Discovery Project Speakers – 2022
Speaker Biographies
Heather Culbertson, Ph.D
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, PhD
Cara Esposito, Ph.D, JD
Alan Green, Ph.D
Jonathan Malen, Ph.D
Megan L. McCain, PhD
Bill McComas, Ph.D
Gale Sinatra, Ph.D
Sze-Chuan Suen, Ph.D
Heather Culbertson, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Lecture:
Haptics and Touch in Virtual Reality
Haptics is the study of the sense of touch. The field covers many branches of science, including neuroscience, perception, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, robotics, and human-computer interaction. In this talk I will discuss how we use our sense of touch to interact with and understand the physical world around us. I will then show how haptics researchers use this knowledge of perception to trick our brain into thinking we are touching objects in virtual reality.
Biography:
Heather Culbertson is a Gabilan Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on the design and control of haptic devices and rendering systems, human-robot interaction, and virtual reality. Particularly she is interested in creating haptic interactions that are natural and realistically mimic the touch sensations experienced during interactions with the physical world. Previously, she was a research scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University where she worked in the Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine (CHARM) Lab. She received her PhD in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) at the University of Pennsylvania in 2015 working in the Haptics Group, part of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory. She completed a Masters in MEAM at the University of Pennsylvania in 2013, and earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2010. She is currently serving as Publications Chair for IEEE Haptics Symposium. Her awards include the NSF CAREER Award, IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics Early Career Award, citation for meritorious service as a reviewer for the IEEE Transactions on Haptics, Best Paper at UIST 2017, and the Best Hands-On Demonstration Award at IEEE World Haptics 2013.
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, Ph.D
Professor, James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy
Website
Lecture: Economics of Art
Biography:
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy. She teaches courses in economic development, the arts, and urban policy and urban planning. Her research focuses on the arts and culture, the American consumer economy and the role of cultural capital in geographic and class divides. She is the author of The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art and Music Drive New York City (Princeton University Press 2007); Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity (Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010) and The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class (Princeton University Press, 2017), which was named one of the best books of the year by The Economist. Her books have been published in multiple languages.
Currid-Halkett’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Salon, the Economist, the New Yorker, and the Times Literary Supplement, among others. She has contributed to a variety of academic and mainstream publications including the Journal of Economic Geography, Economic Development Quarterly, the Journal of the American Planning Association, the Journal of Planning Education and Research, the New York Times, and the Harvard Business Review.
She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network and Industry Strategy Officers and has been a member of the WEF Global Future Councils.
Currid-Halkett is currently working on a book which revisits Tocqueville’s Democracy in America to better understand how culture and politics of culture influence the current geographic and class divisions in American society. Her book, The Overlooked Americans:Revisiting Tocqueville and the Cultural Geography of the United States, is forthcoming with Basic Books. Currid-Halkett received her PhD in urban planning from Columbia University.
Cara Esposito, Ph.D, JD
Executive Director of the Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation
Adjunct Associate Professor
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy
Website
Lecture:
Nonprofits: Threading the Needle to Support the Public Good
Biography:
Cara Esposito is the Executive Director of the Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation which funds innovative projects and initiatives that benefit Los Angeles County and improve the wellbeing of its communities. In March 2021, she launched a new venture, Arete Rising. It is an innovative nonprofit entity that operates programs, builds technology tools, and provides services to support economic mobility for first-generation college students. Prior to her role as Executive Director, Cara spent nine years as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney, with special emphasis in Juvenile Prosecutions.
Cara graduated with a BA from Harvard University, a JD from Loyola Law School, an MPA and a Doctorate in Policy Analysis and Planning from USC’s Price School of Public Policy. Her doctoral dissertation evaluated collaborative governance, network partnerships and implementation of participative systems specifically focusing on service delivery and intrinsic transaction costs between for profit, non-profit and governmental organizations at the Magnolia Community Initiative.
She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy where she teaches non-profit policy and theories of governance. In addition to serving as Chair of the Board of Councilors of the Price School, she is sits on the boards of Southern California Grantmakers and Loyola High School. Cara is a lifelong resident of Los Angeles and is married to Joseph Esposito, with two sons.
Alan Green, Ph.D
Professor of Clinical Education
USC Rossier School of Education
Website
Lecture:
Mind Over Matters in Athletics
Biography:
Dr. Alan Green joined Rossier in July 2009 as Associate Professor of Clinical Education. Prior to USC he was on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, where he served most recently as chair of the Department of Counseling and Human Services. He earned a doctorate in counseling psychology from Howard University in Washington, DC and a master’s degree in school and community counseling from California State University in Sacramento.
Dr. Green was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship for his doctoral work in Guyana on adolescent stressors, coping responses and psychological adjustment. In addition to his academic duties, Dr. Green served as Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, with a focus on health and education outcomes for communities of color. Currently, he is the board chair for the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a Skid Row non-profit organization focused on housing, police violence, and community health. The organization is in the midst of a participatory action research project conducted by Skid Row residents regarding well-being.
Dr. Green has served as project evaluator and consultant to educational and community based organizations across the United States and the Caribbean. Dr. Green was a recipient of the 2006 Counselors for Social Justice ‘Ohana Honors Award for his efforts to affirm diversity and advocate for social justice. More recently he was a 2014 recipient of the USC Mellon Mentoring award for his work with graduate students.
Jonathan Malen, Ph.D
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Website
Research Website
Lecture
Thermodynamics in Energy and Manufacturing
Thermodynamics is the branch of physical science that relates different forms of energy including heat, light, electrical energy, chemical energy, and mechanical energy. I will discuss sources of energy that we use in our lives and a couple research directions to use them more efficiently including thermoelectricity and LED lightbulbs. I will also discuss thermodynamics in new manufacturing processes that 3D print metals into complex shapes for a wide range of industries from biotech to aerospace.
Biography
Jonathan Malen seeks fundamental understanding of thermal transport processes from atomistic to macroscopic scales in advanced materials and technologies. The Malen Laboratory leverages ultrafast laser techniques, micro/nanofabrication, and thermal imaging approaches to measure thermal properties and processes. Recent projects are related to thermal management in high powered electronics (e.g. GaN and Ga2O3), thermal imaging in advanced manufacturing processes, evaporative cooling in nanoscale menisci, and phonon transport in organic-inorganic materials (e.g. superatomic crystals, organic perovskites, liquid metal composites).
Malen is a recipient of the Benjamin Richard Teare Teaching Award (2019)Opens in new window and the David P. Casasent Outstanding Research Award (2016)Opens in new window at Carnegie Mellon, the ASME Bergles-Rohsenhow Young Investigator Award in Heat TransferOpens in new window, the Army Research Office Young Investigator Award (2014), the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2012), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Resarch Young Investigator Award (2010). He came to Carnegie Mellon in 2009 after receiving his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley (2005-2009), his MS in nuclear engineering from MIT (2002-2003), and his BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan (1996-2000).
Megan L. McCain, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Research Website
Lecture
Engineering Organs on Chips
Biography:
Megan L. McCain earned her BS in Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis and her PhD in Engineering Sciences at Harvard University. As a graduate student, she engineered cardiac cells and tissues to investigate the role of mechanical forces in cardiac development and disease. Megan continued as a post-doctoral researcher at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, where she engineered microscale, functional mimics of human cardiac tissues, known as “Heart on a Chip”. In 2014, Megan joined USC, where she is now an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Her research group, the Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, engineers and utilizes novel “Organ on Chip” platforms for human disease modeling and drug screening, with a focus on cardiac and skeletal muscle. Megan is a recipient of a Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association and the NSF CAREER Award, and has been recognized as a Top Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review and a Rising Star by the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering sub-group of the Biomedical Engineering Society.
Bill McComas, Ph.D
Distinguished Professor of Science Education
Inaugural holder of the Parks Family Endowed Professorship in Science Education
University of Arkansas
Website
Lecture:
Misunderstandings in Science
Biography:
William F. McComas is the inaugural holder of the Parks Family Endowed Professorship in Science Education at the University of Arkansas where he directs the Project to Advance Science Education (PASE). This follows a career as a biology and physical science teacher in suburban Philadelphia and professorship at University of Southern California. He has earned B.S. degrees in Biology and Secondary Education, M.A. degrees in Biology and Physical Science and the Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Iowa.
At the University of Arkansas he teaches classes in educational research methods, curriculum design, the history and philosophy of science for science educators, issues in science education, advanced science teaching methods and The Darwin Course, a highly interdisciplinary class for honors undergraduates. He is also the director for the Professoriate, a campus-wide program sponsored by the UA Graduate School designed to assist doctoral students in securing positions and earning tenure and promotion in higher education institutions.
McComas has served in leadership roles with the National Science Teachers Association, the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group, the National Association of Biology Teachers and the Association for Science Teacher Education. McComas is a recipient of the Outstanding Evolution Educator and Research in Biology Teaching awards, the Ohaus award for Innovations in College Science Teaching and the ASTE Outstanding Science Teacher Educator award.
McComas is interested in the improvement of laboratory instruction including science fairs, evolution education, the interaction of the philosophy of science and science teaching, science education for gifted students, and science instruction in museums and field settings.
He has written and edited several books including The Nature of Science in Science Education: Rationales and Strategies. He has given more than 100 keynote speeches, workshops and presentations at public events and professional meetings in the U.S. and in more than a dozen other countries. In 2012 McComas was a Fulbright Fellow at the Centre for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Teaching and Learning (CASTeL) at Dublin City University, Ireland. In 2014 he was named the Editor of the American Biology Teacher, an award winning journal of research and practice in life science and biology education.
He has chaired more than 30 doctoral dissertations. Thirteen former students now hold professorships in science, science education or post-doctoral fellowships in education at locations worldwide with many others of his students involved in science education leadership positions in museums, schools and in classrooms.
Gale Sinatra, Ph.D
Stephen H. Crocker Chair, Professor of Education and Psychology
Website
Lecture:
No Denying It: It’s Difficult to Evaluate Science Information Online
Biography:
Dr. Gale Sinatra is a Professor of Psychology and the Stephen H. Crocker Professor of Education at Rossier. Her areas of expertise include climate science education, evolution education, learning theory, knowledge construction, conceptual change learning, literacy acquisition, assessment, and the public understanding of science.
Her recent research focuses on understanding the cognitive and motivational processes that lead to successful learning in science. Specifically, Sinatra focuses on the role of motivation and emotion in teaching and learning about controversial topics, such as biological evolution and climate change. Sinatra developed a model of conceptual change learning, which describes how motivational factors contribute to the likelihood that individuals will change their thinking about a scientific topic. Her co-authored book, Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It, was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press.
Sinatra received her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Sinatra is the past Editor of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 15 journal, Educational Psychologist. She served as Vice President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division C, Learning and Instruction and President of APA’s Division 15, Educational Psychology. She is a Fellow of both APA and AERA and a Member of the National Academy of Education.
Sze-Chuan Suen, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Lecture:
Engineering Organs on Chips
Biography:
Sze-chuan Suen joined the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California as an Assistant Professor in 2016 and is a faculty member at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Sze holds a PhD from the department of Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.