Ms. Katlyn Grasso, Keynote Speaker Ms. Grasso is the founder and CEO of GenHERation. In her role as CEO, she has created the GenHERation Summer Leadership Series, developed original GenHERation webisodes, and has grown the GenHERation community to reach more than 36,000 girls. She is a recent graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she received a B.S. in Economics with concentrations in finance and strategic globalization. She is one of the inaugural recipients of the President’s Engagement Prize created by Dr. Amy Gutmann at the University of Pennsylvania. This award provides graduating seniors with $150,000 to develop innovative projects that have the potential to change the world. Ms. Grasso is a Seventeen Power Girl and was also named to the magazine’s list of “Real Girls Doing Amazing Things.” She was selected to participate in the 2015 Millennial Trains Project, a crosscountry trip for 25 social innovators from around the world sponsored by NBCUniversal. During the journey, she was named one of the “5 Innovators to Look Out for on the 2015 Millennial Trains Project” by Innovators Peak. After the trip, she was awarded a 2015 Impact Grant from NBCUniversal to produce webisodes of the GenHERation Summer Leadership Series. Ms. Grasso has founded two nonprofit organizations and the dance exercise program Tap for Tots. In her role as Managing Practice Leader, she helped the Wharton Small Business Development Center team generate $30 million in new revenue and investments for their clients. Ms. Grasso also serves on the Advisory Board for the Center of the Advancement of Girls at the Agnes Irwin School. Her work has been featured in national media outlets, including Forbes, The Huffington Post, Yahoo Travel, Wharton Magazine, CBS Radio, and SiriusXM Radio. Originally from Hamburg, New York, Ms. Grasso is now a bicoastal entrepreneur spending her time between New York City, Philadelphia, and California.
The Perfect Pitch: How to Sell Yourself in Any Situation The most important part of being a successful entrepreneur is learning how to sell yourself. This workshop will teach you how to present your best self in any situation, whether you are running for student government or starting a business. Participants will leave this session with actionable advice they can apply to their daily lives.
Dr. G. David Adamson Geoffrey David Adamson, MD, FRCSC, FACOG, FACS is a reproductive endocrinologist, surgeon, and Medical Director of Palo Alto Medical Foundation Fertility Physicians of Northern California. He is Clinical Professor, ACF at Stanford University School of Medicine and Associate Clinical Professor at University of California San Francisco. He is Past President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, the American Association of Gynecological Laparoscopists, the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society, the Society of Reproductive Surgeons, and several other major gynecological societies. He is also Chair of the Committee on Reproductive Medicine for the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the International Committee Monitoring ART, and he is President of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation. Dr. Adamson is an Executive Board Member of the International Federation of Fertility Societies, CoChair of the World Health Organization Rapid Assessment Task Force on Infertility, and Board Member of the Montalvo Arts Center. He is a member of many prestigious professional societies, including the American Gynecological Society, the Society for Reproductive Investigation, and the Society for Gynecological Surgeons. Dr. Adamson is the author of over 300 peer-reviewed and other scientific/medical publications and has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally. He is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Advanced Reproductive Care, the largest national network fertility company in the United States. Dr. Adamson has been recognized as one of the best 400 physicians for women in America, and he received the Outstanding Achievement in Medicine award from the Santa Clara County Medical Society. In 2015, Dr. Adamson received the Barbara Eck Founders Award from RESOLVE for leadership in the field of infertility, years of service to RESOLVE, and dedication to the patient community.
Respect and Protect Your Sexual Health Much has been learned about reproductive physiology in the past two decades. We have a greatly improved understanding of what needs to be done to enhance reproductive health and how to treat problems when they arise. Dr. Adamson’s session for Eighth Grade boys will address simple actions people can take to respect and protect their sexual health.
Mr. Will Agramonte Mr. Agramonte graduated from the University of Southern California after attending Sea Crest School and Gunn High School. He is now a venture capitalist.
Exponential Evolution (XEV) A co-founder of XEV, Inc., Mr. Agramonte will be describing how his group helps commercialize worldimproving intellectual property by presenting a number of their technology projects. Mr. Agramonte has supported innovative technology research such as underwater robots.
Mr. Tim Allan Mr. Allan is a Water Resources Engineer with three years of experience in environmental engineering. He received his master’s from Stanford University, where he completed extensive coursework in hydrology, fluid dynamics, and hydraulic modeling.
Bathtime at the Coriolis Household Mr. Allan will give a high level overview of the Coriolis Effect using videos, drawings, physical demonstrations, and interactive activities. No math or numbers required. The group will discuss the importance of Coriolis forces in driving global weather patterns and ocean currents.
Ms. Elizabeth Andruszkiewicz Ms. Andruszkiewicz is currently pursuing an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and is planning to continue on to a doctoral degree. She has participated in several graduate and undergraduate research experiences and has spent one summer as an intern at an engineering consulting firm in Providence, RI and one summer as a research fellow at Virginia Tech. She is specifically interested in environmental DNA (eDNA) in both freshwater and marine environments and its application as a tool to monitor aquatic species. Ms. Andruszkiewicz holds a B.S. from the University of Notre Dame, where she was awarded the Sydney Kelsey Outstanding Scholar Award and the Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honors Society Regional Scholarship.
Pollution at Pillar Point: Is it Safe to Swim? Ms. Andruszkiewicz will present an overview of recreational beach water quality, including who manages beaches, beach closures, and how fecal pollution is measured. There will be several breakout sessions, including a demonstration of a water sampling technique to test for enterococci and E. coli concentrations. Finally, the group will look at results from a 24-hour water sampling study done at Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay in December 2014. Students will discuss how to better manage water quality and coastal pollution.
Dr. Stephen Baccus Dr. Stephen Baccus is an Associate Professor at the Stanford School of Medicine in the Department of Neurobiology. He runs a laboratory where he studies how the retina processes information and
communicates with the brain. He has a B.S. in computer science, a J.D. and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Miami, and an M.S. in computer science from New York University.
Meet a Human Brain Your muscles move your body, your eyes sense light, but your brain is the master that sees, feels, thinks, and controls it all. Dr. Baccus will talk about some of what neuroscientists have learned about how the brain senses, how it controls muscles, how it feels, how it learns, and how it fails. Students will get the chance to examine and hold real preserved human brains.
Dr. Barbara Brott Dr. Barbara Brott studies how nerve cells in the brain form connections as the brain grows and as it recovers from injury. She has a B.A. in Biology from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Michigan. She did her postdoctoral work at Harvard University and is now a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Biology at Stanford University.
How Neurons Grow: The challenges and triumphs of a neuroscientist and her work Learn about the life and research of Nobel Prize winning neurobiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, who overcame the prejudices of her Victorian upbringing, only to be forced to do research in secret during the Nazi occupation of Italy in World War II. Dr. Brott’s session will discuss how Levi-Montalcini’s work in her home laboratory led her to discover Nerve Growth Factor, a molecule that makes neurons grow, and revolutionized the study of how the brain develops. To see how these discoveries led to modern techniques of neurobiology, we will view neurons using a laboratory fluorescence microscope, learning about their structure and the fluorescent molecules used to visualize them.
Dr. Scott Brozell Dr. Scott Brozell holds a B.S. in mathematics from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Ohio State University. He is currently is a staff member in university, national lab, and supercomputer center venues. His research focuses on theoretical and computational model development and modeling of chemical and physical systems. He is an active contributor to three software packages.
The Joy of Symmetry: Introduction to Group Theory Dr. Brozell’s presentation will begin with examples of symmetry in nature. We will define the abstract algebraic structure of the mathematical group and demonstrate a simple group. Then we will build objects of increasingly high symmetry and connect them to chemical structures, closing the loop back to the natural world. Via a historical perspective, we will see how mathematicians innovate and how the scientific community progresses.
Dr. Loretta Camarano Dr. Camarano's research examines factors that predict adverse perinatal and pediatric outcomes. Over a ten-year period, Dr. Camarano was the Project Director responsible for all aspects of the management of two comprehensive infertility studies funded by the National Institutes of Health. Her responsibilities included hiring, training, and supervising ten medical record abstractors, six interviewers, a database manager, a computer programmer, and an administrative assistant. She assisted with the development and testing of all data collection instruments, as well as all study handbooks and manuals of operation. She also developed and implemented all data quality assurance systems, including a 10% random sample of re-abstraction of charts and re-interview of patients. As part of her job, Dr. Camarano regularly traveled to Southern California to perform quality assurance reviews and staff reviews. The combined budget for these two studies was $4.5 million. Dr. Camarano is an Assistant Professor at Samuel Merritt University School of Nursing in San Mateo.
The Social and Ethical Concerns of Assisted Reproductive Technologies Dr. Camarano will discuss the importance of sexual health for everyone, both for reproduction and to enhance quality of life. Knowledge about how bodies work, what improves or harms fertility and sexual health, and how men and women are both similar and different, can be used to make better sexual health decisions. Assisted reproductive technologies are used to treat infertility but also bring powerful new technologies such as prenatal diagnosis and stem cells to all areas of healthcare. These technologies have produced great benefits for millions of patients, but they have also raised significant social and ethical issues in this exciting area of healthcare. This session is for Eighth Grade girls.
Dr. Adam D. Hughes Dr. Hughes is a Drug Discovery Project Leader and Senior Director in Medicinal Chemistry. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, and he did his postdoctoral research at Stanford University. Dr. Hughes has 15 years of experience in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery.
How Do We Use Chemistry to Discover New Medicines? Dr. Hughes will present a simplified version of drug discovery, starting from Medicinal Chemistry, and demonstrate how it can make a difference in people’s lives.
Dr. Maggie Johnson Dr. Johnson is the Director of Education and University Relations for Google. She manages all technical training, content development, and information management programs for Google engineers and operations staff, as well as Google's K-12 educational programs in STEM and computer science. She also manages partnerships with faculty and labs on a global scale, and she is instrumental in
Google's strategic initiatives in online teaching and learning. Prior to Google, Dr. Johnson taught for 15 years at Stanford University, where she was Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Computer Science. She earned her Ph.D. from the City University of New York.
How Google Search Works Have you ever wondered what happens when you type something into the Google search box and press enter? This talk, led by Dr. Johnson, will take you around the world to tell you exactly what happens in the fraction of a second that it takes to bring up your search results.
Mr. Bryan Kohrs Mr. Kohrs is a Research Associate in Discovery at Amunix, Inc., a small biotechnology company in Mountain View. He works on half-life extension technology. Mr. Kohrs holds a B.S. from Johns Hopkins University, where he studied Biophysics, and he attended Sea Crest School from 1997-2006.
The Microworld Mr. Kohrs’ session will explore the differences between the macroworld that we live in and the microworld that cells and bacteria inhabit. From their mode of transportation to the pure randomness of everything that happens on that level, microorganisms inhabit a vastly different world than us. General topics will include diffusion and cellular/molecular interactions.
Dr. Dan Marquess Dr. Dan Marquess is the Chief Scientific Officer at UNITY Biotechnology. He was formerly the Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry and a member of the Research Leadership Team at Theravance BioPharma in South San Francisco. During his 17 years at Theravance, Dr. Marquess served as program leader for a number of Theravance’s discovery programs. Prior to joining Theravance in 1998, he worked at Glaxo Wellcome for four years. He was a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University. Dr. Marquess holds a Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Oxford and a B.S. in Chemistry from Queen’s University in Northern Ireland. Dr. Marquess also works with the Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human health, where he participates as a member their Drug Discovery Committee.
Collaborate in Groups to Create Different, Innovative Pharmaceutical Companies Middle School students will collaborate in groups as three fictitious pharmaceutical companies focused on three different therapeutic areas (cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes). Dr. Marquess will guide each of the "companies" through the discovery and development pathway. For the final step, the companies will be reviewed by the "FDA" to analyze how innovative, novel, and important their approaches were.
Mr. Christopher McKenzie Mr. McKenzie is a Senior Development Engineer with Oxford Instruments, X-ray Technology. He uses his science background and experience to design and develop new X-ray tubes and other associated electronic and mechanical equipment. He has previously worked for Space Systems Loral, UC Irvine, and Gunn Tech, and he holds a master’s degree in Physics from the University of California, Irvine.
Math, Physics, and Computer Simulations in My Everyday Work When learning mathematics as a requirement, have you ever wondered, "What am I going to use this for?" Mr. McKenzie will share how he uses advanced math nearly every day in his career and how it fundamentally changes how he thinks about problems and comes up with solutions. He will present some of the work he has done and demonstrate the ways that math and physics helps him solve real world problems.
Dr. Jennifer Robinson Dr. Jennifer Robinson completed her Ph.D. in Nutrition at UC Davis, with a focus on getting nutrition and gardening education into elementary schools. Since that time, she has continued to work in the fields of nutrition, health, and education for individuals of all ages. Currently, she works at Stanford University as the Program Manager of the Nutrition Studies Group. The group runs nutrition-based clinical trials, hosts an annual Food and Health Event for the Stanford community, and works with various partners to positively influence the way society relates to the food system.
"Please, have some water with that sugar‌ " Dr. Robinson's presentation will focus on the excessive amounts of sugar in our beverages and snacks. Without realizing it, we can get our entire daily-recommended intake of sugar in just one serving of a snack item, especially beverages! We will look at food labels and participate in a hands-on exercise to see the amount of sugar in some popular items.
Dr. Elizabeth C. Squiers Elizabeth C. Squiers, M.D. serves as Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Quark develops silencing RNA therapeutics and is currently conducting Phase 3 studies. Previously Dr. Squiers was CMO at Y's Therapeutics, leading product development of investigational products for the prevention of delayed graft function in kidney transplantation, myocardial infarction, sickle cell disease, and the prevention of deep vein thrombosis in high-risk trauma patients. Dr. Squiers was also previously at Thios Pharmaceuticals and Genzyme Corporation (SangStat Medical Corporation), where she was Vice President of Clinical Research. While at SangStat, Dr. Squiers implemented electronic reporting and data analysis systems and was involved in the design and conduct of multiple clinical trials. Prior to SangStat, she was an Associate
Professor of Surgery at the State University of New York in Syracuse, where she directed and expanded the transplant program, became a principal investigator for several clinical trials, and performed the first pancreas and islet cell transplant in upstate New York. She is the author of over 110 publications in areas of immunology, surgery, and transplantation and is an active member of numerous professional societies, including the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Squiers holds an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in Pennsylvania and a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University.
Applying Scientific Inquiry and Creativity to Find New Medical Treatments Dr. Squiers will lead a session on how creative thinking, the scientific method, and asking questions helped translate her research into real transplants and treatments for diabetes. She will share some brief examples of the scientific method and show how it was applied to developing a cure for diabetes in a clinical trial.
Dr. Antitsa Stoycheva Dr. Antitsa Stoycheva received a B.S. in Chemistry, with honors, from Sofia University in Bulgaria. She pursued graduate studies at Ohio State University and obtained a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physical Chemistry. Subsequently, Dr. Stoycheva was a joint post-doctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute Department of Molecular Biology and the UCSD Department of Physics as a part of the La Jolla Interfaces in Science Program. Currently, Dr. Stoycheva is a research scientist in a biotech setting, with a focus on computational drug design and bioinformatics. She is also project leader of a drug discovery and development team targeting small-molecule, anti-viral pharmaceutical agents.
Hands-On Exploration of Biomolecular Structure Dr. Stoycheva’s session will begin with a brief introduction to the concept of biomolecular structure and its importance as a tool in scientific research. Next, students will engage in a hands-on computer lab session during which they will have the opportunity to explore the structures of enzymes that play key roles in the lifecycle of the influenza virus.
Dr. Carol Winograd Carol Hunter Winograd, M.D. is an emerita professor of Medicine and Human Biology at Stanford University. She received her B.A. with honors from Wellesley College and completed graduate work at Harvard University before earning her M.D. cum laude at Boston University Medical School. She completed her residencies at the University of California San Francisco and was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Stanford University. She was on the medical faculty at both the University of California San Francisco and Stanford, and she was the Clinical Director of the Geriatric Research and Education Center at Stanford for 12 years. Dr. Winograd’s publications include co-authorship
of Treatments for the Alzheimer Patient: The Long Haul and more than 40 peer-reviewed articles on functional impairment in hospitalized elders, mobility, and geriatric assessment. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Academy of Family Practice, and she is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American Geriatrics Society, and the Gerontological Society of America. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Geriatrics Society from 1987-1995 and Chair of the Public Policy Committee from 1987-1992. For many years, Dr. Winograd has promoted both peace and justice in the Middle East and women’s roles in leadership and peacemaking. She is currently the Vice-chair of the J Street National Board and co-founder and member of the Steering Committee of the J Street Women's Leadership Forum. In 2014, she received the J Street Tzedek v’Shalom Award. In 2012, she co-led the first all Women's United States Congressional Delegation to Israel and the West Bank, sponsored by J Street and the Women Donors Network. As a member of the Women Donors Network since 2004, she chaired its Mideast Peace and Democracy Circle. Dr. Winograd is also a member of the International Council of the New Israel Fund and featured in the American Jewish Peace Archive website. Previously, she served as Co-founder and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Jewish Chaplaincy at Stanford Medical Center, member of the National Board of Abraham’s Vision, and member of the Regional Board of the New Israel Fund. Personally, Dr. Winograd has been married to Dr. Terry Winograd for nearly 48 years. They have two daughters: Avra, married to Justin Durack, and Shoshana, a Conservative rabbi, married to Philip Ohriner, also a Conservative rabbi, and four grandsons: Ari, Eli, Kobi, and Nash.
Innovation and Longevity Since 1900, approximately 30 years have been added to the average human life expectancy. Today 60 is the new 40, meaning that people who are 60 have the health, work, and quality of life of those who were 40 when the speaker was our students’ age. These added years offer enormous opportunities for creativity, wisdom, new careers, and increased vigor in old age. Dr. Carol Winograd will discuss some of the new science and innovation involved in how we age, which will lead to longer and healthier lifetimes for the current generation.
Dr. Terry Winograd Dr. Winograd is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Stanford University. He earned his Ph.D. from MIT in Applied Mathematics, with an initial focus on artificial intelligence. Dr. Winograd’s focus later shifted to human-computer interaction design and the design of technologies for development. Dr. Winograd founded and directed the teaching programs and HCI research in the Stanford HumanComputer Interaction Group, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. He was a founding faculty member of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (known around the world as the "d.school") and on the faculty of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.
Dr. Winograd is also a founding member and past president of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. He is on a number of journal editorial boards and has advised his students’ companies, including Google. In 2011, he received the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award. He is on the national board of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.
Design Thinking and Innovation How can you move beyond the expected and the ordinary to do something unexpected? How can a design thinking process provide a guide to creating innovative designs that work for people? Dr. Terry Winograd will describe his team’s approach at the Stanford d.school and how it makes sense at every level of the educational system.
Thank You Thank you to the members of the Innovators’ Symposium Committee for organizing this event: Dr. Tekakwitha M. Pernambuco-Wise, Chair. Kat Clark, Rob Kashima, Ellyn Kohrs, Michaela O’Connor, Emma Samuels, and Michael Thompson. Thank you to Cathy Greenwald for her administrative work on this event. A special thank you to Sarah Griego Guz for providing breakfast and lunch for our speakers. We look forward to the 3rd Annual Innovators’ Symposium next year!