Elizabeth Bonker is a talented young woman who, like any other 14-year-old, is simply trying to discover her place in this world – a task made infinitely more difficult by autism. Unable to speak, Ms. Bonker nevertheless illuminates the inner world of autism through the poems she types one finger at a time.
Deborah Estrin is a Professor of Computer Science at the new Cornell Tech campus in New York City and co-founder of the non-profit startup, Open mHealth. She was previously on faculty at UCLA and Founding Director of the NSF Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS). Estrin is a pioneer in networked sensing, which uses mobile and wireless systems to collect and analyze real time data about the physical world and the people who occupy it.
Afro Blue, a widely acclaimed vocal jazz ensemble, is known as a “vocal big band.” Based at Howard University in Washington, DC, the group has repeatedly been named “best graduate college vocal jazz ensemble” by DownBeat Magazine. Professor Connaitre Miller formed Afro Blue in 2002.
Ashley Atkinson is an interim co-director with Keep Growing Detroit, an urban agriculture-focused organization that provides resources and support for more than 1,400 gardens and farms in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park. She also serves as the sustainable agriculture representative for the Detroit Food Policy Council and as an Advisor to the Restaurant Opportunity Center-Michigan and Grow Dat youth farm in New Orleans.
Elazer R. Edelman holds faculty appointments at MIT where he directs the Biomedical Engineering Center and Harvard Medical School where he serves as Senior Attending Physician in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. His research combines his scientific and medical training using controlled drug delivery, growth factor biochemistry, tissue engineering, biomaterials-tissue interactions, and continuum mechanics to examine the mechanisms of tissue repair.
America Bracho is the Executive Director of Latino Health Access, a center for health promotion and disease prevention located in Santa Ana, California. This Center was created under her leadership to assist with the multiple health needs of Latinos in Orange County.
Amy P. Abernethy, MD, a medical oncologist and palliative medicine physician, is a tenured Associate Professor in Duke University Schools of Medicine and Nursing, Director of the Duke Center for Learning Health Care (CLHC) in the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and Director of the Duke Cancer Care Research Program (DCCRP) in the Duke Cancer Institute. With over 300 publications, Dr. Abernethy is an internationally recognized expert in health services research and delivery in patient-centered cancer care.
Born in England in 1968, Teresa Monachino is a graphic designer whose work touches many design disciplines from exhibition and branding to books, packaging and digital media. She studied at the Chelsea School of Art in London, graduating in 1990, and now runs her own independent studio where she has established a worldwide reputation as a designer with a natural affinity for type.
Step Afrika! is the first professional company in the world dedicated to the tradition of stepping. Founded in December 1994, the company is critically-acclaimed for its efforts to promote an understanding of and appreciation for stepping and the dance tradition’s use as an educational tool for young people worldwide.
Scott Jurek is a world-renowned ultramarathon champion and the 24-hour American record holder of 165.7 miles—6½ marathons in one day. His wins include the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run an unprecedented seven consecutive times, the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon, Hardrock Hundred and the 153-mile Spartathlon.