Bios

Kwabena was born in Ghana, West Africa. He moved to the US in 2004 for his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Calvin College, MI, graduating with honors in 2008. After a year working at UOP Honeywell in IL where he researched new catalysts for the petrochemical and gas processing industries, he traveled from the Midwest to the East Coast to begin his graduate studies in Inorganic Chemistry with Prof. Daniel Nocera at MIT (and later Harvard University). His graduate research focused on structural and mechanistic studies of water splitting electrocatalysis at cobalt and nickel compounds. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2015 from Harvard University, Kwabena began postdoctoral research in Prof. Philip Kim's group in the Department of Physics at Harvard, where he studied ion intercalation and quantum transport in 2D van der Waals heterostructures. In July 2018, Kwabena joined the faculty of the UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry, where his group works at the interface of chemistry and physics to leverage degrees of freedom that are unique to atomically thin (so-called two-dimensional, 2D) materials as knobs for tailoring the physics of surfaces to control interfacial chemical reactivity and developing chemical/synthetic approaches for engineering many-body electronic interactions in 2D solids. 

Elliott White Jr. is an Assistant Professor of Earth System Science in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He is a coastal ecosystem scientist who leverages his domain expertise in wetland sciences with interdisciplinary training in remote sensing and ecohydrology to investigate climate change related challenges on coastal socio-environmental systems (cSES). Elliott has research on all three US coasts and has expanded internationally to include Bolivia, The Gambia, and Canada. Collaborators in his research include academics, non-profits, community-based organizations, and municipal departments. At Stanford, he is an affiliate of the Center for Comparative Studies on Race and Ethnicity and a Center Fellow, by courtesy, of the Woods Institute for the Environment. Elliott has a PhD in Environmental Engineering Sciences from the University of Florida (2019) and a BS in Biology and Animal Ecology from Iowa State University (2015).

Monroe Kennedy is an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering and by courtesy, Computer Science at Stanford University. Monroe is the recipient of the NSF Faculty Early Career Award. He directs the Assistive Robotics and Manipulation Laboratory (ARMLab), where the focus is on developing collaborative, autonomous robots capable of performing dexterous, complex tasks with human and robotic teammates. Monroe received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics and master’s in Robotics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Oladele (Dele) Ogunseitan holds the title of Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Irvine, where he led the establishment of the Program in Public Health and served as founding Chair of the Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention. He held the title of UC Presidential Chair from 2019 to 2024.  He serves as co-director of the World Institute for Sustainable Development of Materials (WISDOM), and co-chair of Apple Inc.’s Green Chemistry Advisory Board. He served on the State of California’s Green Ribbon Science Panel, and the State’s Advisory Committee on Community Protection and Hazardous Waste Reduction Initiative. Dele was a Jefferson Science Fellow of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He received a meritorious honor award from the U.S. Department of State for exceptional teamwork and contributions to the successful achievement of U.S. goals at the third United Nations Environment Assembly. He serves on the Hoover Medal Board of Award, and he is an elected fellow of Collegium Ramazzini; American Academy of Microbiology; and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Faculty Webpage:  https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=2423 

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/deleogunseitan/ 

Stephen L. Mayo, Ph.D. is the Bren Professor of Biology and Chemistry and Merkin Institute Professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. He has been a member of the Caltech faculty since 1992 and served as Vice Provost for Research from 2007 to 2010 and Chair of the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering from 2010 to 2020. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University, his Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech, and did postdoctoral work at both UC Berkeley and Stanford University School of Medicine in chemistry and biochemistry, respectively.

Dr. Mayo's research focuses on the development and use of computational approaches to protein engineering – a field that has broad applications ranging from advanced biofuels to human therapeutics. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 for his pioneering contributions in the field of protein design. Dr. Mayo co-founded: Molecular Simulations Inc. (currently Accelrys/Biovia), a computational chemistry company; Xencor, a publicly traded bio-therapeutics company focused on developing next generation biologics for treating cancer; and, Protabit, a privately held protein engineering company focused on the use of AI and machine learning for protein engineering applications. Dr. Mayo serves on the Boards of Directors of Merck, Sarepta Therapeutics, and Allogene Therapeutics, and on the Scientific Advisory Board of Vida Ventures.

In addition to his academic and private-sector work, Dr. Mayo has held a number of scientific community support positions including serving as an elected Board Member for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2010-2014) and serving as a presidential appointee on the National Science Foundation’s National Science Board (2013-2018). 

Dr. Maryam Mohammed J. Fallatah is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Irvine, working in the laboratories of Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski and Dr. Steve Goldstein in the Ophthalmology and Physiology/Biophysics departments, respectively. She earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from UC Irvine, focusing on developing novel compounds to reactivate the mutant p53 in cancer cells. Her research on pyrimidine trione derivatives, particularly UCI-1001, demonstrated promise in restoring wild-type-like activities of mutant p53 in cancer cells. This work led to a patent filing for compositions and methods using small molecules to restore activity of p53 mutants found in human cancers. Her outstanding paper, "Pyrimidine Triones as Potential Activators of p53 Mutants," was selected as an Editor's Choice Article in Biomolecules, highlighting its impact in the field of cancer biology.

In her current role, Dr. Fallatah conducts research across two laboratories. With Dr. Goldstein, she investigates cardiac sodium channel dysfunction in myocardial ischemia, utilizing molecular biology, cell culture, and electrophysiology techniques. In parallel, her work with Dr. Palczewski involves exploring CRISPR prime editing and gene delivery systems, including lipid nanoparticles and engineered virus-like particles, in bacterial and mammalian expression systems. The aim of this collaborative project is to use genome editing techniques to modify the cardiac sodium channel, preventing its SUMOylation and thereby reducing the risk of arrhythmia. Her prior experience and current interdisciplinary research contribute significantly to cardiology, gene editing technologies, and molecular biology.

I earned a BSc in Physics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in 2009, followed by an MSc in Physics in 2014. I then pursued a PhD in Physics at the Indian Institute of Science, specializing in Astronomy and Astrophysics, which I completed in 2019. Afterward, I worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Geneva (2019–2020) before serving as an assistant professor of Physics at Afe Babalola University, Nigeria (2021–2022). Since September 2022, I have been a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology.

Etchi Ako is a PhD candidate in the Vision Science program at UC Berkeley. She conducts research in Dr. Marla Feller’s lab, and her project investigates how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts retinal development. The long term goal of my project is to investigate how genes associated with ASD impact the development of neural circuits. These experiments could potentially provide insight into the retinal basis of vision problems associated with ASD and provide an understanding of how the sensory periphery contributes to developmental deficits. Before attending UC Berkeley, Etchi received her Bachelor of Science degree in Bioengineering from UC Riverside (UCR) in 2022. Etchi aspires to make science more accessible to underserved communities. Outside of the lab Etchi loves to cook, relax at the beach with friends, and work out. Etchi is also passionate about preserving her Cameroonian Bayangi culture, and she loves teaching the culture and language to children in her community.

Evan Haze Núñez is a 6th year PhD Candidate and NSF GRFP fellow studying observational astrophysics in Caltech’s Physics, Math, and Astronomy Division. He was born and raised in SoCal (Carson -> Torrance, fam from CPT) where he completed his undergrad in two parts, El Camino College (a community college in Gardena, CA) where he earned an Associates of Transfer in Physics (and five other AS/AA’s; 2017), then Cal Poly Pomona to earn a BS in Physics w/ a specialization in Astrophysics (2019). Most recently he earned his MS in Astrophysics from Caletch (2022) with a projected PhD completion of 2025. He has contributed to a few fields in astro including early star formation where he characterized the X-ray emission of young, still-forming stars to place age constraints on nearby star-forming regions (Cal Poly Pomona), stellar and galaxy evolution where he used distant dense ``clouds’’ in the universe to place empirical constraints on the abundance of metals ejected from the first massive stars in the universe (Notre Dame & Caltech), and currently works in galaxy evolution/formation where he is leading a survey to find novel galaxies that will aid in understanding how galaxy scale out/inflows shape the evolution of galaxies near the epoch of peak star formation in the universe. He was the former President and Secretary of BSEC, is a part of the Caltech Astro Outreach Team, and regularly mentors students (peer and research) during the summer and school year (WAVE, SURF, and FSRI). He is an avid music lover (rap,indie-alt, jazz, lofi, bedroom pop), console gamer (PS5, Series S, Switch), sports fan (football, basketball, baseball), and loves family time.

Edward is a PhD student in Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He was born in Kumasi, Ghana and raised in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. Before attending Stanford, he earned a B.S.E in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University and received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. He is interested in the recovery of nutrients using electrochemical separations and polymeric materials. Specifically, he evaluates nutrient recovery using aqueous and synchrotron techniques. Outside of academics, his interests include weightlifting, environmental justice, playing volleyball, and religiously streaming Spotify to maintain his average annual streaming time of 165,000+ minutes.

Audrey J. Washington is a PhD Student in Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. She obtained her BS in 2023 from San Diego State University, where she majored in Chemistry. As a graduate student and NSF GRFP Fellow, Audrey is driven by a desire to unravel the fundamental mechanistic processes that govern catalytic reactions. Under the mentorship of Dr.Scott Cushing, she is developing an ultrafast electron spectrometer to capture and analyze transient electronic states in real time. By leveraging state-of-the-art electron pump–electron energy loss (EELS) probe spectroscopy, she seeks to unveil the intricate pathways of charge transfer and carrier interactions that underpin energy conversion and catalytic efficiency. Outside of the lab she enjoys reading, playing tennis, and ceramics.

Amalya is a PhD candidate in the department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. She received her undergraduate degree in Physics from Columbia University, where she also received a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies and was captain of the Women’s Soccer Team. At Stanford, Amalya studies the thermal, structural, and excitonic properties of atomically thin semiconductors under Professor Fang Liu, and develops new fabrication procedures for high-quality, large-area production of these materials. She is primarily interested in creating new ways to tune and understand the properties of these materials for advanced energy conversion and microelectronic applications.