Carmel Majidi: Soft Robots

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Carmel Majidi

Carmel Majidi studies the next generation of biologically-compatible robots, assistive medical devices and electronics.

These “soft-matter technologies” include systems that are elastically deformable and adapt their functionality to the changing demands of their operator and environment.

Majidi was a post-doctoral Fellow at both Princeton and Harvard University and has been published in International Journal of Robotics Research, Soft Robotics, and Lab on a Chip, among others. Majidi addresses the emerging challenges of soft robotics through a unique combination of rapid prototyping, soft-lithography microfabrication and theoretical insights from solid mechanics.

more at: Soft Machines Lab

Anushka Ratnayake: Farm Savings

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Anushka Ratnayake

Anushka Ratnayake is executive director of myAgro, which uses a network of rural stores and mobile phone technology to make saving for agricultural and farm inputs easy and accessible for small-scale farmers living in remote areas.

MyAgro also provides training and incentives for participating farmers, resulting in measurably increased yield and profits. By working through pre-existing, trusted technology, myAgro is helping rural farmers to improve their livelihood by enabling them to manage their money in a more flexible and convenient way.

more at: www.myagro.org

Alex Hornstein: Power for People

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Alex Hornstein

Alex Hornstein invents, develops and deploys innovative clean technologies that significantly increase global access to electricity and reduce carbon emissions.

Hornstein and his partner Shawn Frayne recently teamed up to build the Solar Pocket Factory, a machine that produces small solar panels that could provide primary power for 100 million people worldwide. The Solar Pocket Factory project was supported by over a thousand backers on Kickstarter, making it one of the first crowdfunded advances in clean technology. Alex's latest project is called TinyPipes: building smart, web-enabled solar panels that can be quickly deployed to form a solar electricity grid in rural areas with poor infrastructure.

more at: solarpocketfactory.com | tinypipes.net

Prabhjot Singh: Mobile Health

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Prabhjot Singh

Prabhjot Singh is the co-chair of the One Million Community Health Worker Campaign, an initiative of the African Union and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network that designs and tests how community health workers can be more effective using mobile tools in the developing world.

He has recently brought his experience to Harlem where he focuses on developing community-based health care delivery systems.

Singh has scaled up networks of front-line health workers across sub-Saharan Africa. He discusses his work bringing this health care model to Harlem to “train people in their communities to take an active part in their health care outside the walls of a hospital or clinic.”

He is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Young Leader and a Truman National Security Fellow. Singh’s work shows us that communities are the ultimate catalysts of systems change, especially when they are successfully integrated into their own health care and development systems.

more at: www.1millionhealthworkers.org

Amy Cuddy: Power Poses

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Amy Cuddy: Power Poses

Social psychologist Amy Cuddy's pioneering research shows that subtle manipulations in posture can actually change our hormone levels and dramatically alter the way we feel and are perceived by the people around us. Just two minutes in one of Cuddy's power poses boosted testosterone and lowered cortisol levels, and actually changed the performance of research participants in stressful situations. She channeled these findings into empowerment training tips.

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Kelly Benoit-Bird on How Sea Creatures Make a Living

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iPad illustration by Peter Durand

Associate Professor, College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University Kelly Benoit-Bird applies acoustics to the study of ecosystems in the open ocean. Kelly has helped develop several new optical and acoustical instruments and has made fundamental acoustical measurements of species ranging from zooplankton to fish, squid, and marine mammals. Benoit-Bird has been named a MacArthur Fellow, has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and has published in Nature, Marine Biology and the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Through her research into how predators target their prey, Benoit-Bird is creating a new understanding of key ecological processes in the ocean.

Sheila Bair: Reframe & Rethink

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Sheila Bair served as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for a five-year term, from June 2006 through June 2011. She presided over one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the nation’s banking system, working to bolster public confidence and financial system stability. She has been a leading advocate and innovator of policies to end the doctrine of too-big-to-fail and taxpayer bailouts.

Steve Lansing & Julia Watson: Water Temples Forever

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Steve Lansing, a senior fellow at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, is helping preserve the centuries-old water-temple system in Bali that distributes water from a volcanic lake to over two hundred farming villages. Lansing and landscape architect Julia Watson are working with the people of Bali to craft a plan to enable tourists to explore the area and preserve it. Watson says the idea is to protect “the most resilient system and the most bio-diverse agro ecosystem known to man.”

Ken Banks: Freedom from Money

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Ken Banks recently launched Means of Exchange to look at how everyday technologies can be used to democratize opportunities for economic self-sufficiency, rebuild local communities and promote a return to local resource use. “I think we need to remember that we are more valuable as individuals than the sum of the notes in our pocket.”

Dan Schulman: Future of Retail Banking

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Dan Schulman joined American Express as group president, Enterprise Growth, in August 2010. Dan is responsible for the company’s global strategy to expand alternative mobile and online payment services, form new partnerships and build revenue streams beyond the traditional card and travel businesses. This includes the Serve digital payments and commerce platform, the prepaid business, Global Payment Options, Fee-Based Services, and the company’s Mergers and Acquisitions unit.

William Jack: Mobile Banking

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William Jack is an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Georgetown University, where he is currently the Director of Undergraduate Studies. He is co-founder and co-director of gui2de, the Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation, Development and Evaluation, which conducts empirical field-based research to assess the impact and effectiveness of interventions and policies aimed at empowering individuals in developing countries to improve their lives. Major research themes include governance and accountability, the promotion of agency in the delivery of health, education, and other public services, the role of mobile technology in development, and financial development and integration.

Lisa J. Servon : Urban Banking

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Lisa J. Servon is Professor and former dean at Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. Professor Servon holds a B.A in Political Science from Bryn Mawr College, an M.A in History of Art from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of urban poverty, community development, economic development, and issues of gender and race. Specific areas of expertise include the financial lives of low-income communities, microenterprise development, and capacity-building for community-based organizations.