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Our
Speakers
Dr Caroline Baillie
And a video from Dan Phillips
Dan Phillips is an American designer and builder from Texas. He is the founder and face of Phoenix Commotion, a construction company established in 1997. Phoenix Commotion focuses on designing Eco-friendly homes for low-income individuals and families such as struggling artists and single mothers.
Professor of Engineering and Social Justice, University of San Diego; Founder, Waste For Life
Caroline Baillie is Professor of Praxis in Engineering and Social justice at the University of San Diego, and co-founding director of the not-for-profit ‘Waste for Life’ (wasteforlife.org) which supports vulnerable communities in the development of up-cycled waste-based businesses. She also runs a forest school for children and a forest school professional development program for teachers. Baillie’s research considers socio-technical processes and systems, which enhance social and
environmental justice, and educational systems that promote these. She brings lessons learnt from these studies and practices into the classroom of all ages, to facilitate the transformation to a more equitable and just future. Professor Baillie has published 27 scholarly books, an edited series of books on ‘Engineers, Technology and Society’ and over 200 book chapters, peer reviewed journal and conference papers.
Our
Mentors
Javier Fernandez-Han
Engineering Project Coordinator and Patent Manager at Genesis Advanced Technology
A trip in 2005 to the World Expo in Japan which featured a mock-up refugee camp by Doctors Without Borders exposed Javier to the reality that most people lack access to basic necessities. Inspired by this trip and by Dr. Ashok Gadgil, Javier founded Inventors Without Borders a 501(c)3 non-profit to inspire youth to solve real-world problems. He then designed an award-winning low-cost clean water device designed for developing nations which was awarded a patent in 2013.
Javier is currently an Engineering Project Coordinator and Intellectual Property Manager at Genesis Advanced Technology. He is the sole inventor of “Clean Water Reclamation from Humid Air” (US Utility Patent #8523980), Co-inventor of “Magnetic Amplification Rotor” (Patent Pending, PCT/IB2019/054725, published 2019) and co-inventor of “Equalizing Roller Drive” (Patent Pending, US Provisional Patent Application 62/937,207, filed 2019).
Javier recently Co-founded the Serving Others Daily Alliance (SODA), which uses proprietary text-messaging software to strengthen communities by connecting community members.
NISHA KHATER
Student of Computer Science, Brown, US
Nisha is a graduating senior at Brown University studying Computer Science with a focus in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Over the past few years, she have interned at Microsoft and Uber, and also worked on personal projects on a variety of subjects such as analyzing news bias and setting up secure computer systems, as well as innovation projects in different fields with others. Prior to college, she gained international exposure from living in Bangladesh, India, and Indonesia. The conversations she had in these settings allowed her to think differently about how we can use computer science as a tool to transform infrastructure, essential services, and unjust societal equilibriums.
Peter Han
Mentor of youth-led projects
Peter focused on biology and medicine at Brown University and on Organizational Development at UCLA. He has over 20 years experience consulting for large corporations in organizational and talent development. For the past ten years, Peter has mentored youth in India, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Hungary and the US to use Human Centered Design to solve real-world problems in their local communities.
KRISTEN CHEN
Student of IB
Vancouver, Canada
I am a soon-to-be graduate of the International Baccalaureate program in Vancouver, Canada. I am an avid debater and public speaker who competes on the international level. Researching psychology and philosophy is my greatest joy. These three activities allow me to explore the intellectual unknown. However, knowledge is meant to be shared. Through working in, and then founding my own non-profit organizations, I have been continuously transforming my learning into real-world impacts. Most notably, I’m the co-founder and CEO of SparkathonBuildingBridges, a nonprofit that have worked with students and organizations all over the world to solve societal issues using Human-Centered Design.