Physical & Life Sciences

Scholars dedicating their careers to the study of living organisms and non-living systems

Seth Honda

Seth Honda

Seth Honda was born and raised on the west side of O'ahu, where he worked on computational biology research with NASA and Los Alamos National Lab before pivoting into education. He now teaches computer science to high schoolers in Colorado Springs while building privacy and security tooling on the side.

Seth Honda was born and raised on the west side of O'ahu, where he worked on computational biology research with NASA and Los Alamos National Lab before pivoting into education. He now teaches computer science to high schoolers in Colorado Springs wh... Show more

Manisha Sengupta

Manisha Sengupta

Manisha Sengupta is a seasoned technology leader with over 15 years of experience in software development, systems architecture, and technical program management across top-tier firms, including Brown Brothers Harriman, Intel, Google, and FIS Global. She currently serves as Assistant Vice President, Systems Lead at BBH, where she spearheads modernization efforts and leads large-scale financial technology initiatives within the Fund Accounting System division’s STAR Accounting platform. Her career has spanned critical domains such as fund accounting, asset management systems, open-source graphics, and telecom assurance, with a strong track record of delivering high-impact solutions. Manisha brings deep expertise in Application Development, Agile, SAFe, and DevOps methodologies, and holds multiple certifications, including Certified SAFe® Scrum Master and Harvard Business School’s Specialization in Finance & Accounting.
She is a recognized contributor in the industry, having attended the Project to Product Summit and Women Impact Tech (WIT) NY Accelerate Conference in 2024. Manisha holds a B.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering from Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology.

Manisha Sengupta is a seasoned technology leader with over 15 years of experience in software development, systems architecture, and technical program management across top-tier firms, including Brown Brothers Harriman, Intel, Google, and FIS Global.... Show more

Phil Choo

Phil Choo

Phil Choo is a Professor of Graphic Design at Penn State University and a recognized leader in the integration of service design with ecological literacy. With over 10 years of advanced experience in higher education, Professor Choo specializes in developing interdisciplinary curricula that frame design as a vital tool for civic engagement and environmental stewardship. He successfully spearheaded the collaboration between the Penn State Graphic Design program and the Frost Museum of Entomology, leading students through a rigorous, four-phased workflow (Discovery, Definition, Development, and Delivery) to visualize complex biological data. His pedagogical models focus on creating high-impact public exhibitions that combine visual communication with curated biological specimens, establishing a replicable standard for multi-sensory sustainability education in higher education.

Phil Choo is a Professor of Graphic Design at Penn State University and a recognized leader in the integration of service design with ecological literacy. With over 10 years of advanced experience in higher education, Professor Choo specializes in de... Show more

Mixu Mayli Alarcon Aliaga

Mixu Mayli Alarcon Aliaga

Soy una estudiante e investigadora en formación enfocada en la ingeniería aeroespacial y las ciencias espaciales, con un fuerte interés en el desarrollo de proyectos, investigación aplicada y divulgación científica. He participado activamente en iniciativas vinculadas al espacio, donde he comenzado a construir mi camino a través de proyectos, trabajo colaborativo y aprendizaje continuo. Mi enfoque se centra en transformar la curiosidad en acción, impulsando oportunidades en contextos donde el acceso a este campo no siempre está definido. A lo largo de mi trayectoria, he buscado integrar la investigación, la innovación y el impacto social como pilares para contribuir al desarrollo del sector aeroespacial.

Actualmente, continúo fortaleciendo mi formación mientras participo en espacios que promueven el crecimiento científico y tecnológico, con el objetivo de generar impacto y abrir camino para más jóvenes interesados en las ciencias espaciales.

Soy una estudiante e investigadora en formación enfocada en la ingeniería aeroespacial y las ciencias espaciales, con un fuerte interés en el desarrollo de proyectos, investigación aplicada y divulgación científica. He participado activamente en inic... Show more

Artur Bulatov

Artur Bulatov

20 years of experience at the intersection of technology and business. Artur's career spans OEM product development with Asian manufacturers, SaaS solutions for enterprise clients, and hands-on experience at a Silicon Valley startup. Artur has deep expertise in implementing both hardware and software IT solutions in retail and trade environments, with a sharp focus on the musical instruments and professional live sound equipment markets. He holds an MBA in Marketing and is known for his rigorous approach to market research and go-to-market strategy development.

20 years of experience at the intersection of technology and business. Artur's career spans OEM product development with Asian manufacturers, SaaS solutions for enterprise clients, and hands-on experience at a Silicon Valley startup. Artur has deep e... Show more

Gabriel Koo

Gabriel Koo

Senior Lead Engineer at Bowtie Life Insurance
AWS Community Builder (2022-)
AWS User Group Hong Kong Volunteer (2026-)

Senior Lead Engineer at Bowtie Life Insurance AWS Community Builder (2022-) AWS User Group Hong Kong Volunteer (2026-) Show more

Ajmal Dookhan

Ajmal Dookhan

Ajmal Dookhan is the founder of NextCog.ai, a technology firm that advises companies across industrial, scientific and medical sectors.

As CEO of nextcog, Ajmal's goal is to drive innovation and help companies implement innovative solutions. His responsibilities in this role include full stack software development, architecture and design, devsecops, implementing machine learning models to help companies harness the potential conveyed by Artificial Intelligence.

Ajmal brings to his position a well-established background in Information Technology and software development. Prior to being CEO of NextCog, Ajmal worked for more than 5 years in the IT industry in Mauritius between 2012 and 2017 . He moved to France in 2017 to work as consultant in the financial sector.

Ajmal holds a degree in Statistics and Information Technology from Paris Descartes University in France (2009). He has had the opportunity to work as post graduate intern in the Bioinformatics department at Paris Diderot University (2010). Ajmal is deeply interested in algorithmic design, computer vision, signal processing, data science and software development.

Ajmal Dookhan is the founder of NextCog.ai, a technology firm that advises companies across industrial, scientific and medical sectors. As CEO of nextcog, Ajmal's goal is to drive innovation and help companies implement innovative solutions. His r... Show more

Emily Lazar

Emily Lazar

Creator/ Singer of September Mourning, Writer Image/ Top Cow Comics

Emily Lazar is a multi-disciplinary artist fronting the rock/metal transmedia project, September Mourning, who made history as the first female metal/ hard rock musician to mint and sell an NFT. As of now, she has close to 800 collectors across 5 platforms. She is the first Metal musician ever to mint and sell out a project on Soundxyz, Gala music, Opensea, Zora and Foundation. She has spoken about her accomplishments in Web 3 at Harvard (2x), NFT.NYC, Art Basel and ETH Denver Conferences.

Her transmedia project, September Mourning is based on a comic book series she wrote and published through Image/Top Cow Comics with her business partner Marc Silvestri.

Emily Plays the title character and designed the world she and her band bring to life on stage, including costumes, choreography, sets, etc. She has toured & opened festivals for Rob Zombie, Slipknot and others in Europe and the United States.

Creator/ Singer of September Mourning, Writer Image/ Top Cow Comics Emily Lazar is a multi-disciplinary artist fronting the rock/metal transmedia project, September Mourning, who made history as the first female metal/ hard rock musician to mint a... Show more

Erika Katacic Kozic

Erika Katacic Kozic

Erika Katačić Kožić je spisateljica, pripovjedačica i kemičarka. Rođena i odrasla u Kaliforniji, živi i radi u Hrvatskoj. Ima skoro 25 godina iskustva u farmaceutskoj industriji gdje joj je fokus na znanost u industrijskim procesima. Objavila je nekolicinu priča u britanskim zbirkama i časopisima, a u Hrvatskoj samostalnu slikovnicu za djecu, te tri knjige bajki u suautorstvu: Bajkarice, Bajkari, i Bajkarenje (Planet Zoe, 2020., 2021., 2022.). Ovaj ciklus posvećen usmenoj predaji iz svijeta, najviše iz cijele Hrvatske, dobitnik je nagrade Sfera za posebno ostvarenje. Umjetnost pripovijedanja otkrila je u srednjoj školi kad se pridružila debatnom klubu, a sad uživa nastupati na lokalnim događanjima za djecu i odrasle. Strast joj je sakupljati bajke i ispričati ih na neki novi način.

Erika Katačić Kožić je spisateljica, pripovjedačica i kemičarka. Rođena i odrasla u Kaliforniji, živi i radi u Hrvatskoj. Ima skoro 25 godina iskustva u farmaceutskoj industriji gdje joj je fokus na znanost u industrijskim procesima. Objavila je neko... Show more

Marcus Wislicenus

Marcus Wislicenus

2013-2019 Fraunhofer IPMS - Research Scientist BEOL Metallization
2019-2024 Fraunhofer IPMS - Group Leader High Performance Technologiessince
2024-now Fraunhofer IPMS - Group Leader Quantum Technologies

2013-2019 Fraunhofer IPMS - Research Scientist BEOL Metallization 2019-2024 Fraunhofer IPMS - Group Leader High Performance Technologiessince 2024-now Fraunhofer IPMS - Group Leader Quantum Technologies Show more

Sridhar Irujolla

Sridhar Irujolla

Technical Architect with over 17 years of experience driving digital transformation through cloud architecture, intelligent automation, and AI/ML-powered enterprise modernization. Currently at Mary Kay, USA, he plays a pivotal role in designing multi-cloud strategies across AWS, Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), while also leading enterprise technology analysis for Supply Chain innovations—helping the organization achieve resilience, scalability, and cost optimization.

Technical Architect with over 17 years of experience driving digital transformation through cloud architecture, intelligent automation, and AI/ML-powered enterprise modernization. Currently at Mary Kay, USA, he plays a pivotal role in designing multi... Show more

Saad.Sheikh kdcAI

Saad.Sheikh kdcAI

Saad Sheikh is a Principal Cloud, AI & Enterprise Architect with over 21 years of experience leading cross functional teams in many global organizations Optus , Essential Energy , KDCAI , Dell , STC , SwedTel , Zain group where he delivered large-scale digital transformation programs across telecommunications, energy, and public sector organizations globally. He specializes in enterprise architecture for AI-driven systems, cloud-native platforms, and multi-cloud data environments, with deep expertise in governance, automation, and AI operating models.

Saad Sheikh is a Principal Cloud, AI & Enterprise Architect with over 21 years of experience leading cross functional teams in many global organizations Optus , Essential Energy , KDCAI , Dell , STC , SwedTel , Zain group where he delivered large-sca... Show more

Melanie Sabado-Liwag

Melanie Sabado-Liwag

Melanie Sabado-Liwag, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health at California State University-Los Angeles. She received her PhD at the School of Community & Global Health at Claremont Graduate University and a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIMHD at NIH. With over 20 years of experience working with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, her health equity-focused research aims to understand multi-level determinants related to adverse health and social outcomes across the life course through community-partnered approaches.

Melanie Sabado-Liwag, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health at California State University-Los Angeles. She received her PhD at the School of Community & Global Health at Claremont Graduate University and a postdoctora... Show more

Katrin Hochberg

Katrin Hochberg

Katrin Hochberg hat am KIT Karlsruhe Deutsch und Physik für das Lehramt an Gymnasien studiert und an der TU Kaiserslautern in Physikdidaktik promoviert. Seit 2024 arbeitet sie im Referat für Lehrentwicklung und Qualitätssicherung an der RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau und im Bereich Strategie und Innovation.

Katrin Hochberg hat am KIT Karlsruhe Deutsch und Physik für das Lehramt an Gymnasien studiert und an der TU Kaiserslautern in Physikdidaktik promoviert. Seit 2024 arbeitet sie im Referat für Lehrentwicklung und Qualitätssicherung an der RPTU Kaisersl... Show more

Fernando Posada

Fernando Posada

Fernando Posada is the group leader of the Systems Acceptance and User Environment group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. During his Ph.D., Fernando developed an interest in High-Performance Computing and completed a Master's degree in the same field from SISSA. He has been involved in various HPC projects, working on designing, deploying, managing, and providing support to users in different HPC resources.

Fernando Posada is the group leader of the Systems Acceptance and User Environment group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. During his Ph.D., Fernando developed an interest in... Show more

Elijah MacCarthy

Elijah MacCarthy

Elijah is an HPC Engineer with the National Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His current focus is on program optimization and parallelization, software containers and HPC system testing.

Elijah is an HPC Engineer with the National Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His current focus is on program optimization and parallelization, software containers and HPC system testing. Show more

Sandya Venugopal

Sandya Venugopal

Dr. Sandya Venugopal is an award-winning neurosurgeon-scientist, public policy scholar, and interdisciplinary leader with accomplishments across academic, government, and private sectors. Her global expertise spans healthcare, public health, scientific research, health policy, data analytics, bioethics, regulatory compliance, and technological innovation—all applied to advancing impactful solutions for societal and policy challenges.

Committed to fostering inclusive and forward-thinking dialogue, Sandya leverages her diverse background to inspire meaningful change. Her contributions bridge the gap between advanced technologies and humanity’s needs, offering fresh perspectives on how innovation can transform lives ethically and equitably.

Dr. Sandya Venugopal is an award-winning neurosurgeon-scientist, public policy scholar, and interdisciplinary leader with accomplishments across academic, government, and private sectors. Her global expertise spans healthcare, public health, scientif... Show more

Jeff Hammond

Jeff Hammond

Jeff Hammond is a Distinguished Engineer in the NCCL team at NVIDIA focused on user education and research outreach. His background is in parallel application and algorithm development, open-source software, and supercomputing architecture. Jeff has made significant contributions to open standards, especially MPI.

Jeff Hammond is a Distinguished Engineer in the NCCL team at NVIDIA focused on user education and research outreach. His background is in parallel application and algorithm development, open-source software, and supercomputing architecture. Jeff ha... Show more

Simon Tichutab Onilimor

Simon Tichutab Onilimor

Simon is a development and applied statistics professional with strong experience in official statistics, food security analysis, labour statistics, and poverty measurement. He works as a data scientist with the Ghana Statistical Service, and his work spans Small Area Estimation (SAE), time-use statistics, and SDG-aligned frameworks, with a particular focus on data for policy and development planning in Africa. He has hands-on experience working with household survey data, labour and spatial statistics, and is increasingly engaged in research on labour markets and human development.

Simon is a development and applied statistics professional with strong experience in official statistics, food security analysis, labour statistics, and poverty measurement. He works as a data scientist with the Ghana Statistical Service, and his wor... Show more

Youssef Chraibi

Youssef Chraibi

Directeur adjoint de GreenAlp, j'ai en charge des missions de Gouvernance & Organisations. J'ai porté des projets de transformation, d'innovation ou de refonte d'activité.

Coach professionnel, je m'attache à faciliter la mise en mouvement, en particulier de collectifs.

Directeur adjoint de GreenAlp, j'ai en charge des missions de Gouvernance & Organisations. J'ai porté des projets de transformation, d'innovation ou de refonte d'activité. Coach professionnel, je m'attache à faciliter la mise en mouvement, en part... Show more

Rahma Hasna Bedla

Rahma Hasna Bedla

I am an accomplished IT Business Analyst with over 6 years of experience in analyzing, optimizing, and designing information systems, currently working as a Freelancer. My strong technical foundation, combined with an analytical and solution-oriented mindset, enables me to bridge business needs with IT capabilities across diverse industries, including technology, science, governance, and telecommunications, as well as across multiple countries, such as Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and Algeria.

I am an accomplished IT Business Analyst with over 6 years of experience in analyzing, optimizing, and designing information systems, currently working as a Freelancer. My strong technical foundation, combined with an analytical and solution-oriented... Show more

Raphaela Seeger

Raphaela Seeger

Platform Engineer at Puzzle ITC with a passion for CI/CD, automation, and cloud-native technologies.
I am committed to create scalable and secure software delivery pipelines for our customers. I love to implement modern, cutting-edge technologies such as Kubernetes and Dagger are driving the current innovations in software development and deployment processes.

Platform Engineer at Puzzle ITC with a passion for CI/CD, automation, and cloud-native technologies. I am committed to create scalable and secure software delivery pipelines for our customers. I love to implement modern, cutting-edge technologies su... Show more

Jaydeep Taralkar

Jaydeep Taralkar

Jaydeep Taralkar is an Executive Director and Senior Data Science Leader with expertise in platform strategy and financial technology. With over 15 years of experience in the financial technology sector, he specializes in artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and cloud engineering solutions.
Throughout his distinguished career at leading financial institutions including Credit Suisse and Barclays, Jaydeep has consistently delivered innovative data platforms and ML solutions that drive business optimization and cost savings. His notable achievements include developing advanced fraud detection tools, creating explainable AI models for credit risk assessment, and architecting strategic data platforms that enhance cross-functional collaboration.
Currently pursuing a PhD in Artificial Intelligence at Capitol Technology University, with research focused on predictive analytics for climate-resilient crops and sustainable food production, Jaydeep combines academic rigor with practical industry expertise. He holds a Master's degree in Business Intelligence & Analytics from Stevens College of Technology and maintains multiple certifications in AI, ML, and cloud technologies from MIT, IBM, Microsoft, and Google.
Jaydeep is known for his visionary leadership, technical innovation, and ability to build high-performing teams that deliver transformative business solutions in the rapidly evolving landscape of financial technology and data science.

Jaydeep Taralkar is an Executive Director and Senior Data Science Leader with expertise in platform strategy and financial technology. With over 15 years of experience in the financial technology sector, he specializes in artificial intelligence, mac... Show more

Raakesh Raajasekar

Raakesh Raajasekar

Lead Site Reliability Engineer with 7+ years of experience in optimising system reliability, automating infrastructure, and scaling cloud-based applications. Passionate about reducing manual toil and enhancing operational efficiency.

Lead Site Reliability Engineer with 7+ years of experience in optimising system reliability, automating infrastructure, and scaling cloud-based applications. Passionate about reducing manual toil and enhancing operational efficiency. Show more

Crefeda Rodrigues

Crefeda Rodrigues

Crefeda Rodrigues is a Staff Software Engineer at Arm, focusing on performance and scalability driven machine learning software optimization for Arm server CPUs. She previously worked on large-scale climate and weather model optimization as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Manchester and holds a PhD in energy-efficient machine learning.

Crefeda Rodrigues is a Staff Software Engineer at Arm, focusing on performance and scalability driven machine learning software optimization for Arm server CPUs. She previously worked on large-scale climate and weather model optimization as a postdoc... Show more

Sana Nazir

Sana Nazir

PhD student at Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Poggie Group (https://engineering.purdue.edu/~jpoggie/)

PhD student at Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Poggie Group (https://engineering.purdue.edu/~jpoggie/) Show more

Samuel Desseaux

Samuel Desseaux

Samuel Desseaux is a CTO & CIO Advisor focused on observability, edge AI, and IT/OT integration. He designs open-source observability labs and reproducible pipelines that help teams instrument, benchmark, and trust complex AI and high-performance systems deployed at the edge or within industrial infrastructures. His work spans factories, mobility systems, HPC-adjacent environments, and scientific instrumentation. Through his companies, Erythix in France and Aureonis in Belgium, he supports organizations in building transparent, resilient, vendor-neutral architectures that unify AI, OT, and HPC workflows.

Samuel Desseaux is a CTO & CIO Advisor focused on observability, edge AI, and IT/OT integration. He designs open-source observability labs and reproducible pipelines that help teams instrument, benchmark, and trust complex AI and high-performance sys... Show more

David Carmona

David Carmona

Llevo más de 5 años haciendo charlas sobre tecnologías Front-end, VR y videojuegos. Soy leader de la comunidad Open Front-end Community de Barcelona y Madrid (https://www.meetup.com/frontend-barcelona/)

Llevo más de 5 años haciendo charlas sobre tecnologías Front-end, VR y videojuegos. Soy leader de la comunidad Open Front-end Community de Barcelona y Madrid (https://www.meetup.com/frontend-barcelona/) Show more

Steven Pousty

Steven Pousty


Steve is a Dad, Partner, Son, and Principal Community Architect at Red Hat focused on AI. He can teach you about Data Analysis, Computer Vision, AI, Kubernetes, Java, Python, and PostgreSQL. He has deep subject area expertise in GIS/Spatial, Statistics, and Ecology. Before Red Hat, Steve was a developer Advocate for Crunchy Data, DigitalGlobe, VMWare, LinkedIn, deCarta, and ESRI. Steve has a Ph.D. in Ecology and can easily be bribed with offers of bird watching or fly fishing.

Steve is a Dad, Partner, Son, and Principal Community Architect at Red Hat focused on AI. He can teach you about Data Analysis, Computer Vision, AI, Kubernetes, Java, Python, and PostgreSQL. He has deep subject area expertise in GIS/Spatial, Statis... Show more

Brian Daza

Brian Daza

Brian is a skilled data professional with a strong academic background. During his career, he has always dealt with data in some way or the other. With a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Utrecht University), he originally focused on developing drug discovery tools but shifted his focus to data analytics.

During his PhD at KU Leuven Brian developed 3D-printed chips that allowed to grow of stem cells on a chip, that could further be analyzed using state-of-the-art sequencing tools. He had to integrate many different types of data (microscopy images, genetic sequencing, etc.) to be able to validate the results. He often used scripting tools (R, Python) to develop and integrate these pipelines.

He always had an affinity with information technology and he decided to follow his passion for data with a focus on data engineering. Brian worked on multiple projects since then with Immoweb, Accenture, and Orange Business to grow further in data engineering. He implemented orchestration tools for ELT client workflows and co-developed a prediction application.

Brian has experience in Microsoft Azure, extensive expertise in open-source tooling (Python, R, Airflow, Kubernetes, etc.), and is a (AWS) certified cloud practitioner.

He enjoys spending time outdoors, climbing, and playing his bass guitar outside of work.

Brian is a skilled data professional with a strong academic background. During his career, he has always dealt with data in some way or the other. With a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Utrecht University), he originally focused on developing drug... Show more

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