Images from UP 2012
UP 2012 SPEAKERS
| Aerospace entrepreneur, Virgin Galactic spacecraft designer, and founder of aerospace research firm Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan is a bold visionary with a passion for the advancement of technology. Burt will captivate participants during his UP presentation, “Inspiration for Innovation and the Race for Space.” Named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Inc. magazine and one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” by TIME, Rutan designed the legendary Voyager aircraft – the first to circle the world nonstop without refueling. He is also responsible for the design of SpaceShipOne, the world’s first privately funded spacecraft which, in 2004, became the first private rocket plane ever to put a man into space. Rutan has been profiled by 60 Minutes and featured on the covers of both LIFE and TIME. |
Burt Rutan |
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As the founder of Improv Everywhere, Charlie creates unexpected “pranks” in highly public locations that bring positive experiences to others. He has produced, directed, performed, and documented over 100 "missions" involving thousands of undercover "agents." Among them are the legendary Grand Central Freeze and the infamous No Pants Subway Ride. Charlie is the author of the book Causing a Scene, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the group's most notable stunts. Improv Everywhere has been profiled by many national and international media outlets, including The New York Times, The Today Show, and ABC's Nightline. The group's videos have received over 250 million views online.
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Charlie Todd view > |
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| A profoundly successful businesswoman, Barbara’s uncertain start in her career eventually led to building one of the most successful real estate businesses in the country – The Corcoran Group – which she sold in 2001 for $66 million dollars. Today, Barbara is a weekly contributor on NBC’s TODAY, a businesswoman and consultant, an author, a syndicated columnist, and now a star on ABC’s hit reality show Shark Tank. Barbara is the author of a number of best-selling books, including If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails, as well as Nextville, Amazing Places to Live Your Life. Her latest book, Shark Tales, hit the #1 business book on Amazon. | Barbara Corcoran view > |
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Appellate attorney, David R. Dow will discuss the constellation of social and economic choices we as a society are making when we pursue the death penalty at the expense of investing that money and energy in different ways. Having represented more than 100 death-row inmates in their state and federal appeals, David has been interviewed regularly about his work, the problem with juries, and what it’s like to look a murderer in the eye. He writes and teaches in the areas of constitutional law and theory, contracts, and death-penalty law. He is the Cullen Professor at the University of Houston Law Center and the Rorschach Visiting Professor of History at Rice.The most recent of the five books he has authored is The Autobiography of an Execution, was the winner of the 2010 Barnes and Nobel Discovery Award for non-fiction.
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David R. Dow view > |
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| Donald R. Sadoway, the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be presenting on “The Liquid Metal Battery – The Missing Link to Renewable Energy,” The professor will discuss the problem at the heart of alternative-energy sources such as sun and wind: how to store the power generated from these sources so it can be delivered to the grid all the time, day and night. One of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2012, Don has authored over 140 scientific papers and holds 16 U.S. patents. His research ranges from metals production and portable energy storage devices to his "liquid battery" for renewable energy applications, and non-lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications. |
Donald Sadoway |
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| Gary Vaynerchuk, the “Social Media Sommelier,” digital marketing guru, and wine expert is presenting on “How Business Must Adapt to Social Media.” A self-trained wine expert, he revolutionized the wine industry and is admired for creating a new generation of branding, focusing on the Internet and leveraging social media tools. He has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, NBC's TODAY, CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. Gary has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, and USA Today. A best-selling author of Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on your Passion and The Thank You Economy. | Gary Vaynerchuk view > |
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| Jane McGonigal is author of The New York Times best seller Reality is Broken, and world-renowned designer of alternate reality games, where real-life activity is re-framed as a game. During her UP presentation “How Gaming Will Change the World”, Jane will talk about how games can be created to improve the way we learn, work, solve problems, and lead our real lives. As Creative Director for Social Chocolate, Jane develops games powered by the science of positive emotion and social connection. Her games have been featured in The New York Times, Wired, and The Economist, and on MTV, CNN, and NPR. Jane has created and deployed award-winning games and secret missions in more than 30 countries on six continents, for partners such as the American Heart Association, the International Olympics Committee, the World Bank Institute, and the New York Public Library. | Jane McGonigal view > |
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| Dr. David Eagleman, neuroscientist, best-selling author, and our beloved UP Master of Ceremonies for the fourth year in a row, holds joint appointments in the Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine. His areas of research include time perception, vision, synesthesia, social neuroscience, and the intersection of neuroscience with the legal system. He is the founder and director of Baylor College of Medicine’s Initiative on Neuroscience and Law, and he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action. An international best-selling author, he has written both fiction and nonfiction works, including Sum, Wednesday is Indigo Blue, Why the Net Matters, Incognito, LiveWired, and Cognitive Neuroscience. He is also a regular contributor to The New York Times, Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, Discover, Slate, Wired, and New Scientist. Dr. Eagleman was recently featured on the cover of Italy's Style magazine, where he was named one of the "Brainiest, Brightest Idea Guys for 2012.” | Dr. David Eagleman view > |
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| Dr. Wade Adams, Associate Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University in his presentation on “Nanotechnology and the Future of Energy,” will passionately explain what nanotechnology is and why it is fundamental to solving many of the world’s most pressing challenges. For the past decade, Dr. Adams was the Director of the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology at Rice University, the first organized nanotech center in the world, founded in 1993 by its namesake. For the past 44 years, Dr. Adams has conducted research in polymer physics, concentrating on structure-property relations in high-performance organic materials. Internationally known for his research, he has written more than 200 publications, has five patents (one licensed), and has given over 750 technical presentations. | Dr. Wade Adams view > |
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| Dambisa Moyo is an international economist and New York Times best-selling author whose books take on challenging, economic issues. In her most recent book, Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What It Means for the World, Dambisa tackles one of the most important and least discussed stories of the 21st century: the impending commodity crisis. During her UP presentation, Dambisa will discuss the implications of water, arable land, and fossil fuels running out across global markets; and particularly, what it means to the U.S. Dambisa was named by Time Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”, and was named to the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders Forum. Moyo is a regular contributor to publications such as The New York Times, Financial Times, The Economist, and Wall Street Journal, and has appeared as a guest contributor on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, BBC, and Fox Business News. | Dambisa Moyo view > |
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| Dr. Gregory Petsko graduated Summa cum Laude from Princeton University in 1970 and received his D. Phil. as a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University in Molecular Biophysics in 1973. He was Professor of Chemistry at MIT from 1978 to 1990, when he moved to Brandeis University, where from 1994 to 2008 he served as Director of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center and from 1996 to 2012 was Gyula and Katica Tauber Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry. His research interests include protein structure and function and the development of methods to treat age-related neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS (Lou Gehrig’s), Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s Diseases. Over the next 40 years, according to Dr. Petsko, “There will be an epidemic of neurologic diseases on an epic scale.” By the year 2050, the U.S. population will include 32 million people over the age of 80; about half of those will have Alzheimer’s disease, and another three million will have Parkinson’s. Understandably, the time for more research, treatment, and prevention is now. | Dr. Gregory Petsko view > |
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| Marcus Luttrell is the author of the #1 New York Times best-selling book Lone Survivor, and a decorated Navy SEAL. Marcus Luttrell joined the U.S. Navy in March 1999 and became a combat-trained SEAL in January 2002. As a SEAL, Luttrell was trained in weapons, demolition, and unarmed combat. He also served as platoon medic. During his UP presentation – “Perseverance Under Adversity” – Marcus will reveal his own harrowing experiences as a combat-trained Navy SEAL. He was awarded the Navy Cross for combat heroism in 2006 by President George W. Bush. In his new best-selling book, Service: A Navy SEAL at War, he turns his focus from his own experiences to the nature of service on America’s battlefields and the soldiers who give their lives to defend their country and each other. | Marcus Luttrell view > |
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| Koen Olthuis is the founder of the Dutch architectural firm Waterstudio, NL that specializes in floating structures to counter concerns and impact of floods due to climate change and rising sea levels. During his UP presentation – A Sustainable Future on the Waterfront – Koen will share his vision for literally building entire communities – and cities – that float! He studied architecture and industrial design at the Delft University of Technology, and has a patent on the methodology for producing a “floating base.” In 2007, Koen was listed as one of “the most influential people in the world” in a readers’ poll by TIME magazine due to the worldwide interest in water developments. The French magazine Terra Eco chose him as one of the “100 green persons that will change the world” in 2011. | Koen Olthuis view > |
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Edward Conard is author of the recently-released New York Times bestseller, Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About the Economy is Wrong. In his new book, Conard attempts to set the record straight and fill the void left by other business and economic analysts. He presents a fascinating and contrarian case for how the economy really works, what went wrong over the past decade, and what steps we can take to start growing again. Conard was a partner at Bain Capital from 1993 to 2007. He served as the head of Bain’s New York office and led the firm’s acquisitions of large industrial companies. Prior to Bain, Conard worked for Wasserstein Perella, an investment bank that specialized in mergers and acquisitions, and Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, where he headed its industrial practice. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of Michigan.
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Edward Conard view > |
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In Oct 2011 Boaz Almog and Barak Deutscher from the superconductivity group at Tel-Aviv University lead by Prof. Guy Deutscher, demonstrated how a superconductor disc is trapped in a surrounding magnetic field, a phenomenon called “Quantum Levitation” or “Quantum Locking”. By using the exceptional large scale superconductors produced by Mishael Azoulay, they are able to demonstrate a quantum effect that, although well known to physicists worldwide, was never seen and demonstrated this way. In addition to developing new superconductor technologies and applications, the superconductivity group in Tel-Aviv University is dedicated to teaching and educating the young and adults about superconductivity, through the unique and counter-intuitive phenomena of ‘quantum locking’ and ‘quantum levitation’.
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Dr. Boaz Almog view > |
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Perhaps best known for starring on some of television’s most beloved and long-running series, Tony has also established himself as a stage and screen star, and he is indisputably one of America’s most iconic performers. In 2009-2010, Tony took on his most challenging role yet—teaching tenth-grade English at Philadelphia’s Northeast High School. In 2010, he received an AARP Inspire Award, which pays tribute to extraordinary people who inspire others to action through their innovative thinking, passion, and perseverance. His experience as a teacher is also chronicled in a new book released this month by Crown Publishers (a division of Random House) titled I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High. Tony now travels the country promoting the importance of education and inspiring audiences to do their part to support teachers across America.
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Tony Danza view > |
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