Discovery Project Speakers – 2021
Speaker Biographies
Dalton Conley, Ph.D
Lizbeth B. De La Torre
Cara Esposito, JD
Stacey Finley, Ph.D
Dana Goldman, Ph.D
Malancha Gupta, Ph.D
Lois Kim
Phil Johnston
Jerold Kayden, JD
Sairam Kumar, MD
Jonathan Malen, Ph.D
Megan L. McCain, Ph.D
Jill McNitt-Gray, Ph.D
Eugenia Mora-Flores, EdD
Pedro Noguera, Ph.D
Kelly Sanders, Ph.D
John Brooks Slaughter, Ph.D
Lorraine Turcotte, Ph.D
Roberta Williams, MD
Yannis Yortsos, Ph.D.
Dalton Conley, PHD
Henry Putnam University Professor of Sociology
Princeton University
Website
Lecture
Natural and Unnatural Experiments in Social Behavior
What drives us to become who we are? Is our behavior baked into our genes, or does childhood environment–family, school, neighborhood, etc.–matter more? This is a tale of an usual childhood, confused twins, and molecular genetics. The session will conclude with an interactive exercise in how to design a research study, focussing on the question: Is television bad for kids?
Biography
Dalton Conley is the Henry Putnam University Professor in Sociology and a faculty affiliate at the Office of Population Research and the Center for Health and Wellbeing. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and in a pro bono capacity he serves as Dean of Health Sciences for the University of the People, a tuition-free, accredited, online college committed to expanding access to higher education.
Conley’s scholarship has primarily dealt with the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic and health status from parents to children. This focus has led him to study (among other topics): the impact of parental wealth in explaining racial attainment gaps; the causal impact of birthweight (as a heuristic for the literal overlap of the generations) on later health and educational outcomes; sibling differences that appear to reflect the triumph of achievement over ascription (but which may, in fact, merely reflect within-family stratification processes); and, finally, genetics as a driver of both social mobility and reproduction.
He earned a M.P.A. in Public Policy (1992) and a Ph.D. in Sociology (1996) from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Biology from NYU in 2014. His books include Being Black, Living in the Red; The Starting Gate; Honky; The Pecking Order; You May Ask Yourself; Elsewhere, USA;Parentology; and The Genome Factor. He has been the recipient of Guggenheim, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Russell Sage Foundation fellowships as well as a CAREER Award and the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Lizbeth B. De La Torre, MS
Creative Technologist | The Studio (18x)
Secretary | JPL New Researchers Support Group (nrsg)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lecture
The Studio at NASA JPL
A team of artists and designers working together with scientists and engineers at NASA JPL to help tell their stories creatively and think through their thinking.
Biography
Lizbeth B. De La Torre is a creative technologist with The Studio at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She uses Design Thinking methods and techniques to support space mission formulation and technology demonstrations. Liz earned her Master’s of Science from the MIT Media Lab where her research examined the intersection of creativity and aerospace, and how creative techniques support space technology innovation and development.
Cara Esposito, JD
Executive Director of the Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation
Adjunct Associate Professor
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy
Website
Lecture:
The Power of the Nonprofit Sector to Change the World
The non-profit sector serves a critical and unique role in a thriving democracy. It also offers the fastest, most effective way we, as citizens can shape and improve our world. Learn what the sector is, why we have it, and how to dive in and make the world a better place.
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.
Stacey Finley, PhD
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Research Website
Lecture
How Math Can Help Improve Cancer Treatment
Cancer cells use networks of thousands of biochemical reactions to produce energy needed to grow. In this lecture, Dr. Finley will talk about how we can use mathematical modeling to study these reactions, better understand cancer cells, control the cells’ behavior.
Biography
Stacey D. Finley, Ph.D., is an Associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. She is holder of the Gordon S. Marshall Early Career Chair and the Director of the Center for Computational Modeling of Cancer (http://modelingcancer.usc.edu). Dr. Finley has a joint appointment in the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology. She is also a member of the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Finley received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Florida A & M University in 2004. Her graduate studies were completed in 2009 in Chemical Engineering at Northwestern University and involved using computational tools to predict and estimate the feasibility of novel biodegradation pathways. Her postdoctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University focused on computational modeling of VEGF signaling pathways. She was awarded postdoctoral fellowships from the NIH National Research Service Award and the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative.
Dr. Finley’s current research applies a systems biology approach to develop molecular-detailed computational models of biological processes related to human disease.
Dana Goldman, PhD
Interim Dean and Professor
Leonard D. Schaeffer Director’s Chair, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics
Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Pharmacy, and Economics
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy
Website
Lecture
Overview of Public Policy, Education, and Engineering: Dean’s Panel
Biography
Dana Goldman is the Interim Dean at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, as well as the Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair and Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy, Public Policy, and Economics at the University of Southern California. Goldman began serving in his new capacity as interim dean on July 1, 2020. One of his first initiatives is to establish the Price School Social Justice Advisory Board representing faculty, staff and students. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Social Insurance – two of his field’s highest honors. He is the author of more than 300 articles and book chapters, and his research has been published in leading medical, economic, health policy, and statistics journals. He has raised over $100 million in funding from external sources—including more than $50 million from the National Institutes of Health. Goldman pioneered the “Netflix model” to improve access to prescription drugs and the value of reduced copayments for the chronically ill.
Professor Goldman has as a formal health policy advisor to the Congressional Budget Office, Covered California, National Institutes of Health, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute. He serves on the editorial boards of Health Affairs and the American Journal of Managed Care and is founding editor of the Forum for Health Economics and Policy. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Economist, NBC Nightly News and other media. He is former director of ISPOR and ASHEcon and a co-founder of Precision Health Economics, a health care consultancy. Goldman received his B.A. summa cum laude from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.
Malancha Gupta, PHD
Gabilan Distinguished Professorship in Science and Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Chemistry
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Lecture
Synthesis of Polymer Coatings
Biography
Dr. Malancha Gupta’s research studies the mechanism and kinetics associated with initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) of functional polymers onto structured materials and liquid surfaces. The iCVD process eliminates the need for organic solvents and thereby offers a safer and cleaner alternative to liquid phase polymer processing.
Phil Johnston
Academy-Award nominated filmmaker
Lecture
From the Pages of Your Life
I’ll talk about ways in which filmmakers can borrow from their own lives to create compelling stories.
Biography
Phil Johnston is a filmmaker best known as the creator of three of the biggest animated films of the twenty-first century. He wrote the Academy Award-winning Zootopia and the Academy Award-nominated Wreck-It Ralph before going on to write and direct Ralph Breaks the Internet, for which he was also nominated for an Oscar. Johnston got his start in independent film, garnering an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his Cedar Rapids script. He also collaborated with Alexander Payne on the Oscar-nominated script for Nebraska. Johnston is currently adapting three of Roald Dahl’s stories for Netflix—writing and directing The Twits and co-creating two animated series based on Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.
Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Johnston worked as a broadcast journalist, earning three Emmy Awards for his work. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.F.A. in film directing from Columbia University. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jill Cordes, their two kids, Fia and Emmett and a dog named Izzy.
Jerold S. Kayden, JD
Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Website
Lecture
Climate Change, Disasters, and People
Biography
Jerold S. Kayden is the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he previously served as co-chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design and director of the Urban Planning Program. His teaching and scholarship address issues of land use and environmental law, public and private development in cities, public space, urban disasters and climate change, and design competitions. His books include Privately Owned Public Space:The New York City Experience; Urban Disaster Resilience:New Dimensions from International Practice in the Built Environment; Landmark Justice:The Influence of William J. Brennan on America’s Communities; and Zoning and the American Dream:Promises Still To Keep.
As an urban planner and lawyer, Professor Kayden has advised governments, non-governmental organizations, and private and public real estate developers in the United States and around the world. He has argued court cases, authored or co-authored amicus briefs in United States Supreme Court cases, and served as expert witness. He has drafted zoning laws for various U. S. cities on inclusionary housing and privately owned public spaces. On international work, he has consulted widely for such institutions as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the United States Agency for International Development, and the United Nations Development Programme, working principally in Armenia, China, Nepal, Russia, and Ukraine on drafting and implementing land use, real estate, and housing laws. Since 1991, he has served as principal constitutional counsel to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C. He leads Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space, a non-profit organization he founded based in New York City. From 2009 to 2011, he was Principal Investigator for the Harvard-Netherlands Project on Climate Change, Water, Land Development, and Adaptation, a collaborative project between Harvard, the Dutch Government, and the Deltares Institute.
Among Professor Kayden’s honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, multiple fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and awards from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, the American Bar Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the Environmental Design Research Association. At the Design School, he was recognized schoolwide as “Teacher of the Year.” Professor Kayden earned his undergraduate, law, and city and regional planning degrees from Harvard and subsequently was law clerk to Judge James L. Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University was established in 1957 from a bequest from Frank Backus Williams, a prominent New York City lawyer who played a significant role in creating the 1916 New York City zoning resolution, the first comprehensive zoning law in the United States. Among many publications, he wrote The Law of City Planning and Zoning (Macmillan, 1922) and co-wrote Model Laws for Planning Cities, Counties, and States (Harvard University Press, 1935). Professor Kayden is the sixth holder of the chair. Previous holders include Martin Meyerson (1957), followed by Charles Abrams, Fernando Belaunde Terry, Brian Berry, and William Doebele.
Lois Kim
Visual Strategist
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lecture
The Studio at NASA JPL
A team of artists and designers working together with scientists and engineers at NASA JPL to help tell their stories creatively and think through their thinking.
Biography
Lois Kim is a visual strategist with a background in graphic design. As part of The Studio at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she works to help bring the concepts and missions of scientists’ and engineers’ to life through visual language. With these concepts, she creates and art directs visually intriguing stories through branding, print, and art installations.
Sairam Kumar, MD
Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP) Fellow
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Lecture
Chronic Disease, Brain Development & Adolescence
This session will include presentations and discussion about kids growing up with chronic disease, the importance of self-efficacy, brain development in adolescent years, and the need to change systems of management for chronic disease throughout life.
Biography
Dr. Kumar is a current CA-LEND long-term trainee at the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. His research interests involve high-risk infant follow up, early childhood, autism, and neurodevelopmental disabilities. He is passionate about improving system-based practices and healthcare disparities in the community with regards to the treatment and management of developmental-behavioral conditions.
Jonathan Malen, Ph.D
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Website
Research Website
Lecture
Thermodynamics in Energy and Additive Manufacturing
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, PhD
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, USC
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Research Website
Lecture
Engineering Organs on Chips
“Organs on Chips” are engineered microdevices that contain living human cells and tissues and are now being used to develop and test new cures for many diseases. In this lecture, I will describe how human stem cells and innovative fabrication technologies are integrated to engineer “Organs on Chips”, with a focus on “Heart on a Chip” systems.
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.
Jill McNitt-Gray, PhD
Professor of Biological Sciences (Human and Evolutionary Biology) and Biomedical Engineering
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Research Website
Lecture
Preparing to Play: Olympic Inspirations
We will take an interdisciplinary approach to discovering aspects of neuromuscular control and dynamics of human movements that improve performance and reduce risk of injury.
Biography
Jill L. McNitt-Gray, Ph.D. is a Gabilan Distinguished Professor in Science and Engineering and mentors students the Departments of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. She is also the Director of the USC Biomechanics Research Laboratory and was the founding director of a cross-cutting interdisciplinary graduate program in biological sciences at USC.
Dr. McNitt-Gray’s interdisciplinary research focuses on the neuromuscular control and dynamics of human movements and aims to identify risk factors and develop effective methods in rehabilitation engineering and performance enhancement for individuals with various ability levels (clinical populations as well as elite athletes). She uses both experimental and dynamic modeling approaches to test research hypotheses specific to control priorities during physically-demanding well-practiced tasks. Her research has been funded by Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Veterans Administration, and national governing bodies of sport including the Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic Committee.
Dr. McNitt-Gray earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics and statistics with a certification in coaching from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1980. After working in load research and load management for the American Electric Power Service Corporation, she returned to graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In 1985, she earned her master’s degree in biomechanics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the mentorship of Barney LeVeau PT PhD and was the assistant coach of the Carolina Women’s Gymnastics team. Dr. McNitt-Gray received her doctoral degree in biomechanics from Penn State under the mentorship of Richard Nelson and Peter Cavanagh in 1989.
Dr. McNitt-Gray has served on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Sports Biomechanics and the Journal of Applied Biomechanics and as an ad hoc reviewer on study sections for NIH, NSF, CDC, and various governing bodies of sport. She served on the ASB membership committee from 1989-92, and then as a member of the education committee. Dr. McNitt-Gray has served on the Executive Board as Education Chair (1993-95), Program Chair (2002), and as President (2009-2012). Dr. McNitt-Gray also served as a member of the Executive Council of the ISB from 2001 to 2007 and served as the ISB Liaison to Affiliated and Economically Developing Societies. Dr. McNitt-Gray has received the USC Mellon Culture of Mentoring Award for her work with the Women in Science and Engineering program (WiSE) and a USC Mellon Mentoring award for her mentoring of undergraduate students. The Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee recognized her research team’s work in the physical sciences with the Prince Alexandre de Merode Award. Dr. McNitt-Gray is also actively involved in translation of science into the practice and outreach programs that provide informal educational experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields. Her innovative approaches to research and education have been recognized by the USC Center for Excellence in Teaching and funded by the National Science Foundation. She has served as a biomechanist for the International Olympic Committee, the US Olympic Committee, multiple National Governing Bodies of Sport, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Eugenia Mora-Flores, EdD
Professor of Clinical Education, USC
USC Rossier School of Education
Website
Lecture
The Complexity and Creativity of Language Development
This session will explore how the English language is a complex language that is constantly evolving. A look at the impact of social-cultural uses of language that inform language practices will be presented.
Biography
Dr. Eugenia Mora-Flores is a Professor of Clinical Education in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California (USC). She teaches courses on first and second language acquisition, Latino culture, and in literacy development for elementary and secondary students. She began her work in education almost 25 years ago as a first grade, dual-language teacher and went on to teach a range of grade levels and instructional contexts.
Her research interests include studies on effective practices in developing the language and literacy skills of English Leaners in grades Pre-K-12. She has written 10 books in the area of literacy and academic language development (ALD) for English learners including, Connecting Content and Language for English Learners, Balanced Literacy for English Learners, and Inquiry-based science for ELs. She has also published a number of articles and chapters on literacy and language across the curriculum and Gifted education for ELs. Eugenia further works as a consultant for a variety of elementary, middle and high schools across the country in the areas of Comprehensive literacy programs for English learners, English Language Development (ELD), ALD and writing instruction. She was named, MAT Professor of the Year (2016 & 2018), a title awarded by the students of USC. Eugenia was further honored with USC’s Teaching Excellence Award (2018). Her impact in education was recognized through the 2018 Community Achievement Award, This award recognizes professors who have gone above and beyond for their students and who have made meaningful contributions to the educations of students of color and/or who identify as LGBTQ.
Mora-Flores received her Doctor of Education from UCLA. She is currently the Chair of the MAT Governance Committee.
Pedro A. noguera, Ph.D
Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
USC Rossier School of Education
Website
Lecture
Overview of Public Policy, Education, and Engineering: Dean’s Panel
Biography
A sociologist, Noguera’s research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts. He is the author, co-author and editor of 15 books. His most recent books are Common Schooling: Conversations About the Tough Questions and Complex Issues Confronting K-12 Education in the United States Today (Teachers College Press) with Rick Hess and City Schools and the American Dream: The Enduring Promise of Public Education (Teachers College Press) with Esa Syeed.
He has published over 250 research articles in academic journals, book chapters in edited volumes, research reports and editorials in major newspapers. He serves on the boards of numerous national and local organizations, including the Economic Policy Institute, the National Equity Project and The Nation. Noguera appears as a regular commentator on educational issues on several national media outlets, and his editorials on educational issues have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Dallas Morning News and Los Angeles Times.
Prior to being appointed Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, Noguera served as a Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Before joining the faculty at UCLA he served as a tenured professor and holder of endowed chairs at New York University (2004–2015), Harvard University (2000–2003) and the University of California, Berkeley (1990–2000).
Noguera was recently appointed to serve as a special advisor to the governor of New Mexico on education policy. He also advises the state departments of education in Washington, Oregon and Nevada. From 2009–2012 he served as a trustee for the State University of New York as an appointee of the governor. In 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Education and Phi Delta Kappa honor society, and in 2020 Noguera was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Noguera has received seven honorary doctorates from American universities, and he recently received awards from the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, from the National Association of Secondary School Principals and from the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at NYU for his research and advocacy efforts aimed at fighting poverty.
Kelly Sanders, PhD
Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Lecture
The Energy-Water Nexus
Energy and water share a special relationship: it takes lots of energy to produce a safe drinking water supply, and it takes lots of water to produce the energy we use to fuel our world. This presentation introduces this relationship and discusses how future concerns over climate change might impact these critical resources.
Biography
Dr. Kelly T. Sanders is an Associate Professor in the University of Southern California’s Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research aims to ease tensions between human and natural systems, with particular emphasis on reducing the environmental impacts of providing energy and water services. She has authored more than two dozen publications and has given dozens of invited talks on topics at the intersection of engineering, science, and policy. Sanders has been recognized in Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Energy and MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 for her contributions to the energy field. Her research and commentary have been featured in media outlets such as Forbes, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Scientific American. Sanders received her B.S. in Bioengineering from the Pennsylvania State University, as well M.S.E and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, respectively. She teaches classes related to energy and the environment.
john brooks slaughter, PhD
University Professor and Deans’ Professor of Education and Engineering
USC Rossier School of Education
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Lecture
Preparing Tomorrow’s Technologists for a Future of Challenges and Opportunities
Today’s youth will be the ones who will have the responsibility to address and solve the mounting challenges facing the world. Many of these challenges will require an ability to be familiar with technology to participate and guide the global society’s efforts to address them. As in any challenge, tremendous opportunities exist for those who are prepared to confront them.
Biography
Dr. John Brooks Slaughter joined the University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education in January,2010 as Professor of Education, with a joint appointment at the Viterbi School of Engineering. Slaughter has had a remarkably distinguished career, which began as an electrical engineer and includes leading two universities and heading the National Science Foundation (NSF) as its first African American director, among many other accomplishments.
His education research has been in the areas of higher education leadership, diversity and inclusion in higher education, underrepresented minorities in STEM, and access and affordability. In his new position at Rossier and Viterbi, Slaughter will be looking at the intersection between engineering and education, with a focus on what has become his lifelong quest of increasing minority participation in the science and engineering fields.
In 1956, Slaughter began his career as an engineer at General Dynamics Convair, which he left in 1960 to work as a civilian at the United States Naval Electronics Laboratory Center in San Diego. He worked for the Navy for 15 years, becoming director of the Information Systems Technology Department. Slaughter went on to become director of the Applied Physics Laboratory, a research and development facility at the University of Washington in Seattle, until his appointment as assistant director of the Astronomical, Atmospheric, Earth and Ocean Sciences directorate of the NSF in Washington, D.C. in 1977.
In 1979, Slaughter became academic vice president and provost of Washington State University but left for his historic appointment in 1980 as the first African American to direct the National Science Foundation (NSF). He returned to higher education in 1982 as chancellor of the University of Maryland, College Park where he made major advancements in the recruitment and retention of African American students and faculty.
Slaughter took the job of president of Occidental College in 1988 and transformed the school during his 11-year tenure into the most diverse liberal arts college in America. He taught courses in diversity and leadership for one year as Irving R. Melbo Professor of Leadership in Education at USC before accepting the position of president and CEO of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), whose mission is to increase the number of engineers of color, in 2000.
He is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Hall of Fame of the American Society for Engineering Education. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, the Tau Beta Pi Honorary Engineering Society, and was named an Eminent Member of the Eta Kappa Nu Honorary Electrical Engineering Society. He is the founding editor of the international journal, Computers & Electrical Engineering.
Slaughter holds honorary degrees from more than 30 institutions, and has received numerous awards, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Award in 1997; UCLA Medal of Excellence in 1989; the first U.S. Black Engineer of the Year award in 1987; the NAE Arthur M. Bueche Award in 2004; UCLA Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 1978; NSF Distinguished Service Award in 1979, among many others.
Slaughter holds a Ph.D. in engineering science from the University of California, San Diego (1971), a M.S. in engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (1961), and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Kansas State University (1956).
Lorraine Turcotte, PhD
Professor of Biological Sciences (Human and Evolutionary Biology)
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Website
Lecture
Factors that Regulate Metabolism and How to Improve Human Performance
Biography
Our overall research goal is to better understand the signaling factors that regulate metabolism in health and disease and how to improve human performance. We are specifically interested in unraveling the role of signaling molecules and mitochondrial dysfunction in the development of metabolic pathologies such as obesity and type II diabetes. We are also interested in investigating the role played by inflammation in human performance deficits. Our research projects include studying (1) how genetics alter mitochondrial function and exercise performance, and (2) how hormonal regulation controls metabolic function and muscle performance in cold water immersion.
Roberta G. Williams, MD
Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Investigator, Cardiology
Professor of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Lecture
Chronic Disease, Brain Development & Adolescence
This session will include presentations and discussion about kids growing up with chronic disease, the importance of self-efficacy, brain development in adolescent years, and the need to change systems of management for chronic disease throughout life.
Biography
Doctor Williams developed an early interest in congenital heart disease and elected Medicine-Pediatrics primary training, followed by a combined pediatric and adult cardiology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Her interests and expertise would span the lifecycle of patients with congenital heart disease. She was a pioneer in the field of echocardiography, beginning in 1973, developing the initial clinical correlations with echo findings that formed the bases of definitive non-invasive diagnosis of cardiac anomalies, supplanting cardiac catheterization for purely diagnostic purposes. While on the faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital, she also served as the founding medical director of the cardiac surgical intensive care unit during the era when infant surgery was being developed. Many of the patients she cared for in Boston are now in their 40’s. These work experiences strengthened her understanding of and passion for continuous, comprehensive care of congenital heart disease from fetal life through adulthood.
After 12 years in Boston, she was recruited to be Chief of Pediatric Cardiology at UCLA and became active in the Council on Sections of the American Academy of Pediatrics where she collaborated with leaders from other subspecialties on issues related to care delivery, workforce and reimbursement. She was subsequently recruited to be Chairman of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina where she was actively involved with workforce issues at the American Board of Pediatrics, using that platform to advocate for the first subspecialty certification shared by the American Boards of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine- Adult Congenital Heart Disease.
She was attracted to the position of Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California and Vice-President for Pediatrics and Academic Affairs at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles because the large population of underserved patients with chronic disease of childhood could serve as a base for developing systems of care that could span the two critical periods where hand-offs of care represent challenges, fetal-neonatal and adolescence-young adult systems of care. She first established a highly successful maternal-fetal medicine program at USC, then applied the same multidisciplinary model for transition of youth with chronic disease to adult health care. She is the founding medical director of The Center for Healthy Adolescent Transition (CHAT) program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, a program to support all patients with chronic disease as they prepare for- and transfer to adult healthcare. The program features patient and family preparation and a navigation hub that facilitates transfer to the most appropriate adult providers. The program works directly with local managed care organizations and provider groups to develop better transfer process between pediatric to adult systems. She has been a persistent and enthusiastic champion for improvement in the systems of care for patients with chronic diseases that originate in childhood. Her influence has been felt within Los Angeles and at the national and international level where she is also engaged in advocacy for health, job opportunities and housing for young adults with chronic disease.
Yannis C. Yortsos, Ph.D
Zohrab A. Kaprielian Dean’s Chair in Engineering
Chester Dolley Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Website
Lecture
Overview of Public Policy, Education, and Engineering: Dean’s Panel
Biography
Yannis C. Yortsos is the Dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the Zohrab Kaprielian Chair in Engineering, a position he holds since 2005. Prior to that he served from 2001 to 2005 as Associate Dean and then as Sr. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Yortsos served as chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering between 1991 and 1997 and in 1995 he was appointed to the Chester Dolley Professorship. He received a BS (Diploma) degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and MS and PhD degrees from the California Institute of Technology, all in chemical engineering. His research area is in fluid flow, transport and reaction processes in porous media with specific application to the subsurface. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008, where he has also served as secretary, vice-chair and chair of Section 11. His election citation reads: “For fundamental advances in fluid flow, transport, and reactions in porous media applied to the recovery of subsurface resources.” Since July 2017, Yortsos serves as a member of the NAE Council. In 2011 he was awarded the distinction of honorary member of the AIME, in 2013 he was elected as Associate member of the Academy of Athens, in 2014 he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and since 2017 he holds an honorary degree from Tsinghua University.
He served on the NRC Committees for the 2017 report on a New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research as well as the 2017 report on The Value of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences to National Priorities and completed a three-year term as member of the NSF Engineering Advisory Committee. As dean of engineering, he articulated in 2008 the concept of Engineering+, positioning engineering as the enabling discipline of our times, and has been actively engaged in the effort to “change the conversation about engineering”.
Along with colleagues at Duke University and Olin College, he co-founded in 2009 the Global Grand Challenges Scholars Program. He organized and hosted at USC in Fall 2010 the NAE Second Grand Challenges Summit, which spurred in 2013 the Global Grand Challenges Summits. These are bi-annual meetings of the NAE, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, on the organizing committees of which he has continuously served. Between 2012 and 2017, Yortsos was the chair of the Diversity Committee of the Engineering Deans Council, in which capacity he has spearheaded an engineering diversity initiative, now adopted by more than 230 engineering deans nationwide. In recognition of these initiatives, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering received in 2017 the ASEE President’s Award.
Yortsos is the PI of the NSF I-Corps Innovation Node Los Angeles, established in 2014 as a partnership between USC, Caltech and UCLA, and also the PI of the NSF Gender Equity Initiative EDGE. Between 2011 and 2017 he served on the Executive Committee of the Engineering Deans Council (2011-2017) and on the Executive Committee of the Global Engineering Deans Council (2012-2016). Following the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic he led, since April 2020, the National Academy of Engineering Call to Action Against COVID.