Tom Kalil is Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures. In this role, Tom leads initiatives to harness technology for societal challenges, improve science policy, and identify and pursue 21st century moonshots.

Prior to Schmidt Futures, Tom served in the White House for two Presidents (Obama and Clinton), helping to design and launch national science and technology initiatives in areas such as nanotechnology, the BRAIN initiative, data science, materials by design, robotics, commercial space, high-speed networks, access to capital for startups, high-skill immigration, STEM education, learning technology, startup ecosystems, and the federal use of incentive prizes.

From 2001 to 2008, Kalil was Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Science and Technology at UC Berkeley. He launched a program called Big Ideas@Berkeley, which provide grants to student-led teams committed to solving important problems at home and abroad. In 2007 and 2008, Kalil was the Chair of the Global Health Working Group for the Clinton Global Initiative, where he developed new public and private sector initiatives in areas such as maternal and child health, under-nutrition, and vaccines.

Prior to joining the Clinton White House, Tom was a trade specialist at the Washington offices of Dewey Ballantine, where he represented the Semiconductor Industry Association on U.S.-Japan trade issues and technology policy. He also served as the principal staffer to Gordon Moore in his capacity as Chair of the SIA Technology Committee.

Tom received a B.A. in political science and international economics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and completed graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Thomas Katsouleas is a professor of electrical & computer engineering and former president of the University of Connecticut. Prior to his appointment at UConn, he was executive vice president and provost of the University of Virginia, and before joining UVA, he was the dean of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering.

A specialist in the use of plasmas as novel particle accelerators and light sources, Dr. Katsouleas previously served on the faculty of the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering and is a graduate and former faculty member of UCLA. His inventions or co-inventions include the plasma wakefield accelerator concept, the plasma afterburner, plasma lens, surfatron, and novel radiation sources including Cherenkov wake radiation in magnetized plasma. He received the Plasma Science Achievement Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2011. He has given more than 50 major invited talks and authored or coauthored more than 200 publications, including several highlighted on the covers of Nature, Physical Review Letters and the CERN Courier.

Dr. Katsouleas organized, along with Yannis Yortsos at USC and Richard Miller at Olin College, the first NAE Grand Challenges Summit in Durham in 2009, and co-organized a series of regional, national and global Summits that have helped transform the GCSP into a national and in fact international movement.

Dr. Carpenter is Founding Dean and Professor of Engineering at Campbell University in North Carolina. She js also President-Elect of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). An expert on issues impacting success of women in STEM and innovative STEM curricula, she has held multiple national leadership roles, including President of WEPAN (Women in Engineering ProActive Network), Vice President of ASEE, and First Vice-President of the MAA (Mathematical Association of America). She has served as Chair of the MAA Council on the Profession, Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Women in the Mathematical Societies, and Chair of the National Academies Ad Hoc Committee on the Gulf Scholars Program. She served for seven years as the Steering Committee Chair for the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholars Program and helped start Grand Challenge Scholars Programs at both Louisiana Tech University (the 5th such program in the country) and Campbell University. She is an ABET Program Evaluator and sits on the Executive Committee of the Global Engineering Deans Council. In 2015 DreamBox Learning selected her as one of 10 Women in STEM Who Rock! for her advocacy work for women in STEM and her TEDx talk, “Engineering: Where are the Girls and Why aren’t They Here?”, the only academic on a list of CEOs, politicians, and actresses. Dr. Carpenter received the 2019 ASEE Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering Education.

Dr. Karl W. Reid was appointed Senior Vice Provost and Chief Inclusion Officer at Northeastern University on April 1, 2021. He also holds the title of Professor of Practice in the Graduate School of Education in the College of Professional Studies. Prior to joining Northeastern, Dr. Reid served for seven years as the Executive Director of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), marking his return to the organization that gave him his first major leadership experience 32 years earlier. A certified diversity professional, Dr. Reid has been a leading national advocate for diversity and inclusion, and increasing college access, opportunity and success for low-income and minority youth.

Dr. Reid came to NSBE from the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), where he oversaw new program development, research and capacity building for the organization’s 37 historically black colleges and universities and held the title of Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation and Member College Engagement. Before his service at UNCF, he worked in positions of progressive responsibility to increase diversity at his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which he left as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Director of the Office of Minority Education. While working at MIT as Director of Engineering Outreach Programs, Dr. Reid earned his Doctor of Education degree at Harvard University. His dissertation explored the interrelationship of race, identity and academic achievement for African American males in college. He is the author of “Working Smarter, Not Just Harder: Three Sensible Strategies for Succeeding in College…and Life.” Dr. Reid is also a founding member of the 50K Coalition, a national effort to produce 50,000 diverse engineering graduates annually by 2025.