Diversity in STEM Summit 2018
At Tandon, we believe that academic excellence is inseparable from our commitment to creating a culture that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belongingness. Join us at our 4th annual Diversity in STEM Summit where we will explore the theme, “Smart Cities: Energy at the Forefront, Locally & Globally.” How can we design our cities to fully prioritize inclusivity? We should not have an “invisible” smart city, but one which takes into account all household income levels, all ages from children to seniors, ethnic minorities, active and inactive individuals, and those with special accessibility needs.
We must actively ‘program’ our smart city initiatives to be unbiased and to make sure that we have a diverse innovative pool of engineering and design talent at the table shaping our cities.
Signature Events
Luncheon Lightning Talks
12:00-2:00PM
370 Jay Street, 12th Floor (CUSP Seminar Room)
Why does diversity matter in the smart city space? How do we maintain the diversity of ideas and possibilities? In our multi-ethnic urban landscape and how do our local communities benefit, optimize and participate in these decisions?
Over lunch, you’ll hear “Lightning Talk” presenters address these questions and more. We will also feature Tandon PhD graduate, Bertha Jimenez, who will briefly discuss her food-tech startup, RISE, and share some of her yummy treats with all of us!
Participants who arrive on time will be entered to win a pair of Bose Wireless Headphones!
Keynote Dinner
6:00-8:00PM
370 Jay Street, 12th Floor (CUSP Seminar Room)
Join us at dinner to hear inspiring messages from our Dean, Jelena Kovačević, Professor André D. Taylor, and special guests including Paula Glover, President and CEO of the American Association of Blacks in Engineering (AABE), who will receive the second annual Diversity in STEM Champion Achievement Award. Network with invited corporate and industry partners as well as alumni and entrepreneurs.
Participants who arrive on time will be entered to win an HTC Vive VR Headset.
Bonus Graduate Info Session
Study Locally, Learn Globally: Graduate School Options at NYU Tandon
10:00AM-11:00AM
Wunsch Hall, 2nd Floor
The highest caliber of diverse research, and a boundless global perspective are the hallmarks of our graduate programs at NYU Tandon! Come learn about advanced degrees at Tandon from our own Graduate Admissions office. Find out about the application process, deadlines, and ways to finance your education, including the GEM Fellowship. Refreshments will be served.
Luncheon Lightning Talk - Speakers & Special Guests
Clayton Banks is the Co-Founder and CEO of Silicon Harlem. The mission of Silicon Harlem is to transform Harlem and other urban markets into Innovation and Technology Hubs. Under his leadership, Silicon Harlem has been able to partner with the Department of Education for New York City to establish an after-school STEM-based startup accelerator, collaborate with the NYC Mayor’s office to assess wireless broadband in upper Manhattan and coordinate a virtual startup incubator for tech-based entrepreneurs. Banks has established and produces the only comprehensive technology conference in Harlem, the Silicon Harlem tech conference is focused on next generation internet and its impact on urban markets economic development.
Daniela Blanco received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Universidad Simon Bolivar (Venezuela, 2016) at the top of her class. She became a Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering at NYU in January 2017, and has been working in the Modestino Research Group developing electrochemical technologies for the synthesis of Nylon's precursors using solar energy. Daniela, together with Myriam Sbeiti and Prof. Miguel Modestino, co-founded Sunthetics, a startup committed to the production of Nylon in a more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable way. Her goal is to make Sunthetics a platform, to make the chemical industry clean, one reaction at a time.
Fatima Crerar is Director of Social Impact and Sustainability at ecobee. ecobee is a pioneer in smart home and the company that invented the smart thermostat, making it easy for people to save energy and improve life. Fatima guides the vision and execution of ecobee’s deep-seeded social and environmental purpose through brand, business, and customer-facing programs built on unlikely partnerships that bridge sectors, and a relentless commitment to delivering real, tangible impact. She also sits on the Executive Board of Environmental Defence and volunteers with Aga Khan Foundation Canada to advance global poverty alleviation and sustainable development. A former lead for client projects at PUBLIC Inc., a boutique social impact agency, and Executive Director of the non-profit Summerhill Impact prior to that, she has been designing and delivering successful climate change, waste diversion, and air pollution programs for over a decade.
Ellen Hwang oversees a broad portfolio of projects and programs that are aimed to increase internal capacity for innovation in municipal government. She is responsible for the management of SmartCityPHL and is driving the development of a roadmap to guide smart city development throughout the City. This work encompasses a broad range of goals pertaining to service delivery, economic development, digital inclusion, and environmental stewardship. As a Temple University alum, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Master of Science degree in City and Regional Planning.
As an Analyst on National Grid’s Gas Utility of the Future team, McKenzie Schwartz supports the company’s strategic planning for a deeply decarbonized future. Her focus is on transitioning the gas distribution system to the low carbon future by reducing system emissions and introducing low carbon fuels. Prior to joining National Grid, she worked as a Natural Resource Analyst at a Utah focused land conservancy. Kenzie has a Masters of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University.
Bertha Jimenez Ph.D. is the CEO and co-founder of RISE. RISE is a food-tech startup that uses its patent-pending process and technology to convert organic byproducts into consumable foods. Currently, RISE is focusing on turning the by-product of the beer into an ultra-nutritious and tasty flour. Dr. Jimenez recently received her Ph.D. from NYU on May 2016. Her doctoral thesis was entitled the Entrepreneurial Sandbox: The role of co-curricular programs on nurturing student entrepreneur. Dr. Jimenez holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (Guayaquil, Ecuador) and an M.S. in Engineering and Technology Management from Portland State University (Portland, USA).
Keynote Dinner - Speakers & Honorees
Jelena Kovačević received a Ph.D. degree from Columbia University. She then joined Bell Labs, followed by Carnegie Mellon University in 2003, where she was currently the Hamerschlag University Professor and Head of the Department of ECE, and a Professor of BME. She is currently the William R. Berkley Professor and Dean of the Tandon School of Engineering at New York University. She received the IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award, Dowd Fellowship at CMU, Belgrade October Prize, and the E.I. Jury Award at Columbia University. She has co-authored a number of award-winning papers and is a coauthor of the textbooks Wavelets and Subband Coding and Foundations of Signal Processing. Dr. Kovačević is the Fellow of the IEEE and was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. She was a keynote speaker at a number of meetings and has been involved in organizing numerous conferences. Her research interests include applying data science to a number of domains such as biology, medicine and smart infrastructure; she is an authority on multiresolution techniques, such as wavelets and frames.
Prof. André D. Taylor is an Associate Professor and leads the Transformative Materials and Devices Group in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at New York University. He specializes in the synthesis and arrangement of nanomaterials in devices such as fuel cells, lithium ion batteries, and solar cells. He received all three degrees in chemical engineering with a BS from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, an MS from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a PhD from the University of Michigan. While in graduate school Dr. Taylor was a Sloan Fellow, NSF-Rackham Merit Fellow, Eastman Kodak Fellow, and GEM (MS and PhD) Fellow. He worked as a research engineer for DuPont’s Engineering Polymers division and Intellectual Asset Management Group and was a research faculty scientist in the chemical engineering department at the University of Michigan. Dr. Taylor has developed CMOS compatible micro fuel cells (with integrated heaters and temperature sensors) and a method of patterning ITO substrates for both flat and non-planar surfaces for optoelectronic devices (Artificial Eye Project). Dr. Taylor has given several invited lectures at the local, national, and international levels. He has several patents and archival publications related to his research. He is an NSF CAREER award recipient and a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE) recipient. In 2015, Dr. Taylor was a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Associate Professor at MIT. See website above for publication links and recent press releases from his lab.
Paula R. Glover is President and CEO for the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE), a national energy trade association that represents all sectors of the energy industry. Mrs. Glover leads a 2000-member association with 40 chapters nationwide. The association’s focus is to represent the voice for African Americans and other minorities on energy policy, regulations, and environmental issues.
Mrs. Glover directs the association’s strategic plan, business development and policy positions. She represents the organization before energy industry executives and national and state policy makers. She is an industry thought leader for issues around diversity and inclusion. Her work on international energy issues underscores the importance of energy to improve the quality of life for people throughout the African Continent. The association under Mrs. Glover’s leadership has partnered with the US Department of Energy on its Minorities in Energy initiative as well as business development programming for minority entrepreneurs. She has also testified before Congress about the impact of policies on underserved communities. Ms. Glover’s has more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry, including 15 years in both electric and natural gas distribution companies where she has worked in government affairs, regulatory affairs, and economic development.
In March 2014, Ms. Glover was appointed to the National Petroleum Council by U.S. Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz. In June of 2017, she was voted onto the Board of Directors for the Alliance to Save Energy. Mrs. Glover is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Maryland Energy and Sustainability Center at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Mrs. Glover received her B.S. in Marketing Management from the University of Delaware. She is the recipient of the Bring It Home to Hartford Award; the Clarke Watson Chairman’s Cup and the Platinum Achievement Award from the Cooperative Developmental Energy Program at Fort Valley State University. She is a 2003 graduate of Leadership New Haven and has contributed to articles on work life balance in Take Pride magazine.