UC Entrepreneurship Academy Participant Biographiesgsm.ucdavis.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/participant_bios_ucea16.pdfUC Entrepreneurship Academy . Participant Biographies

UC Entrepreneurship Academy

Participant Biographies

September 7-9, 2016• University of California, Davis • Buehler Alumni Center

UC Entrepreneurship Academy PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

Juliet A. Aristizabal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso Juliet A. Aristizabal is a Ph.D. candidate of Science with Mention in Chemistry at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV), Chile. She previously obtained her Industrial-Chemistry degree with honors and in consequence was awarded with several scholarships, among which she obtained a Conicyt grant for doctoral studies. Currently she develops an interdisciplinary carrier between research activities, teaching (scholar/bachelor) and technology-transfer and entrepreneurship programs. She specializes primarily on polymer science and their applications, being renewable energy sources a target of her studies, i.e., organic-based solar technologies; her teaching activities focus on educational programs promoting didactic free-thinking and creativity in young students.

Bogdan Barnych, University of California, Davis Bogdan Barnych is an organic chemist with PhD degree and over 10 years of experience in synthesis, drug development, immunochemistry and related technologies. He is passionate about basic research and enjoys applying his work to identify innovative solutions to biomedical problems.

Fei Chang, University of California, Davis Fei Chang was born and raised in Shanghai. After getting his Bachelor's Degree in chemistry from Tongji University, he came to UC Davis to pursue a Ph.D. in the same major. His graduate research is surrounds around converting biomass into biofuels, bio-materials and value-added products by using organic synthesis. During his 5th year of graduate study, he had the opportunity to learn drug discovery and development with GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. This industrial experience showed him not only the importance of a scientific background but also how crucial it could be towards making business decisions in a technology company. After hi one-year internship with GSK, he came back to UC Davis to wrap up his Ph.D. research and to explore the opportunity of pivoting his career towards business development. He is currently participating the


Business Development Fellowship through the UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Alex Coffman, University of California, Davis Alex is a current student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Davis pursing a dual Bachelors/Masters degree. He is a tutor for physics and math at the Student Academic Success Center and conducts research in the Microwave Microsystems Laboratory and the Davis MM-Wave Research Center. In his spare time Alex enjoys running with the Davis Cross Country and Track Club in addition to playing IM Soccer and Frisbee. He has independently created and programed several I-Phone games and applications that have been submitted to the App store for review. Making things has always been a passion for Alex and he is excited to attend the UC Entrepreneurship Academy to refine and eventually bring some of his ideas to market.

Sharon Conner, UC Davis Medical Center Sharon Conner is a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) RN at UC Davis Medical Center. She has the passion for helping babies and big people as an ambassador and advocate for local organizations.

Her attention to detail and proven leadership shows as the first unit Shared Governance Chair, Magnet Champion, Patient Experience Champion, EMR superuser, and created initiatives in sustainability and website development.

Ninoska Delgado, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso

Peter Deng, University of California, Davis Peter is a 3rd year Pharmacology and Toxicology PhD student that is co-mentored by Dr. Jan Nolta of the Stem Cell program and Dr. David Segal of the Genome Center. His research is focused on developing gene therapies for genetically-linked neurologic disease such as Huntington’s Disease, CDKL5 deficiency, and Angelman Syndrome. He previously received a B.S. in Neurobiology,


Physiology, and Behavior from UC Davis and worked as an academic technician for one year before entering graduate school. He is originally from Los Angeles, however he attended high school in Sacramento and has been in the area for thirteen years. He is interested in a number of career paths, but would like to pursue a future in developing clinically-applicable therapies.

Brenda Diaz, University of Talca Brenda Diaz is a Chilean student at the School of Design, University of Talca, Chile. In 2015 she developed Paw for academic purposes. In 2016, entered the university contest "Atrévete a Emprender". Paw won first place, beating out 10 other participants. Thanks to the encouragement of her teacher Raimundo Hamilton and the support from Maria Elena Fuentes.

She is currently developing several projects including Paw. She hopes to gain knowledge at this academy to continue the journey towards mass producing and introducing Paw to the market.

Cristóbal Dote, University of Talca Cristóbal was born in Curicó, Chile. He began working at a furniture factory at a young age, so studying product design at the University was an easy choice. Now finishing his studies, he has broadened his area of interest to several types of products besides furniture. Developing projects with high social impacts (specifically for the most needed) is one of his new objectives. With a natural empathy, he enjoys taking long walks, observing everything around him, talking to people and linking their needs with possible (or impossible) solutions.


Macarena Farcuh, University of California, Davis Macarena Farcuh is a fifth year PhD candidate in the Horticulture and Agronomy graduate group at UC Davis. Her research interest is focused on the improvement of overall fruit quality using integrative/ interdisciplinary tools (Systems approach). She’s eager to develop the capability to combine science and business, making her ideas translatable into products.

Shea Feeney, University of California, Davis Shea Feeney received her B.S. with a double major in Biochemistry and Cellular & Developmental Biology from San Francisco State University in 2014. She is now starting her third year in the Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Ph.D. program at UC Davis. Her dissertation research in the laboratory of Dr. Katherine Ralston is focused on investigating the mechanism underlying human cell killing by the eukaryotic pathogen Entamoeba histolytica. Following completion of her Ph.D. she plans to pursue a career in development of science innovations in the biotech industry. Shea is participating in the Business Development program and UC Entrepreneurship Academy to gain further knowledge, training and mentorship in how to develop and market a novel product in science.

M. Fernanda Flores, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso M. Fernanda Flores is Associate Professor at the Chemistry Institute at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile. She obtained her PhD in Science with Prof. Jan Bergmann, studying the sex pheromone of Pseudococcus calceolariae, including identification, synthesis and field test in agricultural crops. Her teamwork skills and her interest in innovative process and entrepreneurship has led her to development and run projects based on biological control anduse of semiochemicals as monitoring and control pests. By 31 years old, she was chosen as one of the 100 young leaders in Chile for her work linking the academic and business environment.


Juan Carlos Forero Oliveros, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso Juan Carlos received his BS in Biology at Universidad del Atlántico in Barranquilla-Colombia in 2008 and is pursuing an PhD in Biotechnology at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in Valparaíso-Chile. He has varied interdisciplinary research experience in molecular biology, cellular biology, regenerative medicine, as well as biopolymer extraction from natural sources. His doctoral research is focused on nanocomposite scaffold synthesis for Bone Tissue Engineering applications. Juan Carlos likes to know novel approaches of Innovation and entrepreneurship in Medical Biotechnology. Currently, Juan has been working on the development of startups based on the production of chitosan and nanotechnological products for biomedical and industrial applications.

Rachael Fulp-Cooke, University of California, Davis Rachael Fulp-Cooke received her Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Tufts University and her Master's in Public Health in Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan. Ms. Fulp-Cooke and has extensive experience in program development, project management, and strategic planning, with a focus on community health, in academic, non-profit, and consulting environments. Ms. Fulp-Cooke has worked as Administrative Director, Center for Cardiovascular Disease in Women at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA; Director of Community Benefits at Children's Hospital in Boston, MA, and Healthcare Consultant at Karlsberger Architecture in Ann Arbor, MI. Ms. Fulp-Cooke and Dr. Valeria La Saponara co-founded the A_2_Z Project in 2016.


Holly Ganz, University of California, Davis Holly Ganz is a scientist and entrepreneur interested in applying personalized medicine to animals. She is a co-founder of Animal Microbiome Analytics, a start-up leveraging the latest research on the microbiome to improve the health of cats, dogs, livestock and horses. Last year she conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign to launch kittybiome, an analysis service to assess variation in the composition of the gut microbiome of the domestic cat. She received a Ph.D. from UC Davis, a M.S. from UC San Diego and a B.S. from George Washington University. After studying the microbiology of African wildlife as a postdoc at UC Berkeley, she returned to UC Davis as a staff scientist to study the dog microbiome with Jonathan Eisen. She also studies the microbiomes of cheetahs and other wildlife. She lives in Oakland, CA, where she is often found running on local trails with her husband and two herding dogs.

Tometi K. Gbedema, University of California, Davis Tometi K. Gbedema is currently a Community & Regional Development (CRD) Lecturer in the Department of Human Ecology at UC Davis. He holds an MS degree in Community Development and a PhD in Human Geography from UC Davis. He earned an MA in Translation with French and English as his working languages from Université du Bénin in Lomé, Togo, West Africa, before coming to the US in 2000. At Davis, Gbedema’s community services in his department and on the UC Davis Campus led to his honor with a 2005 UC Davis Community Service Award. Gbedema’s PhD research work investigates the relationships between Diaspora Africans and Africans. He examines Africa’s interaction with the global world through tourism development studies at the world heritage sites in Ghana. He directs The Otwetiri Project (www.otwetiri.org), a nonprofit organization he launched in 2007 to improve the educational environments for children in underdeveloped nations.

http://www.otwetiri.org/


Luz Maria Gonzalez, University of Talca Luz María Gonzalez is a Chilean designer, concentrating her work all around the wine industry, generating brand identity, experience design, packaging, POP design and many, many labels for different brands, available globally. Besides this, she has earned a lot of experience working with local tourism and craftsmen, to create a new way of exploring Chile’s central valley around local identity. Currently working in the School of Design in the University of Talca, she leads several courses where identity, innovation, branding and local industries are mixed to create new projects.

Ron Gupta, University of California, Davis

Raimundo Hamilton, University of Talca Curious and creative, as a kid he tore apart everything he could find to learn how things work. This inventive spirit leads him into studying Product Design and Aesthetics simultaneously. Some years later, he left Chile to study a Masters in Interactive Systems. The mix between Art, Design, UX and Technology are his core study and development subjects.

Besides doing research, developing new products, teaching (a lot) and lecturing, he has worked as the state’s Cultural Counselor for 4 years.

Jessica Hazard, University of California, Davis Ms. Hazard earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis. Prior to graduate school, Ms. Hazard worked as a chemist for a waste gasification start-up where she focused on pilot system R&D and laboratory analysis.


Bethany Henrick, University of California, Davis Bethany Henrick is Associate Director of Scientific Programs at the Foods For Health Institute at the University of California Davis. In this role, Dr. Henrick is a key investigator in multiple international and interdisciplinary research that further our understanding of how food affects human health. Together with top researchers from around the world, the institute engages in cutting edge research investigating factors in human milk and food that are beneficial to overall health. With an emphasis on research at the molecular level, her previous work investigated the role of innate immune factors inhibiting viral infection led to a new understanding of the role of PRR’s influence in pathogen-induced cellular activation and inflammation critical to postnatal mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Stephen High, University of California, Davis

Pui Yan Ho, University of California, Davis Pui Yan Ho is pursuing her PhD in biochemistry, molecular, cellular and developmental biology (BMCDB) with a designated emphasis in biotechnology. She has interest in translational research and focuses on developing microRNAs as a therapeutic agent for cancer. She is an enthusiastic and team-oriented individual, passionate about developing small ideas into novel innovations.

Steve Ho, University of California, Davis Steve Ho is a Ph.D Candidate in the Leach Lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis. He obtained his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he first worked in a muscle biology lab and gained an interest in scientific research. His current research is focused on developing novel mesenchymal stem cell therapies through delivery of cell aggregate structures, termed “spheroids”, in various biomaterial formulations. He is an expert in alginate hydrogels and MSC spheroids used in tissue engineering. These hydrogel constructs are developed with an eye towards clinical translation and improving upon current bone


regeneration techniques. To this end, Steve is consistently working side by side with clinicians to understand true issues in the surgical suite. Steve is interested in the UC Entrepreneurship Academy for the networking opportunities and to learn more about bringing a product to market, regulatory hurdles, and project management.

Hyun Tae Hwang, University of California, Davis Hyun Tae Hwang is a 6th year PhD candidate in Pharmacology & Toxicology at UC Davis with focus in cellular senescence and aging research. He is a part of the Designated Emphases for (1) Biotechnology and (2) Translational Research, and is also a fellow of Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Integrating Medicine into Biological Sciences (Cardiology emphasis). This year, he was awarded Schwall Dissertation Year Fellowship.

In his current research, he investigates the link between cellular aging in the human vasculature to vascular dysfunction and inflammatory disorder. He hopes to participate in efforts to prolong healthy years of our lives through innovations in senolytics, drugs that can clear aged cells from the body, or through reconstruction of aged body parts.

Lorenzo Jeanne, University of California, Davis Lorenzo Jeanne is an undergraduate majoring in Managerial Economics at UC Davis. Lorenzo grew up in Washington DC. His Interests include business models, stock market behavior, international trade, and inequality.

Rouzbeh Kananizadeh , University of California, Davis Rouzbeh Kananizadeh Received the BSc degree from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 2012. He came to University of California, Davis in the same year and is currently working toward his PhD degree in electrical engineering. His research interests include hardware electronics with emphasis on integrated circuits for wireless communication. Mr. Kananizadeh is the recipient of UC Davis graduate fellowship in 2012. He has also won the 2015-2016 best paper award of the department of electrical and computer engineering in UC Davis. He is currently working


toward solutions in kitchen essentials based on the platform of the Internet of Things (IoT). Valeria La Saponara, University of California, Davis Dr. Valeria La Saponara received her B.Sc. degree summa cum laude in aerospace engineering from the University of Naples, Italy. She worked for two years as a research fellow at the MARS Center, Italy, a subcontractor of NASA and the European Space Agency. She received her Ph.D. in 2001 in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. In July 2005, she joined the faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Davis, where she was promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure. In 2007 she received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. Dr. La Saponara’s research focus is to improve the durability of composite structures for aerospace, mechanical, civil and wind engineering applications. In Summer 2016, Dr. La Saponara and her business partner, Ms. Rachael Fulp-Cooke, co-founded the A_2_Z Project.

Harold Leverenz, University of California, Davis Harold Leverenz conducts research on nutrient recovery and water reuse in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis. Harold has been involved in the development of several technologies for decentralized water systems including anoxic denitrification treatment wetlands, low maintenance water recycle systems, and fertilizer recovery from urine. At present, he is investigating rainwater from roof runoff as potable water supply, production of fertilizer from selected waste streams, and continuous monitoring systems for decentralized water systems. Harold has a degree from Michigan State University in Biosystems Engineering and doctorate in Environmental Engineering from University of California at Davis (UC Davis). He is a registered civil engineer in California.


Waghmini Lingannagari, University of California, Davis Waghmini Lingannagari is a graduating undergraduate student from UC Davis majoring in Biotechnology and minoring in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science. She is interested in the intersection of computer science with health and fitness within the consumer tech industry. She has previously won awards at the UC Davis Mobile Application Challenge, where she competed with a innovative prototype for Alzheimer's patients. She is currently working with a mobile app startup that is geared towards rowing. She hopes to use her education and skills to develop innovative products that benefit multiple sectors of the society.

Xingchen Liu, University of California, Davis Xingchen (Stars) Liu is nearing the final stages of her Ph.D. in Fiber and Polymer Science under Dr. You-Lo Hsieh. She earned her BS in Textiles at Donghua University, the best textile engineering collage in China. And she had her MS in Textile & Clothing at UC Davis. Recently, she has just finished her second internship in material science lab of Seagate. She has a solid background in textiles, polymer chemistry and analytical chemistry. Her current research focuses on converting agricultural waste (soy proteins) into advanced functional materials for smart textiles and bio-medical applications by applying green chemistry.

Dj Mponte, California State Univeristy, Sacramento Dj Mponte is a multifaceted life engineer with a formal degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Sacramento State University. Mr. Mponte likes to involve himself in community empowering activities and collaborations such as educating youth on S.T.E.M., feeding the homeless, and holding events novel to Sacramento. Aside from being a recent graduate, Mr. Mponte is a former business owner, Co - Founder of S.T.E.M. nonprofit Square Root Academy, and curator of epiphanies to those he consults. He enjoys bonding with nature, art, people, and seeing ideas to fruition.


Christina Preston, University of California, Davis Preston is a Masters student from UC Davis's Community and Regional Development Graduate Group. She is also the founder of Shoes4Sacramento, an award winning non-profit, which coordinates with local organizations to provide footwear to Sacramento's homeless as well as to individuals living in transitional shelters and to families in need. Preston's interests are focused in non-profit development, conflict resolution, and facilitating communication and cooperation in communities experiencing conflict. Currently, Preston is documenting a small town in rural Nevada that recently lost its economic stability when the nearby gypsum mine ceased operations after 88 years. The document will be used by community members for grant applications focused on tourism to help the community generate additional revenue to sustain the community's businesses. Preston also holds a B.A. in anthropology from Sacramento State University.

Nicole Rapista, University of California, Davis Nicole is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Watson Institute Philippines, an incubator that aims to equip youth with the skills, mentorship, and personal development to create entrepreneurial solutions to the world’s toughest social, economic, and environmental challenges. Her mission in life is to help create a world without poverty by utilizing the capacity of entrepreneurship, education, and innovation.

For the past 5 years, Nicole has worked in the intersections of education, entrepreneurship, innovation, consulting, municipal government, policy, and grassroots mobilization. During her time at Ashoka and Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, she saw the capacity for entrepreneurship to make a difference in peoples' lives and communities and began to focus all her efforts into education and building platforms that allow for entrepreneurship to grow. Currently serving on the Executive Board of the International Youth Council as the Director of Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit serving 10,000 youth leaders across 30 countries, she constantly pushes for youth to create ventures in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. She has also worked

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs


as a youth delegate to the United Nations where she worked on policy and local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and managed grassroots movements and public-private partnerships.

Roxanne Rashedi, University of California, Davis Currently a Ph.D. Student in Education at UC Davis, Roxanne N. Rashedi is interested in cognition, the body, and contemplative practices. She has recently received a grant to examine the effect of training teachers to deliver a school-based yoga intervention. Beyond her research activities, Roxanne works on a project examining the impact yoga may have on children who show signs of impulsivity and hyperactivity and in a lab that examines the ways wearable technologies and video games increase adolescents’ awareness around health. She is also examining the literacy practices of yoga instructors and the ways in which teachers’ stories showcases their lived experiences and the connections they experience between their practice and writing. A student since 2000 and an instructor since 2009, Roxanne is incredibly grateful for the practice of yoga and is committed to generating scientifically rigorous research surrounding the effects that yoga may have for children and helping disseminate this knowledge to educators and parents. David Rawlins-Novicki, Rogue Innovations David Novicki is an ambitious Web and Mobile app developer and a full-time Computer Science major at Sacramento State. He has great interest in developing himself as an entrepreneur and using his technical skills to connect others. On a typical day you will find David working as a web programmer for a tax software business, consulting local businesses on tech architecture and solutions, and building fun projects with the newest technology. David and his team earned 2nd place at this year’s Startup Weekend Health edition for their business model of connecting others to alternative medicine solutions through their mobile app. David and his team continue to work on this project and are moving towards a release for Android and iOS


Shruit Sethi, Intel Corp Shruti is a Graphics Hardware Engineer at Intel for past 4 years, working on chip design. She has a Masters in Electrical from Georgia Institute of Technology and hoping to transition to a startup now. She has also co-founded the Sacramento Network of Women Who Code - a non-profit helping women to enter the technology field. Currently, she also leads a dance group in the Sacramento area that she co-founded with a work partner.

Shalini Shankar, University of California, Davis Shalini Shankar is a second year master’s student in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California Davis. Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, she moved to India to pursue her higher education and graduated from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India with a bachelor’s degree in Food Engineering and Technology. Shalini is currently working on developing rapid analytical methods for human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), which are bioactive components present in human milk with numerous health benefits. She has previously worked with The Coca Cola Company in the Corporate R&D and Global Scientific and Regulatory Affairs departments and completed an internship with the USDA exploring the barriers to food safety enhancing technologies such as irradiation. She also worked as a regulatory compliance executive at Equinox Labs and technical intern at the Tata Chemicals Innovation Centre, prior to attending school at UC Davis.

Dmitry Shironosov, South Ural State University Dmitry Shironosov is the co-founder and CEO of EveryPixel.com. Being a pioneer in stock photography world, he is sure that the current market model has been compromised in recent years. The empty niche is considered to be a market model that equally fair to all players of the game - contributors, buyers and marketplaces of creative content. The model that has been developed by him and his team is an alternative to the current status quo under EveryPixel.


Hampton Sublett, University of California, Davis Hampton Sublett is the Director of Financial Sustainability at the University of California, Davis. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the implementation of a broad range of project portfolios that directly impact the long-term financial sustainability of UC Davis. During the first of many, 6-month ideation phases, the Financial Sustainability’s Exploration Committee identified $16M in new annual funds.

Prior to accepting this role, Sublett was appointed by an Associate Chancellor to help lead a 2-year initiative aimed at reimagining the entire university’s central administration and to drive operational efficiencies and organizational effectiveness. Sublett’s professional roots however, are based in IT program and project management, having established the university’s first central IT Program Management Office.

Andrew Tran, University of California, Davis Andrew Tran, A corporate career never satisfied Andrew. He did not feel that his work had enough impact on the organization, let alone the world. While working at Oracle, Andrew began building a life insurance agency with Transamerica on the side. After 18 months he had built a sales team of 5 agents. Together the team closed $10 million coverage in life insurance policies. This experience gave him the first taste of entrepreneurship. He left Oracle as a Sales Account Executive in March 2016 to co-found a startup that aims to deliver affordable, healthy meals to customers’ homes. Although the business did not work out and the co-founders parted ways, Andrew has grown tremendously as an entrepreneur and is determined to continue pursuing entrepreneurship. Andrew holds a BS degree in Computer Science from UCLA and an MBA from UC Davis.


Fanis Tsoulouhas, University of California, Merced Theofanis "Fanis" Tsoulouhas is the Ruiz Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and a Professor of Financial Management at UC Merced’s E&J Gallo Management Program. He teaches Corporate Finance. Fanis received his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) in 1993. He attended the Launching New Ventures program at the Harvard Business School in 2016, and the Management Development Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2015. He has been involved with many entrepreneurship initiatives on campus, including business networking and establishing partnerships, entrepreneurial communication and pitching events, establishing an entrepreneurship research institute on campus (iRISE.ucmerced.edu), supervising a microfinance project for funding local businesses (microfinance.ucmerced.edu), and is currently working on establishing an entrepreneurship lab.

Natalia Vasylieva, University of California Davis Natalia Vasylieva is a Bionalytical Chemist with 8 years of experience in the biotechnology and bioengineering passionate about bringing science from bench to everyday life aims to implement new biotechnologies to propose solutions for patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions.

Samantha Wall-Laidler, Hampton University Samantha graduated from Hampton University in Virginia. She attained a B.S. degree in business/fashion merchandising. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Furthermore, she holds a Master’s Degree from the Sacramento Theological Seminary in Sacramento, CA. After gaining valuable experience in the fashion industry Samantha has operated 5 successful business/stores in NJ, NY and Ca. It was named Unlimited Fashions. Her target market was hosiery and clothing for full figured women. Her stores were extremely successful even though they competed with several multi-million dollar department stores.


Lanxuan Wang, University of California, Davis Lanxuan is pursuing her Master of Science degree in Horticulture and Agronomy at the University of California, Davis. Lanxuan received her Bachelor of Science degree specialized in Horticulture Science at Purdue University. Her interests include greenhouse production, plant breeding and urban agriculture. Lanxuan enjoys experiencing different cultures. She grew up in Shanghai and she studied in Beijing, Indiana and California. Lanxuan likes science. She is a teaching assistant of Introduction to Biology and Developmental Plant Anatomy. Lanxuan is also a research assistant, working on a perennial wheat project. Lanxuan is fascinated about doing business. She worked as a customer service at Purdue Memorial Union. Lanxuan wishes to serve as a bridge from science to industry. In her free time, she likes to travel with friends, seeking unique scenery and special local cuisine.

Carrie Waterman, University of California, Davis Dr. Carrie Waterman is an interdisciplinary research scientist at the

intersection of nutrition, agriculture, health and development. She received her PhD in Pharmacognosy in 2010 from University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. Carrie spend the following years as a post doc in Natural Products Chemistry at University of South Florida and Rutgers University; another year was spent as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Nairobi, Kenya and one year working for Bayer CropScience in West Sacramento. Her international development interests began when she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa and has taken her to her current position as a Professional Research Assistant in the Dept. of Nutrition at UC Davis where she holds a five year NIH Fogarty International K01 career development grant. She is working with public and private sectors in Kenya on Moringa, a plant used to treat malnutrition and prevent chronic diseases. She hopes to develop products that improve health, build capacity, and empower women in Sub-Sharan Africa.


Kay Watt, University of California, Davis Kay Watt completed a BA in at Smith College and a BS at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is currently a PhD candidate at University of California, Davis in Integrated Genetics and Genomics. She is also a Business Development Fellow, and interested in agricultural innovations and startups.

Madeline Weeks, University of California, Davis Madeline Weeks is a PhD candidate at UC Davis studying the impacts of ethical cacao-chocolate commodity chains on biodiversity conservation, crop genetic diversity, and livelihoods. Through innovative and experimental research methods, she is exploring ways to make chocolate more sustainable across different levels of the supply chain.

Joanne Werneke

Stephen Young, University of California, Davis

Documents

UC Entrepreneurship Academy Participant Biographiesgsm.ucdavis.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/participant_bios_ucea16.pdfUC Entrepreneurship Academy . Participant Biographies