that strengthen and diversify his science teaching. Dan Menelly's recent project work has involved concept development for science media in documentary, television advertising and web formats. He is the creator of "Video Science", a growing collection of 70+ videos of science experiment demonstrations, lab techniques, book reviews and teaching tools, produced by Science House and available on the internet, as well as on the iPhone and iPad. In summer, Dan lectures on natural history and science that is geographically specific to different regions, normally Northern and Western European cities. Dan is interested in all forms of science media and commentary, and is lucky to be located in New York City, where much of it is created.
Dr. Rob Carlson is a Principal at Biodesic, an engineering, consulting, and design firm in Seattle. At the broadest level, Rob is interested in the future role of biology as a human technology. He has worked to develop new biological technologies in both academic and commercial environments, focusing on molecular measurement and microfluidic systems. Carlson is the author of the book Biology is Technology: The Promise, Peril, and New Business of Engineering Life, published in 2010 by Harvard University Press. Rob earned a doctorate in Physics from Princeton University in 1997.
From 2002 to 2007, Dr. Carlson was a Senior Scientist in the Electrical Engineering department at the University of Washington. From 2003 to 2008, he provided technology analysis and strategic consulting as a Senior Associate at Bio-Economic Research Associates (Bio-era), writing extensively on pandemic preparedness, synthetic vaccines, biofuels, and biological technologies, and presenting briefings on these subjects to executives and government officials around the world. From 1997 to 2002 he was a Research Fellow at The Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, CA. Links to additional articles and a weblog can be found at www.synthesis.cc.
Katrina is a former practicing neurosurgeon, a writer and communicator, and an entrepreneur. Katrina currently focuses on medical innovation as an entrepreneur. She is a founder and the Chief Medical Officer of HealthPrize Technologies. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Katrina was in private practice at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, and on the clinical faculty at Yale University School of Medicine. In addition to her numerous scientific publications, Katrina is the author of Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside, published by Random House, which has been positively reviewed by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and O Magazine. She enjoys conveying medical concepts to the public and has appeared on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC as a commentator on a variety of medical issues. She is also an inventor of a brain stimulation device designed to enhance recovery after stroke.
Katrina did her undergraduate studies at Cornell University, with a major in cultural anthropology. She attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University, and did her neurosurgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh, one the largest neurosurgery centers in the country, where she was the first woman ever accepted to the program. Katrina also completed a specialty fellowship in epilepsy surgery at Yale University.
As a Futurist/Synthesist, Mr. Dambrot identifies and tracks convergent and emergent trends in artificial intelligence, robotics, neuroscience, nanotechnology, biotechnology, synthetic biology, quantum computing, alternative energy, socioeconomics, and other areas; as a Technology Strategist, he helps public and private sector organizations successfully navigate accelerating technological change by providing IP Analysis, Technology Assessment, and R&D Forecasting services.
Mr. Dambrot has been published in Nature, Science, New Scientist, Scientific American, IEEE Spectrum, Electronics, Electronic Engineering Times, Photonics Spectra, Integrated Systems Design, PC/AI, Managing Automation, Economist, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Japan Times, 01 Informatique, and Asian Venture Capital Journal. He writes about technology and sociogeny at his blog, Critical Thought, and speaks regularly on a wide range of future-focused topics.
Varghese has a BS and MS in Physics from the University of Madras in Madras, India and a PhD in Physics from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Madras, India. Post doctoral research positions included work as a Research Associate at the University of Rochester, Syracuse University, and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. His work included research in high energy physics, string theory, QCD, Quantum Gravity, condensed matter physics and numerical methods and Monte Carlo simulations applied to the study of fluctuating membranes. Varghese has traveled widely and interacted with collaborators and audiences in numerous institutions across the world, giving numerous lectures and presentations across the globe. Following his academic career, Varghese spent twelve years at the investment bank UBS, most recently as Executive Director in charge of the Global Fixed Income Flow Risk Platform. Varghese is deeply interested in the details of software development and programming and communicating these ideas to the developer community, and has worked as a book reviewer for many publications on programming for Prentice Hall.
Lawrence is a former astrophysicist with a PhD from Harvard University, over 40 publications and 900 citations mostly in the field of star formation and supersonic flows. After a three year stint in research at Berkeley he was drawn into the booming high tech field in nearby Silicon Valley. There he worked for the past thirteen years as a chip designer in roles as manager, architect and software specialist in both large companies and small start ups.
Founder and CTO of NetLib, Neil Weicher has over twenty five years experience as a software developer and entrepreneur. He has developed and marketed a number of innovative and award winning software products focusing on database security, especially NetLib® Encryptionizer®. Their products are in use in thousands of companies and government agencies world-wide. Mr. Weicher holds an MS degree in Computer Science from Columbia University
Paramendra is a New York tech entrepreneur and Founder of JyotiConnect, which aims to provide low cost Internet access in third world nations. He exploded onto the social media when his digital democracy organization Hamro Nepal (whose flagship was his blog) played a key role in the April Revolution 2006 and Madhesi Movement 2007 in Nepal. He chronicles the New York tech scene in his Netizen blog. One of the 100 most followed Twitterers in NYC, Paramendra has more than 45,000 followers. He is a member of the board of advisers of PayCheckr and a co-founder of BlueTree.net. He has a BA from Berea College.
Rob is Co-Founder and VP R&D of HandHold Adaptive. Rob developed, managed, and supported the licensing of a $700 million-valued portfolio of gaming patents while at Walker Digital Gaming from 2003 through 2008. He is named as an inventor on nearly 200 pending and issued U.S. patents, and also worked as Director of Product Development at Yappr.com, an online language-learning Web site with more than 7 million users. Rob has a background in journalism, including a stint as a copy editor for The Connecticut Post. He is currently an M.B.A. candidate at NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Nancy is currently the President of Green Planet Group LLC, a global organization leading efforts to harness technology solutions in clean water, solar, wind, clean energy and sustainability. Nancy was the General Manager of Walker Digital Lottery and also served as the Senior Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Corporate Communications for the New York Daily News, New York City’s largest daily newspaper. Nancy has nearly 25 years of government experience, ranging from running political campaigns to international consulting with countries transitioning to democracy. She was the Director of the New York Lottery where she managed and operated a $6 billion a year business and oversaw the opening of six Video Gaming facilities through out New York. Nancy is a graduate of St.Bonaventure University.
Chris placed 5th at the 2009 US Memory Championships in New York and has conducted Memory Workshops for Fortune 500 companies such as Xerox and General Electric. Chris is a CFA and currently works at FactSet as a Senior Software Engineer in their Norwalk offices. He studied comedy at the American Comedy Institute and performs standup comedy at Caroline's, Stand-up New York, and The Duplex. He is also a member of the improv comedy team World Class Indifference.
Chris received a BA in Computer Science from Cornell, graduating in 2001 with distinction in all subjects. Continuing at Cornell he received his Masters of Engineering in Computer Science in 2002. He was named a Cornell Tradition Fellow for academic excellence and service to the community. Chris was awarded the American Chemical Society Award For Excellence and received the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal For Math And Science.
Dan is the founder and CEO of HandHold Adaptive, whose mission is to provide innovative technologies that make life easier for disabled persons and their caregivers. He is a founding inventor behind priceline.com, and is the primary inventor on patents supporting VendMore Systems, LLC, a Connecticut company with a distribution network of several hundred “smart” vending machines branded under the name “QuickStore24”. He is named as an inventor on more than 300 pending and issued U.S. patents. Dan has worked for over twelve years with Walker Digital, the R&D and new business incubator which launched priceline.com. At Walker Digital, Dan has served as the Director of Intellectual Property, the VP of Research & Development, the Assistant General Manager, and most recently as the General Counsel. Dan has also spent time at a prominent Connecticut law firm, focusing on a wide range of business law issues. Dan holds a J.D. from the Quinnipiac University School of Law, and is a member of the Connecticut and Federal bars.
Patrick is a contributing editor for Wired Magazine. He also writes for Popular Science, Scientific American, Dwell, New York Magazine, and Salon. Instead of getting a PhD, he performed standup comedy and read voraciously, enabling him to bluff his way into positions as a robot programmer for the Federal Reserve, an astrophysics lecturer at the American Museum of Natural History, and a science ambassador for NASA. Five experiments he designed have flown on the Space Shuttle, something he can't believe either. His upcoming book is The Science of Battlestar Galactica.