X-STEM Symposium Par2cipa2ng Speakers – 2014 to 2018 ! 2018 X-STEM Speakers – April 5, 2018 - Washington D.C. Natalie Batalha, Ph.D. – This NASA astrophysicist is the former project scien5st for NASA’s ambi5ous Kepler Mission – the undertaking that has focused on searching for poten5ally habitable planets orbi5ng other stars in the Milky Way galaxy Emily Calandrelli – This astronau5cs expert shares her excitement about science and space explora5on in many exci5ng ways -- including as a correspondent on NeDlix´s Bill Nye Saves the World and Emmy nominated producer/host of FOX's Xplora4on Outer Space. Learn from her the importance of young students, including girls and minori5es, realizing just how amazing STEM can be! Howie Choset, Ph.D. – This scien5st, who serves as Chief Technology Officer of Advanced Robo5cs for Manufacturing (ARM) Ins5tute, and Professor of Robo5cs at Carnegie Mellon, is helping to usher in a new breed of robots that are playing a key role in such fron5ers as manufacturing, search and rescue, and surgery. Joseph DeSimone, Ph.D. – The research of this noted polymer scien5st is advancing such emerging fron5ers as 3-D prin5ng, nanomedicine and green chemistry -- impac5ng the environment, health, and manufacturing. Amelia Draper – NBC4 Meteorologist with StormTeam 4 in Washington DC. Her forecasts can be seen during the evening edi5ons of News4, on NBCWashington.com and on 103.5 WTOP Radio. She joined News4 in March 2013. Mark Eakin, Ph.D. – This oceanographer leads NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program to use satellites to monitor and save endangered coral reef ecosystems all over the globe. Danielle Feinberg – Combining her talents in computer technology and photographic ligh5ng, this Director of Photography at Pixar con5nues to work her magic on helping to create some of the most unforgebable animated films – from Toy Story 2 to the Academy Award-winning, Finding Nemo. Knatokie Ford, Ph.D. – An accomplished biomedical researcher, she is also known as a savvy science communicator who helped reshape the image of STEM as former President Obama’s Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and now as Founder and CEO of Fly Sci Enterprise, the innova5ve educa5on and media consul5ng organiza5on focused on using storytelling to inspire STEM learners of all ages. Limor Fried – As founder of her groundbreaking enterprise, Adafruit, this MIT-trained engineer and hacker is known as a leading innovator and thinker in the Maker Movement. Learn why she says, “If you can dream it, you can build it”! Greg Gage, Ph.D. – This co-founder and CEO of Backyard Brains is a published neuroscien5st and electrical engineer is developing new tools, curriculum and experiments that allow the general public par5cipate, hands-on, in neuroscience discovery. He’s an award winning inves5gator at the Na5onal Ins5tute of Health, and he was recognized by Barack Obama for being a Champion of Change for his commitment to ci5zen science. Erich Jarvis, Ph.D. – Using innova5ve research techniques that ohen defy conven5on, this leading neurobiologist is demonstra5ng what the songbird can reveal about the evolu5on of human language and learned behavior! David Kline – This industry leader – who serves as Chief Technology Officer at Viacom (the corpora5on which owns such en55es as MTV, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon) - was recently recognized as one of the leading execu5ves in the na5on promo5ng the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Po-Shen Loh Ph.D. – In his young career, this math professor at Carnegie Mellon University has already accomplished much, including: shedding light on two challenging branches of mathema5cs to win an CAREER award from the Na5onal Science Founda5on, founding expii.com to teach the world math and science with a free virtual tutor powered by ar5ficial intelligence, and coaching the U.S.A. Interna5onal Mathema5cal Olympiad team to back-to-back world victories. Dana J. Lorberg – For more than twenty-five years, Ms. Lorberg has served in a range of technology and business leadership posi5ons at Mastercard. In her current role as execu5ve vice president for Product Technology, she’s responsible for Mastercard’s many product technology plaDorms. Murali Patnam – As General Manager of Digital Transforma5on at NCR Corpora5on, this engineer and financial services execu5ve leads the strategy, design and development of a porDolio of digital commerce solu5ons across Retail, Hospitality and Financial Services industries. Brigadier General Heather L. Pringle – General Pringle serves as U.S. Air Force Commander of the 502nd Air Base Wing and Joint Base San Antonio, TX. The 8,000-person Air Base Wing executes 49 installa5on support func5ons to enable the largest Joint Base in the DoD. In addi5on, the 502 ABW manages and provides oversight for major projects, facili5es and infrastructure worth $37 billion. J. Marshall Shepherd, Ph.D. – This noted meteorologist and climate scien5st at the University of Georgia has also served at NASA and assisted such notables as the White House and the Defense Department with complex meteorological issues. He is also passionate about shedding light on the fascina5ng high-tech world of his profession with students in STEM. Tierney Thys, Ph.D. – This Na5onal Geographic Explorer is a marine biologist and science media maker who travels the world ocean studying marine megafauna like the giant ocean sunfishes. She collaborates with myriad individuals and groups to inspire stewardship of the natural world from professional dancers to schoolgroups and prison organiza5ons. She has also developed and led Nat Geo expedi5ons for all ages including ones in Monterey Bay, Belize and Bali Indonesia focused on highschoolers interested in marine science. Steve Wolf – As a highly experienced Hollywood film stunt performer and special effects coordinator, Steve -- president of Wolf Stuntworks and founder of Science in the Movies -- is using his tech skills in the entertainment industry to excite kids in STEM fron5ers via such movies as Spider Man, and Cast Away. Jean Yang, Ph.D. – This emerging computer scien5st at Carnegie Mellon University, who began programming at age 8, is on a mission to make it easier for non-computer professionals and businesses to create the sohware they intend to write. 2017 X-STEM Speakers – April 28, 2017 - Washington D.C. Andrew Augus2n - Let your imagina5on go as this award-winning creator of such games as Super Ubie Land, Team No5on and characters for The Sims 3 Pets, takes you inside the fascina5ng high-tech world of game designing! Eric Brown, Ph.D. - This prominent microbiologist at the Food and Drug Administra5on is especially known for revolu5onizing how the FDA iden5fies and tracks microorganisms that cause foodborne diseases. Get ready as he takes you inside how dangerous foodborne pathogen strains such as Salmonella and E. coli are detected, and how his work ensures safety of the food we eat. Emily Cross - This 11th-grader -- as the winning presenter at Sigma Xi´s pres5gious Student Research Conference in 2016 and a first-place special award winner at the Intel Interna5onal Science and Engineering Fair in 2015 -- is already forging a remarkable future in science. Discover what keep her inspired and focused on her scien5fic pursuits! Marcus Eriksen - From his cap5va5ng seagoing expedi5ons to his empowering world-renowned 5 Gyres Ins5tute, discover how this noted researcher is calling aben5on to the problem of plas5c pollu5on plaguing our world´s oceans. Falon Fatemi - At age 19, she became the youngest employee at Google where she was responsible for strategizing the company´s entrance into such markets as Europe and Africa. Now as founder and CEO of her company, Node, she is redefining the way web informa5on is organized, resul5ng in greater tailored and personaliza5on of this informa5on for users. Bobak Ferdowsi - You’ll remember him as the young NASA flight director who sported the cool mohawk hairdo in JPL’s mission control center as the rover Curiosity made its historic descent onto Mars in 2012. Now meet this inspiring systems engineer as he tells how his “mohawk experience” catapulted him into the na5onal spotlight, and about the many exci5ng careers that await young students in space science! Jennifer Golbeck, Ph.D. - What does our online interac5on with Facebook and other social media say about us? And how can we beber safeguard our privacy when using them? Get answers from this fascina5ng University of Maryland computer scien5st who is na5onally-known for her exper5se in online behavior! Jordan Green, Ph.D. - Cancer is one key research area where there is great need for improved therapeu5cs. Discover from this leading biomedical engineering scien5st at Johns Hopkins University how he is using the latest techniques in the emerging field of nanobiotechnology to create smarter drug and gene therapies to treat a wide range of cancers -- and save lives! Christy Hansen - As a NASA manager her accomplishments are many, including serving as a cer5fied astronaut EVA (extra-vehicular ac5vity) instructor, and working on programs involving the Interna5onal Space Sta5on, Space Shuble and the Hubble space telescope. Her present work includes managing airborne science missions that study Earth’s systems all over the planet. Now hang on as she takes you inside one of her most challenging and exci5ng NASA assignments: the ambi5ous IceBridge Project set in Antarc5ca! Patrick T. Harker, Ph.D. - the 11th president and chief execu5ve officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. In this role, President Harker par5cipates on the Federal Open Market Commibee, which formulates the na5on's monetary policy. Jill Heinerth - One of the few women in the world to rise to prominence in the fields of underwater explora5on and cave diving, this adventurer will take you deep beneath the surface of some of the most dangerous and fascina5ng watery loca5ons on the planet! Gregory H.