ALEX TERRAZAS
Estimating markets in the developing world through satellite intelligence and behavioral biomimicry.
Can we estimate economic activity from the sky? Can we sample markets in the same way that animals search for food? Can we combine these modern and ancient technologies?
Dr. Alex Terrazas, Vice President, MSci Centers of Innovation at Nielsen, believes the answer is "yes" and will take us on a journey into the science of "optimal foraging" in his talk "Estimating markets in the developing world through satellite intelligence and behavioral biomimicry."
Alex Terrazas, Ph.D is a scientist and business leader with expertise in computer vision, satellite imaging, pattern recognition, and computational neuroscience. He currently holds the title of Sr. Vice President of Advanced Research and Development for Measure Science at the Nielsen Company. Dr. Terrazas is currently based in Silicon Valley, where he currently leads projects in location-based systems, computer vision, and satellite imaging. Prior to taking his current position at Nielsen, Dr. Terrazas was President and Chief Scientist at MediaBalance, a technology startup company he founded in 2003. Dr. Terrazas earned his PhD in Cognition and Neural Systems from the University of Arizona, where he conducted ground-breaking studies of the neural basis of spatial navigation using rats he trained to drive small cars.
ALLEN FAHDEN
Change the Work to Fit the People
Most people are miscast in their work, so they feel like misfits and failures much of the time. Yet, if you learn to change your work to fit your core nature, you'll go from soul sucking episodes of trying to prove yourself to giving a more consistent string of peak performances.
Allen Fahden has worked with 20 of the top 100 companies in the world, ranging from Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, GE and Disney. Shell Oil reported that using Allen’s techniques saved them a million dollars per team. He has written several books, including chapters on strength-based work for the best-selling book The One Minute Millionaire by Chicken Soup for the Soul author Mark Victor Hanson and his profile that streamlines innovation has sold nearly a million copies worldwide. Allen spoke at the first Fortune Magazine Innovation Forum alongside Warren Buffet and CEOs of the top Fortune 500 corporations. In addition, Allen has worked with clients Paul McCartney on his food venture and Bill Murray on his professional baseball teams.
ANDREW HARGADON
It's not about the idea
New, radical, disruptive ideas are the foundation of innovation—at least that's the common assumption. But what if that's wrong? If it's not the new ideas, what distinguishes those individuals and companies that change the world from those that don't. Looking at the most radical and disruptive idea in modern medicine—the advent of penicillin—I offer another perspective on what makes innovation work, and what we can do about it.
Dr. Andrew Hargadon is at the forefront of teaching, research, and practice in cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship. He is the founding director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Energy Efficiency Center at the University of California. In 2009, he received the Olympus Emerging Educational Leader Aware in recognition for his strong entrepreneurship curriculum and success with the two centers.
Dr. Hargadon is the Charles J. Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship and Professor of Technology Management at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis and a Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation. He received his doctoral degree from the Management Science and Engineering Department in Stanford University's School of Engineering, where he was named Boeing Fellow and Sloan Foundation Future Professor of Manufacturing. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Stanford University's Product Design Program in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Prior to his academic appointment, he worked as a product designer at Apple Computer and taught in the Product Design program at Stanford University.
Dr. Hargadon is the author of How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate and focuses his research on the effective management of innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in the development and commercialization of sustainable technologies.
CHRIS COLLINS
Why are we still learning history from textbooks?
Computer games are available everywhere from the desktop to the phone with the easy ability to play alone or in large groups. Virtual technology expert Chris Collins will show how we can use computer game technology to change the way we learn and investigate.
Chris Collins is the CEO and Founder of Tipodean Technologies, a company focused on gaming technologies across mobile and web. Prior to founding Tipodean, Chris worked at Linden Lab, creator of Second Life. He worked closely with the technical, product and sales teams, as well as directly with enterprise customers. Following Second Life, Chris has gone on to work with the U.S. military and a number of major universities and educational institutions. Chris has worked as a technical consultant across Australia, Europe, and the U.S. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Western Australia. A native of Perth, Australia, Chris currently lives and works in San Francisco.
CHRISTOPHER ATEGEKA
Can a Northern California student and engineer help his fellow Ugandans? Christopher Ategeka can tell you through his personal experience, how one person can really make a difference.
Christopher Ategeka is the founder and managing director of CA Bikes. Chris was born and raised in a small village in western Uganda. After losing both his parents to AIDS by the age of seven, he experienced years of hardship, striving to complete his studies and take care of his five younger siblings. Through YES Uganda, a non-profit organization, and sponsorship by an American host family, Chris was given the opportunity to move to California to enroll in school at the University of California, Berkeley. Chris graduated with highest honors in Mechanical Engineering.
Chris’ organization, CA Bikes, designs, manufactures and delivers high quality, life saving two wheel and three wheel products to African families, farmers, businesspersons, and individuals with disabilities. By harnessing the most unusual of raw materials, scrap piles, used metal and other locally sourced recycled materials, CA Bikes' engineering team makes products that save lives.
CLAUDIA LOPEZ
Countenance & The Camera Glance: Photography, Globalization, and Identity
If you could tell a story, any story, what would it be?
Claudia Camila Lopez is a photographer from Bogota, Colombia. Growing up at more than 8,000 feet above sea level gave her a passion for altitude, a love for hybrid cultures, and an eye for the meeting of extremes. It gave her a patient stubbornness seemingly disproportionate to her diminutive stature. And it gave her photography.
For her, the camera is not just a way of zooming in and capturing from a safe distance. It draws her in closer to her subjects, close enough to read the small print life has etched on their faces. She is inspired by movement and the cinematic image.
Claudia studied Communication - analyzing the cultural implications of multimedia, especially in education. “At the end of the day, just like in the movies,” she insists, “I want to have told a story.”
DAN BURRIER
Ten words to transform (or not) your life and the world
How can the language we use and abuse in daily life shape life for ourselves and others, for better or worse?
An ultra-marathoner, surfer and snowboarder, Dan is an ordained Zen priest, the father of 18-year old son Nicolas, and husband to Lauri, a painter, sustainable landscape designer and entrepreneur.
Dan is currently Board Chair of GOAL4.ORG, a non-profit founded by Dan and Lauri, dedicated to reducing infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya). Dan is also a board member of Communities in Schools, Los Angeles and the Emma Bowen Foundation, as well as a member of the Leadership Circle of GATE, the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment.
In his latest professional incarnation, Dan is focused on unleashing the natural passions and talents of people and the institutions they form, with the intent to create new, profitable business models and creative approaches to market, for the common good.
DAN SPERLING
Dr. Daniel Sperling is Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy, founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, and founding chair of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and Economy at the University of California, Davis. He also holds the transportation seat on the California Air Resources Board, where he plays a prominent role in designing and adopting climate policies for vehicles, fuels, and urban travel. He received a 2010 Heinz Award for his “achievements in the research of alternative transportation fuels and his responsibility for the adoption of cleaner transportation policies in California and across the United States.” Dan has been featured on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, NPR’s Science Friday, Talk of the Nation, and Fresh Air. Author or editor of over 200 papers and reports and 12 books, and a keynote speaker at over 40 universities and conferences. Served on 13 National Academies committees and was the lead author on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Price with former Vice President Al Gore.
Professor Sperling earned his Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (with minors in Economics and Energy & Resources) and his B.S. in Environmental Engineering and Urban Planning from Cornell University. Professor Sperling worked two years as an environmental planner for the US Environmental Protection Agency and two years as an urban planner in the Peace Corps in Honduras.
DAVID (DAK) KOPEK
A Call for Increased Access to Unstructured Interactions with Nature
Dr. David “Dak” Kopek holds a doctorate degree in Environmental Psychology with a concentration in perception and design and two master’s degrees, one in Architecture and another in Community Psychology. He is an Assistant Professor at Radford University, has served twice as a Visiting Lecturer at Virginia Commonwealth University in Doha, Qatar and Visiting Professor at the University of Hawaii in the schools of Architecture and Medicine.
Dak was invited by the Costa Rican National Congress’ of Medicine and Engineering to discuss the role of Design and Health, testified before the California State Senate on issues of Environmental Health, has been invited to present on the future of design at the IDA (International Design Alliance) Congress in Taiwan, and is listed as a Fullbright Specialist and member of ASID’s Distinguished Speakers.
Dak’s most notable accomplishments include a variety of published works; journal articles; the completion of three books: Environmental Psychology for Design, Health, Sustainability and The Built Environment, and Evidence Based Design: A Process for Research and Writing; and two monographs: Americans with Disabilities Act and The Elderly Population and Designs that Protect: Incorporating Culturally Diverse Perspectives in Long-Term Care Facilities. Dak also hosted a television pilot for TLC (The Learning Chanel) and a second television pilot produced by Baja Posse Movies.
GRAHAM RYLAND
Robots Belong in the Classroom
What if you could make robotics more affordable, adaptable, reconfigurable, and reprogrammable? What would you use it for? Industrial applications? Research? Education?
Graham Ryland is passionate about creating robots that inspire young people to pursue a career in engineering and science. He focused on modular robotics for his graduate work at the University of California, Davis, and later co-founded Barobo, Inc., an educational robotics startup along with his faculty advisor Harry Cheng. Graham is currently the president of Barobo Inc., creating robots for transformative K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Additionally, Graham is the Principle Investigator for a National Science Foundation SBIR Phase II grant supporting Barobo in its goal of making research grade robotics accessible to middle school and high school classrooms.
HENRIK SCHEEL
How the Entrepreneurial Mindset Can Change You
What if we stopped coming up with excuses and started doing something to solve the big problems around us?
Henrik Scheel asks this question to students and brings them on a transformational journey where they adopt the entrepreneurial mindset and practice the skills to solve great challenges. Through StartupExperience,Henrik teaches students to build their creative confidence and learn to see opportunities where other people see problems.
Henrik began his career in Denmark where he founded two companies during his engineering studies. After having worked in a creative capacity for several international corporations he became increasingly passionate about solving social problems through entrepreneurship and has spent the last three years working in the field. He now lives in San Francisco but spends most of his time traveling to expand the program through partnerships with governments, NGOs and corporate non-profits.
KENNETH CHRISTIAN
Solving the Riddle of Underachievement: Reclaiming Lives and Our Future
Kenneth W, Christian, Ph.D., author of Your Own Worst Enemy: Breaking the Habit of Adult Underachievement, HarperCollins, and An Invitation to Personal Change, Cengage Learning, is a licensed psychologist and expert on maximizing individual performance and organizational effectiveness. In 1990 he founded the Maximum Potential Project, and for the last 23 years has focused his professional efforts on helping people make the most of their talents and opportunities.
Dr. Christian began his career as a university professor then entered private practice where he worked with CEOs, owners of family businesses, and suburban families with gifted children who underachieved in school. He has successfully founded and run two businesses of his own: The Lafayette Therapy Center, a private practice clinic in Lafayette, CA and the Maximum Potential Project, where his work gained national attention. From 1979 to 1999 he served on the Board of Directors of the Western Graduate School of Psychology in Palo Alto, California, and from 1995 to 1999, was Chairman. Dr. Christian’s published articles have appeared in the Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology and other periodicals.
LISA DONCHAK
Game Theory and Ultra Running
Running is a mental game. How do ultramarathoners motivate themselves to run 20, 50, or 100-mile races? It turns out that running is as much a mental game as a physical game.
Lisa Donchak is a Business Strategist for Google: Google Apps. She's an accomplished ultramarathoner; completing over 20 marathons and ultramarathons, including four 50-mile races and a 100-mile race, as well as the 2012 Boston Marathon by the time she was 24. Earlier this year, she competed in the first annual Inca Trail Marathon, a 26.2-mile race at 13,000 feet of altitude, ending in Machu Picchu.
Lisa graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Santa Cruz. During her undergraduate career, she studied behavioral economics at Oxford University and helped spearhead the first undergraduate program in game theory at UCSC. She currently lives in San Francisco, California and aspires to run a marathon on every continent.
PATRICK SCHWERDTFEGER
Learned Intuition: How to Become Superhuman
Can intuition be learned and leveraged in life? Can an individual really learn to become a “superhuman”?
Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a leading authority on self-employment and the author of the award-winning book, Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed (2011, Wiley). He is a regular speaker for Bloomberg TV and has spoken about business trends, modern entrepreneurship and the social media revolution at conferences and business events around the world.
Patrick’s past books include Webify Your Business: Internet Marketing Secrets for the Self-Employed (2009) and Make Yourself Useful: Marketing in the 21st Century (2008). He has been featured by the New York Times, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN Money, Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, the Associated Press, MONEY Magazine and Forbes, among others.
SHAWN HAYES
Emotional Memory
Have you ever been in a situation where you were absolutely confident that what you knew was true, only to come to the realization that your memory has failed you... that what you were absolutely certain about was, in fact, a figment of your imagination?
Dr. Shawn Hayes will share with you a glimpse into the brain and the interplay between experiences and memory. Dr. Hayes is a Chief Academic and Research Office at HealthCorps. Before joining HealthCorps, Dr. Hayes worked in various roles in the healthcare industry and academia.
Dr. Hayes was a professor at Penn State University’s Hershey Medical Center in the Heart and Vascular Institute in the Neural Control Group. His areas of expertise are neurophysiology and cardiology. Prior to Penn State, he was an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at UC Davis where he studied autonomic function and neural control of exercise. Dr. Hayes was very active in postdoctoral scholars programs and issues and was the Chair of the UC Council of Postdoctoral Scholars and subsequently their faculty advisor. Additionally, he developed and founded the Peer Mentor Program for graduate students at UC Davis and wrote the Postdoctoral Scholar’s Mentoring Checklist.
Presently, he is the Director of Education for HealthCorps were he is charged with curriculum development and implementation, designing and conducting efficacy studies on the interventional components of the HealthCorps program as well as grant making.
SIFU SINGH
Quieting the Mind in Five Minutes a Day
What can we learn from the training of SEAL Team Six?
Sifu Harinder Singh is a martial arts and functional fitness master who previously spent seven years at a Fortune 100 company applying battlefield strategy for the boardroom. A trainer of Navy SEALS, Secret Service, FBI, CIA, SWAT, DoD, and numerous other foreign and domestic military and intelligence services, professional athletes, elite martial artists, and executives and business leaders, Singh has worked with the deadliest operators on the planet on how to survive, stay calm and lead teams in the most trying and challenging of situations. Through Warrior’s Way Lifestyle, he adapts the leadership training and team building given to military operators for executives, leaders, and corporations.
WIL AGATSTEIN
Stabilizing Agriculture in Afghanistan
Can Afghani farmers make a break from opium farming?
Wil Agatstein is the Executive Director at the UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Agatstein believes in the power of technology to make the world a better place through economic development, education and allowing people to understand their culture in the context of modernity. As Executive Director, he strengthens the Institute's focus on building and launching sustainable businesses that solve real world problems.
Prior to 2008, Agatstein was Vice President at Intel and the head of Intel's Emerging Markets Group. He has nearly three decades of global experience in the competitive high-tech arena. During his 27 years at Intel, Agatstein established a proven track record of innovation of products, including the start-up of Intel's chip design center in Malaysia and the Intel Powered classmate PC (CMPC) - a small, rugged and personalized laptop for children in the developing world.
Speakers may change at any time without notice.