MIT Prof. Daskalakis Speaks to the Herald George Yankopoulos
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S O C V th ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ W ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ E 10 0 ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 The National Herald anniversa ry N www.thenationalherald.com A wEEkly GrEEk-AmEriCAN PuBliCATiON 1915-2015 VOL. 18, ISSUE 938 October 3-9, 2015 c v $1.50 MIT Prof. George Yankopoulos’ Journey to Pharmaceutical H1eights Daskalakis Regeneron co-Founder Reconciled Brains Speaks to And Money; Inspired by Family – and JFK By Constantine S. Sirigos plants near Smyrna, which were TNH Staff Writer lost in the Asia Minor Catastro - The Herald phe. He then built a series of NEW YORK – George Yanko - plants all over Greece – only to poulos, born and raised in West - lose everything when the Ger - Computer Whiz ern Queens and proud of his mans invaded and seized them. Greek roots, is one of the His mother’s family were fur - Discusses His world’s leading biomedical sci - riers. Like her husband’s, her ed - Game Theories entists. The company he co- ucation was interrupted, but she founded with Leonard S. went back to school in her 60s Schleifer, Regeneron Pharma - and graduated valedictorian of By Aria Socratous ceuticals, has had brilliant suc - her class at St. Joseph’s college. cesses with drugs such as EYLEA She followed her son’s example: HOWELL, NJ- “Education is the for age related macular degen - he was valedictorian at both the kindling of a flame, not the fill - eration, ZALTRAP for colorectal Bronx High School of Science ing of a vessel”, the great cancer, and ARCALYST. and Columbia University. philosopher Socrates said. Con - But Yankopoulos, who has His sister Sophie has a PhD stantinos Daskalakis is a beau - developed not only its drugs but in theoretical astrophysics. tiful mind that keeps the flame the company’s foundational Yankopoulos humbly also of education and innovation at technologies, has only just be - credits his era for firing up his the highest level. gun, driven by a sense of mis - success. Born in 1959, he recalls He was born and raised in sion inspired by his grandfather, being inspired by the sky-is-the- Athens and completed his un - and President John F. Kennedy. limit speeches President dergraduate studies at the Na - “What distinguishes us as a Kennedy made (broadcast fre - tional Technical University of species is the fact we can learn quently in the years shortly fol - Athens at the Electrical and about ourselves and we can use lowing his assassination) and Computer Engineering Depart - science, together with the other being fascinated by the space ment. He graduated with the thing that makes us human, our program. highest grade ever awarded. soul and spirit, to try to posi - When Yankopoulos was told At 27, Daskalakis was ap - tively impact the human condi - that while Greek children in pointed Associate Professor at tion, and there is nothing better Greece are encouraged to be - the Massachusetts Institute of for society to be investing in come scientists – the next Greek Technology (MIT). Prior to join - than human knowledge and sci - Nobel prize is likely to be in the ing MIT’s faculty, Daskalakis was ence,” he told TNH. hard sciences – Greek-American a postdoctoral researcher at Mi - Lest Yankopoulos’ achieve - parents tend to steer children crosoft Research and before that Trailblazing team at drug industry giant Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Left to Right: ments be considered accidental down paths more likely to be he finished his postgraduate President/CEO Leonard S. Schleifer, Chairman P. Roy Vangelos, and Chief Scientific Officer or miraculous – he was the 11th doctoral studies at the Univer - George Yankopoulos, embody the philosophy: never stop learning, discovering, and building. most-cited scientist in the 1990s Continued on page 6 sity of Berkeley. and is reportedly the first R&D He won the 2008 Doctoral head at a pharmaceutical com - Dissertation Award from the As - pany, according to Forbes, to be - sociation for Computer Machin - come a billionaire – some family ery (ACM) for advancing our Dimitri Nakassis Gets Genius Grant history is in order. What Greeks understanding of behavior in His father’s family were well- complex networks of interacting to-do and adventurous. His individuals. His dissertation, TNH Staff $625,000 in quarterly install - Greece. grandfather George Danis In Mexico “The Complexity of Nash Equi - ments over a five-year period. His research focuses on the Yankopoulos was born in Kasto - libria,” provides a novel algo - WASHINGTON, DC – Among Prof. Nakassis, who holds a archaeology and scripts of the ria before it was liberated from rithmic perspective on Game the 24 individuals who were BA from the University of Michi - Aegean Bronze Age, in particu - the Turks. “He escaped to Aus - Have to Say Theory and the concept of Nash awarded MacArthur Foundation gan and MA and PhD degrees lar the administrative practices tria… taught himself German Equilibrium. fellowships on September 29 from the University of Texas at of the Mycenaean state. He has somehow and remarkably got a Daskalakis has also been was Greek-American Dimitri Austin, is writing a book about published articles on Linear A, degree in electrical engineer - About Trump awarded a 2012 Microsoft Re - Nakassis, a 40-year-old archae - Greece’s political organization Homer and Hesiod, archaeolog - ing.” Then, he returned to search Faculty Fellowship; such ologist and historian who is an in the late Bronze Age, and trav - ical surveys, Greek religion and Greece and with his business By Georgia Boutsianis and grants are awarded to promising associate professor at the Uni - eling to Greece for an archaeo - history, and the Mycenaean partners built many of the Greek Constantinos E. Scaros young researchers worldwide in versity of Toronto. logical survey and to oversee economy, society and prosopog - world’s first electrical power recognition of their ground - The so-called “genius grants” digital imaging of ancient raphy. He is the author of Indi - plants. He started with nothing, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – The breaking, high-impact work that are a vote of confidence to some tablets from Pylos. The award viduals and Society in Myce - reached great heights, and then term “Greek-Americans” most has the potential to help solve of America’s best and brightest will bring more attention to his naean Pylos (Leiden 2013), and fate took it away. readily conjures thoughts of Hel - some of today’s most challeng - academics, artists, entrepre - field, which he said suffers from is co-Director of the Western Ar - “This is the story of his life,” lenes living in the United States, ing social problems. neurs, scientists, and writers, a perception that historians Yankopoulos said. The story in - although it certainly includes res - TNH’s interview with Prof. each of whom receives have closed the book on Ancient Continued on page 6 cludes building two power idents of other North and South Daskalakis follows: American countries who are of TNH: You were able to solve Greek decent. Such is the case a problem that arose from John regarding the Greeks of Mexico, Nash’s work which stood unre - who have weighed in on ar - solved since 1950. Many econ - The Onassis guably the most-discussed polit - omists had been trying to find a ical figure of the summer and solution, but with no results. early fall, not only in American What was the secret of your suc - Cultural Cntr. politics but by the international cess? media as well – Donald Trump. CD: The contribution of my As he launched his 2016 pres - work was to characterize the Is Reopening idential bid early in the summer, computational complexity of Trump made reference to the Nash equilibrium, a concept de - Mexican government, claiming fined by John Nash in 1950. The By Constantine S. Sirigos that it “sends its criminals and purpose of Nash Equilibrium is TNH Staff Writer rapists” to the United States. The to predict what may occur in a charge being that in its attempt non-cooperative game. A game NEW YORK – On October 8 to rid its nation of the dregs of is a mathematical abstraction of Greek-Americans and Philhel - society, Mexico “sends” i.e., en - a strategic conflict between peo - lenes who have been eagerly courages and facilitates, the ille - ple. This may be a representa - awaiting the reopening of the gal entry of such undesirables tion of some recreational game Onassis Cultural Center NY, into the United States, thereby even as they enjoyed the events clearing them out of Mexico, so Continued on page 6 in New York’s finest venues, will that the country could enjoy a experience a unique homecom - society of good, law-abiding cit - ing. izens only. The Center’s new Executive Trump’s comments barely had Director, Amalia Kosmetatou, time to take root and be dis - It Takes a and its dedicated staff, along cussed on their merits before with Foundation officials led by they were quoted differently in Foundation President Dr. An - second-hand articles that were (Greek) thony Papadimitriou, will wel - working off of the original quote: come back their friends at the “Trump says Mexicans ‘are crim - Opening Night Gala Perfor - inals and rapists, but there are Village... mance and Reception that is some good ones.’” Taken out of also the inauguration of its an - context, this implies that Trump nual Festival of Arts and Ideas, TNH/COSTAS BEJ made a broad, sweeping, and By Penelope Karageorge the Onassis Festival NY. Tsipras and Kerry Meet in New York, Discuss Numerous Issues disparaging generalization of an During the tenure of Amb. entire nationality, allowing for Ignoring warnings that visit - Loucas Tsillas, its first Executive Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in New York on just a few positive exceptions to ing Greece in the middle of the Director, the Center became the sidelines of the opening session of the UN General Assembly.