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The Honorable France A. Córdova—the astrophysicist whose transformative leadership in higher education, government, and public service distinguished her as a science administrator of the highest caliber—led the National Science Foundation (NSF) from March 31, 2014, when she was nominated to the post by President Barack Obama, until March 31, 2020. As the NSF’s fourteenth director, … Read more
Carolyn Bertozzi is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Chemical & Systems Biology and Radiology (by courtesy) at Stanford University, the Baker Family Director at Sarafan ChEM-H, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1988 … Read more
Joelle Pineau is a Professor and William Dawson Scholar at the School of Computer Science at McGill University, where she co-directs the Reasoning and Learning Lab. She is a core academic member of Mila and a Canada CIFAR AI chairholder. She is also a VP, AI research at Meta (previously Facebook), where she leads the … Read more
Thomas (Thom) Mason is the President and CEO of Triad National Security, LLC (Triad) and serves as the Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Most recently he was the Senior Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations at Battelle where he had responsibility for governance and strategy across the six National Laboratories that Battelle manages or … Read more
Victoria Kaspi is a Professor of Physics at McGill University, where she holds the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology, and the Distinguished James McGill Chair. She is the inaugural Director of the McGill Space Institute. She received a B.Sc. (Honours) in Physics from McGill in 1989, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Physics … Read more
Hugh Herr is creating bionic limbs that emulate the function of natural limbs. Time Magazine coined Dr. Herr the ‘Leader of the Bionic Age’ because of his revolutionary work in the emerging field of Biomechatronics – technology that marries human physiology with electromechanics. A double amputee himself, he is responsible for breakthrough advances in bionic … Read more
Bill Dally joined NVIDIA in January 2009 as chief scientist, after spending 12 years at Stanford University, where he was chairman of the computer science department. Dally and his Stanford team developed the system architecture, network architecture, signaling, routing and synchronization technology that is found in most large parallel computers today. Dally was previously at … Read more
Adam D’Angelo is the founder and CEO of Quora. Quora serves over 400 million monthly unique visitors from around the world with a library covering millions of topics. The company recently launched Poe, an AI chat platform. Prior to founding Quora in 2009, Adam served as CTO at Facebook. Adam holds a Bachelor’s degree in … Read more
Sarah Sclarsic is a Founding Partner at Voyager. She has been building and investing in transformative technology companies since 2009 and brings expertise in mobility, biotech, food and materials production, and carbon removal. Prior to Voyager, she co-founded car-sharing firm Getaround and served as the founding business director of Modern Meadow, the world’s first company … Read more
John is a Google Fellow currently working on fighting the climate crisis and applying AI tools to accelerate science. While at Google, he led the Colab notebook product and helped bring quantum computing to a point where it has surpassed classical computing on individual tasks. He was previously a Deputy Director of Microsoft Research, where … Read more
Nancy Haegel is director of the National Center for Photovoltaics. Prior to her current role, she was center director of the Materials Science Center in the Materials, Chemical, and Computational Science directorate at NREL. Before joining NREL in 2014, she was a distinguished professor of physics at the Naval Postgraduate School. Previously, she held faculty … Read more
Emily is a collaborative leader with expertise in community development, organizational operations, strategic planning, and stakeholder engagement. Her experience includes founding two successful nonprofits and a government agency focused on workforce housing, managing donor and stakeholder relations within the nonprofit and foundation environments, and building efficient systems and operations within organizations. With a Master’s in … Read more
I’m a leader and executive with varied interests and expertise in science, technology, business, and economic development. As a long time Livermore resident, I have a strong personal interest in building our local startup ecosystem for science-based startups in the Tri-Valley. I have learned a lot about the importance of community from building a local … Read more
Katie Marcel is CEO of Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group (ITV). She is a leader, innovator, connector and community builder who has impacted the quality of life in the Tri-Valley region for nearly 20 years as a non-profit director. She served as ITV’s Director of Brand Marketing from 2021 to 2023. Marcel was the longtime Managing … Read more
Cyrus Wadia (he/him) is CEO of Activate. Wadia was previously Director of Worldwide Product Sustainability at Amazon, Vice President of Sustainable Business & Innovation at Nike, and Assistant Director of Clean Energy and Materials R&D in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He was also a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, a Senior Program Officer … Read more
Stephen Pearse has been a groundbreaking technology leader and entrepreneur for 45 years. He is currently a member of the Hertz Foundation board of directors. He is a managing director at Yucatan Rock investments, and served as Chairman for these boards: Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (Appointed by DOE secretary, Vice Chair), Cyras (sold … Read more
Douglas Wickert is the Commander, 412th Test Wing, Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California. He leads a wing of nearly 8,000 personnel in the developmental test and evaluation of the B-21, B-1, B-2, F-35, F-22, F-16, T-7, C-17, C-5, KC-46, KC-135, KC-10, and other emerging technologies. Additionally, Brig Gen Wickert is the Installation Commander responsible … Read more
Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, renowned for his groundbreaking discovery of the p53 tumor suppressor protein, a critical molecule in cancer prevention. Dr. Levine earned his Bachelor of Arts in biology from Harpur College, SUNY, and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He … Read more
Joseph Prescott, Ph.D., is the Deputy Director of the Biosafety Level-4 Laboratory (BSL-4) at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany, where he leads the Comparative Immunology of Risk Group-4 Viruses Group. With over two decades of experience, Dr. Prescott is a leading expert in the study of the world’s most pathogenic viruses, including Ebola, … Read more
Dan Wattendorf is the Director of the Accelerator at the Gates Foundation and leads the Activator Unit, focused on exploring, testing, and creating new concepts and technologies and establishing private sector entities to advance these new solutions. Prior to joining the foundation in 2016, Dan was program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency … Read more
Christopher Park is a seasoned international security professional with expertise in biological and chemical weapons nonproliferation/arms control, dual-use issues, global health security, and multilateral negotiation. A career member of the Civil Service until 2025, Chris served on the staff of the National Security Council as Director for Global Health Security Governance, the Director of the … Read more
Sri Kosaraju is the global chair of investment banking at J.P. Morgan and former chief executive officer at Inscripta. He currently serves as audit chair and board member at 10x Genomics, supporting advancements in life science technology. He also sits on the board at Manus Bio, contributing to the acceleration of biologically produced alternatives. Previously … Read more
Michael Koeris is the Office Director, Biological Technologies Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Koeris joined DARPA as the director of the Biological Technologies Office in April 2024. His research and teaching focus on all aspects of chemistry, manufacturing, and control for microbiome medicines, as well as advanced cell and gene therapy approaches. Before … Read more
Gigi Kwik Gronvall is a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is an immunologist by training. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the Center’s ongoing efforts to track the development … Read more
Erica Goldman is the Director of Day One and Policy Entrepreneurship at the Federation of American Scientists. Erica has served in various roles spanning the boundaries between science and policy throughout her career. She has a diverse background that includes science writing, science policy, and academic research and her passions lie in making connections between … Read more
Yong-Bee Lim is Associate Director on the Global Risk team at the Federation of American Scientists. He is also a Visiting Scholar in the College of Global Futures at Arizona State University. Previously, he was the Deputy Director of both the Converging Risks Lab and the Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons at the … Read more
Harshi Mukundan is the chemical and biological technologies lead in the Office of National Homeland Security at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Harshi joined Berkeley lab to lead the chemical and biological technologies programs within the office for national and homeland security. She also is a senior scientist and chair of the biomedical sciences department, where … Read more
Norman Kahn is the President and Principal of Counter-Bio LLC, providing consulting services on national security issues with particular emphasis on weapons of mass destruction and biological weapons. His career at the Central Intelligence Agency spanned over 31 years, including multiple assignments in the Directorate of Intelligence (currently, the Directorate of Analysis) and Directorate of … Read more
Sam Weiss Evans is a Senior Policy Advisor for the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, where he leads the Commission’s work on biosecurity, biosafety, and responsible innovation. Prior to joining NSCEB, Sam was a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University, jointly with the Kennedy School of Government’s Program on Science, Technology & Society (STS), … Read more
Claire Qureshi is CEO, co-founder, and board member of Sentinel Bio, a philanthropic fund focused on biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, with a near-term emphasis on preventing risks at the intersection of emerging technology and biology. Prior to founding Sentinel, Claire served as a Senior Director at Novavax, where she co-led the company’s global strategic partnerships, … Read more
Dr. Sarah R. Carter is the Principal at Science Policy Consulting LLC. For more than 15 years, she has focused on advances in the tools and capabilities for engineering biology, biosecurity screening frameworks, and international norms for biosecurity. Her recent work, including projects with the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations … Read more
Prof. Mario Juric is the P.I. of UW’s contribution to the construction of the Rubin Observatory, Senior Fellow at UW’s eScience Institute, and the director of UW’s Institute for Data-intensive Astrophysics and Cosmology (DiRAC). Once fully operational in 2026, the Rubin Observatory will deliver the largest sky survey in the history of mankind, answering questions … Read more
Andy Weber is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks. He has dedicated his professional life to countering nuclear, chemical, and biological threats and to strengthening global health security. His three decades of U.S. government service included five-and-a-half years as President Obama’s Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. … Read more
Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Cameron is a Professor of the Practice and Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. In addition to her role with the Pandemic Center, Beth is a non-resident senior advisor to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Global Health Policy Center, a life … Read more
Katie Sullivan is the Partnerships Program Manager at the Hertz Foundation. Katie is responsible for managing programs that support the Hertz Foundation’s current and future strategic partnerships. By developing frameworks, tools, and systems, she helps to amplify the Foundation’s capacity for collaboration, creating new opportunities and programmatic offerings for its community of over 1,200 Hertz … Read more
Matthew Caren develops computational systems to understand, enable and augment human expression. With a focus on sound and natural language, his research straddles generative AI, cognitive science and digital signal processing. Caren currently researches computational models of how people use their voices to communicate sound at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab and … Read more
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