Frontier Tech Event: Space for Education

Inspiring the next generation of engineers

Panel event organized conjointly by the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office in San Francisco and UC Berkeley Extension to be held on July 8, 2019.

We will have the honor and pleasure to open the evening with welcome speeches by Diana Wu, Dean of UC Berkeley Extension, and Etienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg. This welcome will be followed by a keynote given by Dr. Pete Worden, Executive Director at Breakthrough Initiatives and former Director of NASA Ames Research Center.

Agenda

  • 5:30 pm: Registration
  • 6:15pm: Welcome speeches: Dean Diana Wu and Etienne Schneider
  • 6:30 pm: Keynote Speech by Dr. Pete Worden
  • 6:45 pm: Panel: Space for Education
  • 7:30 pm: Networking
  • 8:30 pm: Event close

Panelists

Travis Brashears
Co-Founder & Engineering Design Lead at Space Technology At Cal (STAC)

Space Technologies At Cal is a student space-research organization at UC Berkeley with more than 80 students and six projects. Previously, Travis worked on laser propulsion and laser ablation research for interstellar travel and asteroid mitigation, which resulted in multiple research papers and NASA NIAC awards.


 
 

David Koh
Director of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships at The Quest Institute

Having a natural affinity for science, David studied at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in the Biological Basis of Behavior. There, he realized the importance of putting scientific concepts into practice and seeks to champion project-based learning styles to educators worldwide. After working on Wall Street and launching tech startups in Silicon Valley, David's mission is to help education systems teach students how to think and apply STEM knowledge as opposed to memorizing facts for an exam.


 

Zac Manchester
Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford and founder of the KickSat project

Zac holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and a B.S. in applied physics from Cornell. Before coming to Stanford, Zac was a post-doc in the Agile Robotics Lab at Harvard and previously worked at NASA Ames Research Center and Analytical Graphics Inc. His research interests include nonlinear dynamics, control, and optimization with applications to spacecraft and robotics.


 
 

Andrew Patrick Vincent Siemion
Astrophysicist and director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center

Andrew's research interests include high-energy, time-variable celestial phenomena, astronomical instrumentation and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Andrew is the Principal Investigator for the Breakthrough Listen Program. He received his B.A. (2008), M.A. (2010) and Ph.D. (2012) in astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2018, Andrew was named the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute. He is jointly affiliated with Radboud University Nijmegen and the University of Malta. Also in 2018, Andrew was elected to the International Academy of Astronautics as a Corresponding Member for Basic Sciences. In September 2015, he testified on the current status of astrobiology to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology of the United States Congress.



Moderator

Seth Shostak
Senior Astronomer at SETI Institute

Seth claims to have developed an interest in extraterrestrial life at the tender age of 10, when he first picked up a book about the solar system. This innocent beginning eventually led to a degree in radio astronomy; now, as senior astronomer, Seth is an enthusiastic participant in the Institute’s SETI observing programs. In addition, Seth is keen on outreach activities: interesting the public—and especially young people—in science in general and astrobiology in particular. He’s co-authored a college textbook on astrobiology, and has written three trade books on SETI. In addition, Seth has published more than 400 popular articles on science including regular contributions to NBC News MACH, has given dozens of talks annually and is the host of the SETI Institute’s weekly science radio show “Big Picture Science.”

Organizers

Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office
The Trade and Investment Office in San Francisco assists companies with the expansion of their business to Luxembourg and access to European markets. The office also facilitates trades between Luxembourg, Western U.S. and Canadian businesses and support Luxembourg-based businesses in setting up and expanding activities in the Western U.S. and Canadian markets.

 


UC Berkeley Extension
UC Berkeley Extension is the continuing education branch of U.C. Berkeley. Extension offers more than 2,000 courses each year, including online courses, along with more than 75 professional certificates and specialized programs of study. Our classroom centers are located in Berkeley, Belmont and San Francisco.

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