Speakers

Opening Remarks

Steve Zornetzer,  NASA Ames	Dennis Meadows Japan Prize 2009 (via video)	Marianna  Grossman, SSV

 

Session I Panelists

Anthony Barnosky,  UC Berkeley

James Hansen,  Former NASA Goddard

Waleed Abdalati, University of Colorado

Dan Rasky, Space Portal at NASA Ames

Banny Banerjee, Stanford ChangeLabs

Dr.PeteWorden,  Director, NASA Ames Research Center

(SCHEDULED) Hon.Governor Edmund G.Brown,Jr., Governor of California

Session II: Panelist

John Hogan, NASA Ames		Wes Jackson, The Land Institute	Forrest Melton, NASA Ames	Wallace J. Nichols, LivBLUE.org	Kristiina Vogt, U of Washington

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waleed Adbalati

 

Director Earth Science Observation Center at University of Colorado and former Chief Scientist for NASA

 Waleed Abdalati was appointed NASA chief scientist on Jan. 3, 2011, serving as the principal adviser to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on NASA science programs, strategic planning and the evaluation of related investments. He is currently on leave from his position as director of the University of Colorado’s Earth Science and Observation Center, which carries out research and education activities on the use of remote sensing observations to understand the Earth. Abdalati is also a fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University. His research has focused on the use of satellites and aircraft to understand how and why Earth's ice cover is changing, and what those changes mean for life on our planet. He also has served as leader of the Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) Science Definition Team and has led or participated in nine field and airborne campaigns in the Arctic and Antarctic.

His appointment as chief scientist marks a return to NASA, where he worked from 1996-2008. From 2004-2008, he was head of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where he supervised a group of scientists who carried out research in the development and analysis of remote sensing observations to study the behavior of ice sheets, sea ice, and glaciers. From 2000-2004, he managed NASA's Cryospheric Sciences Program at NASA Headquarters, managing the agency’s interests and research investments in cryospheric research, and serving as program scientist on the ICESat and RADARSAT missions. From 1996-2000, Abdalati was a researcher at Goddard in the Oceans and Ice Branch, where he analyzed satellite and aircraft measurements of glaciers and ice sheets to assess their contributions to sea level rise. He also served as deputy project scientist for NASA’s Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat).

Abdalati received a Bachelor of Science degree from Syracuse University in 1986, a Master of Science degree from the University of Colorado in 1991, and a Ph.D. from University of Colorado in 1996. In the mid 1980s, before returning to graduate school, he worked as an engineer in the aerospace industry, designing, analyzing and testing components of various spacecraft and submarine systems.

He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and NASA-related technical reports, with approximately 1,500 citations in the peer-reviewed literature. He has given featured lectures and keynote addresses to the United Nations, AIAA, SPIE, AGU and various other professional and international organizations, as well as public lectures at The Smithsonian Institution, The American Museum of Natural History, and The Adler Planetarium. Abdalati has received various awards and recognition, most notably the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House.

 

Dr. Anthony D. Barnosky

Professor at Department of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley

Anthony Barnosky is lead author of a new document defining the scientific consensus on maintaining humanity's life support systems in the 21st century

Dr. Barnosky studies how global change influences extinction dynamics and biodiversity maintenance. He blends geological, paleontological, and modern data to determine when and how human impacts fundamentally shift natural ecological baselines, with the overall goal of developing feasible natural resource policies as we go into a future with pressures unique in Earth's history (including very large human populations, climate change, and energy use).

Current projects focus on understanding the extent to which synergistic effects of climate change and human population growth magnify extinction intensities, where solutions to the Sixth Extinction crisis may emerge, and how critical transitions (so-called "tipping points") at the global scale may affect humanity. He is also involved in defining whether paleontology-based criteria would warrant the definition of the Anthropocene as a formal geological epoch.

His past work includes clarifying why nearly half of the world's large mammal species went extinct between 10 and 50 thousand years ago, assessing how current extinction rates compare to past mass extinctions, and revealing how scaling issues resolve debates about whether Earth’s physical changes or biotic interactions are more important in driving biological changes.

Projects in Dr. Barnosky's lab employ primary geological and paleontological field work, isotopic techniques, and bioinformatics. His lab developed the publicly-accessible biodiversity database NEOMAP, an interactive map-based compilation of all fossil mammal occurrences in the United States for the period 30 million years ago to five hundred years ago, along with web-based analysis tools that facilitate analyzing how current biodiversity patterns differ from pre-anthropogenic ones.

Besides his primary scientific research, Dr. Barnosky also is a frequent translator of science for the public. He is author of the book Heatstroke, Nature in an Age of Global Warming (Island Press, 2009), and his team's discoveries have been featured in numerous newspapers, magazines, and radio broadcasts. He currently is working on a new book entitled Power, Food, and Money: How to Dodge the Sixth Mass Extinction, to be published by University of California Press.

 

Karol “Bo” Bobko

USAF Colonel and NASA Astronaut (ret.)

USAF Colonel and NASA Astronaut (ret.) Karol “Bo” Bobko was a member of the first graduating class of the Air Force Academy. He subsequently attended the Aerospace Research Pilots School and was assigned as an astronaut to the USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program in 1966.

Colonel Bobko became a NASA astronaut in September 1969. He started his NASA career as a crewmember on the highly successful Skylab Medical Experiments Altitude Test (SMEAT), a 56-day ground simulation of the Skylab mission, enabling crewmen to collect medical experiments baseline data and evaluate equipment, operations and procedures. He subsequently was a member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and then a member of the support crew for the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests conducted at Edwards Air Force Base, serving alternately as CAPCOM and primary chase pilot during the test flights.
As NASA prepared for its inaugural Space Shuttle flight (STS-1), Colonel Bobko served as the lead astronaut in the test and checkout group at Kennedy Space Center. He went on to fly three Shuttle missions, serving as pilot on STS-6 and mission commander on STS-51D and STS-51J.
After logging over 6,600 hours of flight time in the F-100, F-104, T-105, T-33, T-38, and other aircraft, and logging a total of 386 hours in Space, Colonel Bobko retired from NASA and the Air Force and moved on to serve in leadership roles within industry. He currently works for SAIC and helms the SimLabs contract at NASA Ames Research Center, supporting government as well as private industry in a wide array of simulation applications. NASA recently honored Colonel Bobko’s years of service by inducting him into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2011.

 

Robert Bishop

President & Founder, International Centre for Earth Simulation

Bob Bishop is the founder and president of the Geneva-based ICES Foundation (International Centre for Earth Simulation), a project that brings together vast knowledge in scientific and socio-economic realms to develop next generation 'holistic' modelling, simulation and visualizations that depict the medium and long term future direction of our planet. The aim of this project is to provide deeper insight, improved scientific underpinnings and broader decision support to current and future policy makers, with an emphasis on climate change, extreme weather, geo-engineering, resource depletion, the reduction of natural hazards and the creation of a resilient society.

Bob is involved in a wide range of global initiatives and has over 40 years of global experience in scientific, technical and engineering computing, including that of Chairman and CEO, Silicon Graphics, Inc. In 2006, he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for his role in providing simulation facilities that helped NASA’s space shuttle fleet return-to-flight after the 2003 Columbia disaster.

 

Dan Rasky
Director & Co-Founder, Space Portal at NASA Ames

Dr. Rasky is an internationally recognized expert on advanced entry systems and thermal protection materials. He has developed his expertise working five years for the U.S. Air Force and more than 20 years for NASA. In the 1990’s, he and his research colleagues at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., invented a heat-shield material called Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) that has subsequently been used on several NASA as well as private industry spacecraft. For this achievement, Rasky received the NASA Inventor of the Year Award for 2007 – the first ever for NASA Ames.

In 2009, Rasky completed a one-year Interagency Personnel Assignment (IPA) with the Space Grant Education and Enterprise Institute, Inc., San Diego, Calif., where he served as a senior research Fellow supporting a number of emerging space companies and other organizations. One of these companies was Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, Calif., also known as SpaceX. Rasky spent considerable time at SpaceX providing expert consultation about the design and development of the heat-shield for their Dragon spacecraft. As a result, SpaceX chose PICA as the heat shield material for the spacecraft. On Dec. 8, 2010, the Falcon-9 rocket carried the Dragon capsule with its SpaceX fabricated PICA-X heat shield into space. It survived the launch and re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere; consequently, the mission was considered an enormous success.

In addition to the SpaceX Dragon capsule, Rasky has made significant contributions to flight hardware used on eight NASA missions, including the NASA Stardust comet sample return mission. The Stardust return capsule used a PICA heat-shield that enabled the mission, and was the fastest entry ever by a man-made object at Earth. It is now on display as part of the “Milestones of Flight” exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. PICA also is being used for the primary heatshield for the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) lander mission.

Today, Rasky is the director and co-founder of the Space Portal at the NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, Calif. The Space Portal has a mission to “be a friendly front door for emerging and non-traditional space companies.” Through their initiatives and collaborations the Space Portal has had a significant role in the establishment of several notable and successful NASA programs, including the Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program, the Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data (ILDD) program, and the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program.

Rasky also is the recipient of the Senior Professional Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, the NASA Exceptional Achievement Award, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, 12 NASA Group Awards, and eight Space Act Awards. He has six patents, 64 publications, and is an associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a senior member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Banny Banerjee

Associate Professor & Director, Stanford ChangeLabs

 Banny is interested in realizing the design field’s potential in catalyzing systemic change. As design begins to grapple with increasingly complex problems, at the Stanford Design Program, he is working on developing radically new processes in which design thinking can be leveraged. His focus is to develop transdisciplinary processes to bring about rapid change and large-scale impact. He is the founder of the “Design for Change Lab” to address issues of sustainability, technology futures, and the dynamics of rapid change. Currently he is working with faculty from behavioral sciences, social economics, systems analysis, management science, engineering, and art to generate new platforms for design thinking.

Originally trained as an architect, Banny Banerjee holds graduate degrees in Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, and Design. In India, he worked in the fields of architecture, structural engineering, adobe housing for the rural poor, and low embodied energy building systems. After coming to the US, he worked in the fields of computer simulation for energy in complex systems, software engineering, mechanical engineering, product design, industrial design, furniture design, interactive art, and design strategy. His interests in the confluence between digital and physical experiences took him to Xerox PARC where he worked on ambient media and physical computing. Prior to Stanford, he worked for IDEO as designer and design strategist creating novel experiences and crafting futures for high technology companies.

As a person who likes to cross boundaries between disciplines, he has worked on projects related to architecture, energy analysis, software design, structural engineering, MEMs applications, nanotechnology, ambient media, object semiotics, space missions for Jet Propulsion Laboratories, low cost structural systems, sustainable design, appropriate technology for third world countries, organizational transformation, technology strategy, and technology art.

Despite his interest in technology and design theory, he likes to be elbow deep in design work. He is happiest in the presence of sharp minds, sharp cutting tools, wood dust, cutting oil, and the smell of solder.

 

Rami Branitzky

CEO, Numenta

Rami Branitzky is the CEO of Grok, the leader in biologically-inspired machine intelligence software solutions, and an expert in the cultivation of startup innovation within enterprise companies. Grok ingests data streams and creates actionable predictions in real-time. Grok's automated modeling and continuous learning capability makes it uniquely suited to drive intelligent action from fast data. Grok makes systems adaptable, allowing them to learn how to achieve the maximum efficiency necessary for sustainability. Intelligent action means the ability to manage resources efficiently to eliminate waste - from the proactively managing power demand on the grid to helping regulate traffic patterns, making our cities smarter.

Rami has over 15 years experience managing and growing software businesses. Prior to Numenta, he held multiple leadership roles at SAP AG. Most recently Rami served as Senior Vice President, Sustainability Business, driving SAP’s sustainability-related activities and energy management solutions. Previously, Rami held posts as Managing Director of SAP Labs North America and was Senior Vice President in the Global Partner Group. He joined SAP following the acquisition of TopTier Software, where he was an early member of the team and instrumental in driving the company's product and go-to-market strategy. Rami started his career at Cheyenne Software, now a division of Computer Associates. He holds a BA from Hofstra University, and an MBA in Information Systems and Finance from the Stern School of Business, New York University. @Numenta @RamiBranitzky

 

Peter Graf

Chief Sustainability Officer and Executive Vice President, SAP 

Peter Graf serves as Chief Sustainability Officer and Executive Vice President at SAP. Graf built SAP’s sustainability strategy and organization from the ground up. Under his guidance, SAP has become highly regarded for its leadership both as an exemplar of sustainable operations and as a provider of software solutions that enable SAP’s global customers to enact more sustainable business practices. Graf oversees strategy and innovation for sustainability solutions and operations.

During his tenure at SAP, Graf has held various management roles. Previously, Graf was the Deputy Chief Marketing Officer at SAP, responsible for the go-to-market strategy for all of SAP’s product lines across all industries and geographies. In this role, Graf shaped the company's industry solutions, applications and platform strategy. He was a co-inventor of SAP NetWeaver, the company’s software platform which is now a vital contributor to SAP’s financial success.

Based out of SAP Labs in Palo Alto, CA, Graf is part of the company’s senior leadership team and reports to the co-CEOs, Jim Snabe and Bill McDermott.

Graf holds a master’s degree in computer science and economics from the University of Kaiserslautern, as well as a doctoral degree in artificial intelligence from the University of Saarbrücken.

 

Marianna Grossman

President & Executive Director, Sustainable Silicon Valley

Marianna Grossman is President and Executive Director of Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV), consortium of more than 100 businesses, governments, research and civic organizations founded in 2000.
Marianna assumed leadership of SSV in 2009 with the goal of leading Silicon Valley to a more sustainable future by identifying and addressing the highest-priority environmental issues in order to build a strong economy, a healthy environment and a socially equitable community. Under her leadership SSV has developed the EcoCloud™ platform for collaboration and innovation, and contributed to a range of “smart communities” projects, such as assisting Santa Clara University to implement a smart micro grid for their campus, facilitating long-term planning for a state-of-the-art business park in Silicon Valley. She led the creation of a Roadmap for Implementing Sustainability, initiated a Cooperative Agreement with NASA Ames Research Center for a Showcase of Solutions for Planetary Sustainability and founded the WEST Summit, an annual event on which SSV has collaborated with Stanford, Santa Clara University, NASA and many other partners.
SSV builds capacity of sustainability leaders, businesses, communities and organizations, as they pilot advanced technology solutions from our partners to create a sustainable region and world, bridging the gap between policy and action.
Previous roles include Partner for Sustainability and Innovation at Minerva Consulting; investor in high tech start-ups; and corporate roles in the automotive, computer and semiconductor industries. She founded the Palo Alto Unified School District Sustainable Schools Committee and convened the Peninsula/South Bay Working Group of California Interfaith Power and Light. She earned an MBA from Yale University and a BA, cum laude, with distinction in Policy Studies from Dartmouth College where she studied under mentors Dennis and Donella Meadows.
For more details, please visit Sustainable Silicon Valley www.sustainablesv.org and the EcoCloud ™ http://www.sustainablesv.org/ecocloud/

 

 

John Hogan

Environmental Scientist, Bioengineering Branch at NASA Ames Research Center

John Hogan is an environmental scientist in the Bioengineering Branch at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., where he supports NASA’s Life Support and Habitation Systems Program. 

His major research interests include developing biological and physico-chemical technologies for regenerative air, water and solid waste treatment systems, food production, and systems analysis. Selected projects include the development of optimized biological solid waste reactors/simulators, biological air filtration, and the capture and compression of carbon dioxide. He also is investigating the application of closed-loop life support principles to forward sustainable practices in terrestrial systems. 

Prior to joining NASA, he was research faculty at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in the Department of Environmental Sciences, where he participated in a NASA funded program developing biologically-based, sustainable systems for long-term extraterrestrial human habitation. John received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University.

Watch John Hogan discuss research in life support systems that could be used to create a sustainable and regenerative environment in space: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAbUD9MQ9IM.

 

 

James E. Hansen

Head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

James E. Hansen heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, a part of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He has held this position since 1981. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.

After graduate school, Hansen continued his work with radiative transfer models, attempting to understand the Venusian atmosphere. Later he applied and refined these models to understand the Earth's atmosphere, in particular, the effects that aerosols and trace gases have on Earth's climate. Hansen's development and use of global climate models has contributed to the further understanding of the Earth's climate.

Hansen is best known for his research in the field of climatology, his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in 1988 that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change. In recent years, Hansen has become an activist for action to mitigate the effects of climate change.

In 2009 his first book, Storms of My Grandchildren, was published.

Click here for video of Hansen’s recent Commonwealth Club/Climate One talk:

http://www.climate-one.org/content/dr-james-hansen-full-program

 

John Igoe

Director, Design & Construction, Google

As Director of Real Estate, Design and Construction (Northern California), John is responsible for all real estate for the Northern California Region as well as the design and construction of all projects in the region.  The Google Real Estate and Workplace Services team is renowned for building and maintaining unique, invigorating environments that allow its employees to focus on innovation.  Google prides itself in offering services that are cost effective, fun, environmentally sustainable, and make a meaningful impact on Google’s business results and culture.

John joined Google following 7 years as a Senior VP with Sares Regis, a full service real estate development partnership.  Prior to that John had real estate leadership postions at several Bay Area high tech corporations such as Palm, Peoplesoft, 3Com, Octel and NeXT over a period of 15 years.

John earned a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Construction Management from Stanford, a Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Drexel University and a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree from Villanova University.

 

Wes Jackson

Founder and President of the Land Institute

Wes Jackson is one of the foremost figures in the international sustainable agriculture movement. Founder and president of The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, he has pioneered reserach in Natural Systems Agriculture — including perennial grains, perennial polycultures, and intercropping — for over 30 years. He was a professor of biology at Kansas Wesleyan and later established the Environmental Studies program at California State University, Sacramento, where he became a tenured full professor. He is the author of several books including Becoming Native to This Place (1994), Altars of Unhewn Stone(1987), and New Roots for Agriculture (1980).
The work of the Land Institute has been featured extensively in the popular media, including The Atlantic Monthly, Audubon, The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, and All Things Considered. Life magazine predicted Wes Jackson will be among the 100 "most important Americans of the 20th century." He is a recipient of the Pew Conservation Scholars award and a MacArthur Fellowship, and has been listed as one of Smithsonian's "35 Who Made a Difference".  in 2000 he received the Right Livelihood Award (often called the Alternative Nobel Prize) "...for his single-minded commitment to developing an agriculture that is both highly productive and truly ecologically sustainable." Wes has an M.A. in botany from University of Kansas, and a Ph.D. in genetics from North Carolina State University.

 

Mohanjit Jolly

Managing Director, DFJ

Mohanjit Jolly a Managing Director for DFJ and is based in Silicon Valley. Mohanjit established DFJ's India office, manages DFJ's India portfolio and also serves as a board member of U.S.-based companies. Mohanjit currently serves on the Boards of Retrofit, Attero, Bharat Light and Power, Canvera, Cleartrip, iYogi, Naseeb Networks, and Seventymm. Mohanjit is also actively involved with the DFJ's investment in Komli and dlight design. He has worked with and invested in technology startups since 1998. Prior to DFJ, Mohanjit was Managing Director at Garage Technology Ventures, a seed and early stage venture capital firm. While at Garage, Mohanjit worked with over 30 companies, including LeftHand Networks (Acq. HP), PureSight (Acq. BCGI), Jibe Networks (Acq. CTRX), Qumu (Acq. Rimage), Kaboodle (Acq: Hearst Media), Whitehat Security and SimplyHired. Prior to joining Garage, Mohanjit was part of the strategic planning group at Mattel where he helped launch the Mattel/Intel joint venture, Intel Play. He also spent several years in both engineering and business development roles with Itek Optical Systems, a manufacturer of high-resolution reconnaissance systems for both military and commercial use. While earning his M.B.A from the Anderson School at UCLA, Mohanjit helped launch ViaSpace, a technology incubator in Southern California in conjunction with Caltech and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Mohanjit earned a B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, with a specialization in electric propulsion systems.

James Keene

City Manager, Palo Alto

California. He has previously served as the City Manager of Berkeley, California and Tucson, Arizona and as the County Manager of Coconino County, Arizona (Flagstaff).
He has been the Executive Director of the California State Association of Counties (CSAC). Most recently, he was the Director of Strategic Issues and ICMA West for the International City and County Management Association and President of the Alliance for Innovation, a partnership between the 400 cities and counties of the Innovation Groups; ICMA, and Arizona State University.
His life-long commitment to public service is driven by a passion for sustainability; community building and civic engagement; and innovation to transform local government.
Mr. Keene is an active contributor to the field of city/county management and urban affairs. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration; a member of the Board of Visitors for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University; a member of the Board of the Institute for Local Government in California (ILG); and a Fellow at the Center for Urban Innovation, in Phoenix.
A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maryland (B.A., History), Mr. Keene also received his M.A. in Urban Studies from the University of Maryland, graduating with distinction. He has taught at the University of Maryland and Northern Arizona University; Executive Programs at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Virginia; and is a frequent speaker at conferences and other forums.
“Aristotle said, ‘The City is a partnership for living well.’ Today, more than ever before, the future of our world depends on how we live together in cities. The City confronts us with the reality that we cannot escape from each other. Our destinies as citizens are intertwined—with how our families grow, how our businesses thrive, and how we respect and care for our environment. In our time, the life of our cities will depend upon the vision, courage, and compassion we bring to creating and nurturing our own partnerships for living well.”   —James Keene

 

Michelle McLean

Director of Product Marketting, Silver Spring Netwroks

Michelle McLean brings more than 20 years of networking and market positioning experience to Silver Spring, where, as director of product marketing, she is responsible for market strategy, positioning and solutions marketing. Prior to Silver Spring, she held director of product marketing positions at ConSentry Networks, Peribit Networks, and Trapeze Networks, and prior to that, she was director of strategic marketing at Pluris. She previously served as program director at the research firm META Group, providing technology and strategy direction to global 2000 enterprise clients. Before that, she tracked technical developments, networking trends, and vendor strategies as a journalist for two leading networking publications, LAN Times and LAN Magazine. She earned her BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley. She and her family make eco-friendly choices a routine habit, including riding bikes for short errands, walking to school, composting, using cloth vs. paper goods, and choosing foods with minimal packaging.

Forrest Melton
 Senior Research Scientist, California State University Monterey Bay/NASA Ames

Forrest Melton is a Senior Research Scientist in the Division of Science and Environmental Policy at California State University, Monterey Bay, and the Ames Cooperative for Research in Earth Science and Technology (ARC-CREST).  Since 2003, he has worked in the Ecological Forecasting Lab at NASA Ames Research Center on the development of modeling and data assimilation frameworks including the Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS) and the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX).  His research interests include ecosystem and carbon cycle modeling, and applications of satellite data and ecosystem models to improve management of natural resources.  Forrest holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Earth Systems Science from Stanford University, and has authored numerous papers and book chapters on applications of remote sensing.  He is the recipient of honor awards from NASA for his contributions to TOPS and NEX, and has been recognized for his work on applications of satellite data for water management with awards from the California Department of Water Resources and the Federal Labs Consortium.

Dennis L. Meadows

Emeritus Professor of Systems Management, former Director of the Institute for Policy and Social Science Research, University of New Hampshire, author.

Dennis L. Meadows is an American scientist and Emeritus Professor of Systems Management, and former director of the Institute for Policy and Social Science Research at the University of New Hampshire. He is President of the Laboratory for Interactive Learning and widely known as the co-author of The Limits to Growth.

He started working at the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1960s. From 1970 to 1972 at MIT he was director of the "Club of Rome Project on the Predicament of Mankind". Further on Meadows has been a tenured professor in faculties of management, engineering, and social sciences. For many years he was the director of a graduate program based in business and engineering. He has facilitated workshops and developed innovative and complex strategic games all over the world for decades. In addition, Dr. Meadows has lectured in over 50 countries.

He has been the Director of three university research institutes: at MIT, Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire. He is the Past President of the International System Dynamics Society and the International Simulation and Games Association.

He has been a corporate board member and a consultant for government, industry and non-profit groups in the U.S. and many countries abroad. He co-founded the Balaton Group, an international network of over 300 professionals in over 30 nations involved in systems science, public policy and sustainable development. In the year 2008 he supported the project GPSO.

He has received numerous international awards for his work, including the Japan Prize in April 2009.

Vince Siciliano

President & CEO, New Resource Bank

Vince Siciliano is president and CEO of New Resource Bank, a mission-oriented bank in San Francisco that works with businesses, nonprofits, and individuals seeking environmental and social as well as financial returns. The bank is dedicated to advancing sustainability with everything it does—lending, operations, and putting deposits to work for good. Vince has previously been the president or CEO of a number of San Diego financial institutions. He started his banking career in Bank of America’s International Division.

Vince serves on the advisory boards of the American Sustainable Business Council based in Washington DC and the Ken Blanchard Center for Faith Walk Leadership. Vince and the bank are founding members of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. He is a graduate of Stanford University and earned a master’s degree in environmental planning from the University of California at Berkeley. 

 

Kristiina Vogt

Professor of Forest Resources, University of Washington

Kristiina A. Vogt was born in Turku, Finland and eventually moved to the US when my father moved to the states to practice medicine. She has a BA degree in Biology from the University of Texas and a MS and PhD degree in Biology from New Mexico State University. She first lived in Germany after leaving Finland and this is when her cultural immersion began as she explored the European continent and northern Africa. This is also when Kristiina discovered her fascination with other cultures and their stories that could not have occurred if she had continued to live in Finland. Kristiina’s extensive travels around the world and research flourished once she was hired as a faculty member by Yale University. She spent 14 wonderful and stimulating years at Yale where the faculty and student milieu necessitated that you relish cultural diversity. Being at Yale really extended her travels and research throughout Asia, South and Central America, and Iceland. These travels further fostered Kristiina’s fascination with other cultures and how people survived and made choices under a diversity and sometimes extreme environmental conditions. Kristiina became Professor at Yale in the School of Forestry and Environmental and was the first female to get tenure and to obtain a full professor rank in this program. She was appointed the Margaret K. Musser Professor of Forest Ecology at Yale and acquired an honorary Master's degree in the Arts. She moved to the University of Washington in 2000 and became the first female Dean of a Forestry program anywhere in the world. Her research focus encompasses solving complex interdisciplinary problems around the world in conservation, sustainable development, bio-energy and forests.

 

Kathrin Winkler

VP Corporate Sustainability & Chief Sustainability Officer, EMC Corporation 

Transforming corporate mindsets about Sustainability has been both a personal and professional journey for Kathrin Winkler, who is Vice President, Corporate Sustainability and Chief Sustainability Officer for EMC Corporation. As CSO for the world’s leader in cloud computing, Winkler provides the vision, strategy and leadership for EMC’s global sustainability initiatives. She chairs and collaborates with a virtual cross-functional team comprising EMC's Green Business Leadership to integrate sustainability principles into the corporate culture, the business   strategy, and day-to-day operations.

Winkler’s passion in such topics as Sustainability in the Cloud, Sustainability Governance Models, and Sustainability as a Cultural Norm, has made her a frequent guest speaker in many forums. In 2010, she appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet to provide insight into how information technology is contributing to energy efficiency.

Winkler founded EMC’s Engineering Green Team and its Design for Environment program while Senior Director with the Hardware Engineering Group. Prior to joining EMC in 2003, Winkler held senior positions at Renaissance Worldwide and Digital Equipment Corporation.

Winkler is a Director of EcoLogic Development Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to community-based conservation in Central America. She is also a Director of the Green Grid, a non-profit open industry consortium dedicated to resource efficiency in business computing.

 

Steven Zornetzer

 Associate Director, NASA Ames Research Center

Steven F. Zornetzer was formerly a neurobiologist and professor of neuroscience interested in the problem of how the brain processes information. Zornetzer has evolved from academic to a creative and dynamic leader and senior executive at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

Currently serving as Ames’ Associate Director, he formerly served as Director of Research and prior to that as Director of Information Sciences and Technology at Ames. He was lead author of the influential book, Introduction to Neural and Electronic Networks (Neural Networks: Foundations and Applications, 1995). Recognized for his leadership in revolutionary information technology-based approaches to aerospace and space exploration missions, his interests range from cognitive, perceptual, and neural sciences to integrative and synthetic biology, biological information processing, molecular biology, genetic engineering, and biomedical science.

Before joining NASA in 1997, he headed the Life Sciences Directorate for the Office of Naval Research (ONR). In 2008 he received the Presidential Distinguished Executive Award and in 2010 NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal. He is a driver for NASA Ames’ leadership in environmental sustainability. Most recently he has focused his efforts on climate change and built environment.

Leading the design and construction of the highest performing, net energy positive building in the Federal Government, Zornetzer’s vision is to design an intelligent adaptive building control system that will optimize dynamically the building’s energy performance and working environment based upon the real-time demands of its occupants. Additionally, the control system is being designed to learn from its own past performance and improve over time.

Zornetzer is the spokesperson for the NASA Sustainability Base. To view a video of his presentation, visit: http://www.guampdn.com/videonetwork/776233725001/NASA-goes-green-with-Sustainability-Base-construction

 

Steve Goldberg

Partner, Venrock

Steve joined Venrock in 2009 after having been CEO of several early stage companies including DataRunway, Vidient, Arcwave and CoWave Networks. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Research and Development at Nokia Internet Communications and Vice President and General Manager of the Wireless Communications Division at Cylink Corporation. Steve also held senior management and engineering positions at Trimble Navigation and Hewlett Packard. At Venrock, Steve focuses on investments in the wireless, mobile and energy sectors. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Asoka, FutureDial, Kineto Wireless, Neoconix, Newport Media, and Quantenna Communications. Previous board seats include Canesta (Acq by Microsoft) and Teranetics (Acq by PLX Technology).

Steve received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Washington University and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

 

Senator Jerry Hill

Senator Jerry Hill joined the California Legislature’s upper house last year with a strong track record of leadership and public service. He was the mayor of the city of San Mateo, a San Mateo County Supervisor and a state assemblymember before being elected to the Senate in November 2012.

As the state senator who represents the innovation hub that stretches from Brisbane to Sunnyvale, Hill works closely with local government, education and community leaders to monitor and address the developments that enable California to be in the vanguard of the emerging innovation economy. He is the Senate’s Majority Caucus leader, chairs the Environmental Quality Committee and has been appointed to several high-profile senate committees -- Appropriations; the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee; Budget & Fiscal Review; Business, Professions and Economic Development; Energy, Utilities and Communications; the Joint Committee on Rules; the Select Committee on Emerging Technology: Biotechnology and Green Energy Jobs; and the Select Committee on Procurement.

Hill grew up in the Bay Area, attended public schools, graduated from UC Berkeley and has a teaching credential from San Francisco State University.

 

Redwood Environmental Academy of Leadership (REAL), Redwood High

“Save the Fishes” Rap

Students from Redwood High School in Redwood City, California collaborated with teacher/musician Tom McFadden to make a rap music video that teaches a science lesson.
The video is called "One Bottle At A Time (Save The Fishes)," and touches on many common environmental themes, like polluted creeks, wasted water, littering, and carbon footprints. The students rewrote the lyrics to two songs: "Blow The Whistle," by Too Short and "No Church In The Wild," by Kanye West and Jay-Z. The project was part of the Redwood Environmental Academy of Leadership (REAL) at Redwood High.Gabriel Mena, a student in the REAL program, helped write the lyrics for the song. He said that incorporating music into science is a good idea and can increase peoples’ knowledge. “Our message is about water conservation. Not many people would spread that through a rap song,” said Mena.
Mena explained that he thinks rapping about science is like another door for people to understand and remember the material as opposed to it being taught in a classroom.Tom McFadden, science rapper and former teacher, has been a fan of science and hip hop almost all his life, but combining the two is his specialty. “All the subject matter that you have been thinking about becomes stuck in your head and maybe every time when you hear Too Short on the radio you might think about the water conservation song,” said McFadden. (I know after I heard this song it was stuck in my head all day.)McFadden thinks that creative projects like "Save The Fishes" can help students process everything they have been learning. Also, students who like music can be more engaged in a science topic like this one. “So I think teachers should figure out -- whatever it is that makes them excited -- they should bring it into the classroom because it can get everyone one else excited, “said McFadden.Rap can be an outlet for students to learn. And the video gave the students a chance to get an educational message across. “I think that rap and hip hop are powerful and they give young people a voice,” said McFadden.Originally published on Youthradio.org, the premier source for youth generated news throughout the globe.

 

Andrew “Drew” Clark
Sustainable Silicon Valley Board Member
Director of Strategy, IBM Venture Capital Group

Drew is a top strategist for many of IBM’s key business imperatives including Energy & Environment (Cleantech) and Cloud Computing. A serial “intrapreneur", Drew has led a range of internal startup initiatives, including a key role in formation of IBM's Internet Division. He has helped lead several of IBM's most innovative development initiatives – including creation of IBM’s Internet unit, Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing units. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Western Carolina University in 1978 and has completed coursework toward a PhD in Theoretical Plasma Physics at the University of Texas Austin.

 

 

 

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