Theme: A Brave New World

What if we could see the world differently? Our speakers will challenge you to dream about a brave new world.

Student Center, Speakers Auditorium
55 Gilmer Street
Atlanta, Georgia, 30303
United States

AmberNechole Hart

Meditation Advocate

AmberNechole Hart is a user experience designer, writer, and aspiring meditation instructor graduating with a degree of African American studies from Georgia State University this spring. Interested in cognitive biases and their manifestations in human-centered design and academic research she intends to bring a culturally and socially competent design thinking process into the field of user experience. She hopes to design with companies, agencies, and individuals for social impact in efforts to create a new standard of ethical and inclusive digital products, platforms, and experiences. As a meditation instructor, she wishes to use her training to make the practice of meditation accessible to communities as a strategy to manage stress and suffering from racism, sexism, queerphobia, poverty, and other forms of oppression.

Amy Salter

Educational Psychologist

Amy Salter is an Educational Psychology scholar at Georgia State University committed to advancing the public's understanding of how we learn and persist in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Honored as an Atlanta Urban Teacher Resident (AUTR), Amy also has prior related experience as a high school science teacher in Atlanta, GA where she experienced the snowball effects of mentorship. Her undergraduate STEM career at Howard University in Washington, D.C. exposed her to positive mentors and solidified her commitment to serving underrepresented communities. Accordingly, her current research as a fourth-year Ph.D. student focuses on the interactions between mentorship, identity, learning, and persistence in STEM. Amy hopes to use her research and platform to promote mentoring initiatives and broadly increase diversity in STEM.

Catherine Neiner

Career Educator

Catherine F. Neiner has had an interest in the way women navigate career since she subscribed to Ms. Magazine as a young girl. Her ability to work with women and career was launched when she entered the profession of college career services. Over the years, she served as director of several career centers including that of a highly selective women’s college. Currently, she serves as the Director of University Career Services at Georgia State University. In 2006, she was one of only six US career services professionals selected for a Fulbright scholarship to study the emerging field of college career counseling in Berlin, Germany. Her research involves the accurate expectations of the first post-college job and the progression of women through mid-career. She has served in a number of leadership roles in the career services profession and has been an invited presenter at numerous conferences.

Claudia Cornelison

Mental Health Advocate

Claudia Cornelison is a political science student, published poet, a proud member of Georgia State University’s mock trial team. She has struggled with several forms of mental illness— including depression and anxiety— and hopes to use what she has learned from those struggles to help other college students and young adults. She owes much of her inspiration to her supportive family, her loving boyfriend, and her forever loyal Goldendoodle, Boaz.

Daniel Snook

Transcultural Conflict and Violence Research Fellow

Daniel Snook is a community psychology Ph.D. student at Georgia State University studying the psychology of terrorism with his advisor, Dr. John Horgan, and the Violent Extremism Research Group (VERG). Daniel is a Transcultural Conflict and Violence research fellow involved with research projects sponsored by the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Justice. Daniel’s research framework is a mix of applied social and community psychology and his interests lie in how social influence and identity formation relate to intergroup violence. He is interested in social perceptions of terrorism and judgment and decision-making related to terrorism. He hopes to help advance a scientifically rigorous, evidence-based understanding of intergroup violence and promote its application in society. Daniel earned a Bachelor’s in psychology from University of Florida, a Master’s in psychology from University of North Florida, and worked in the non-profit sector as a research analyst.

Elena Luebbers

Foster Care Advocate

Elena Luebbers is a student at Georgia State University majoring in Biology. Last April, she participated in a shadowing project at her local sheriff’s office where she fell in love with the world of Forensics and now hopes to pursue a career in the field. In 2014, Her family decided to open their home to foster kids in Walton county. After seeing first-hand how broken the system truly was, she became very passionate about spreading awareness on how to help kids within the system. Elena’s family has fostered over 20 kids now and truly believes the foster care system could drastically change by simply encouraging people to get involved and educate themselves on how they can help within their community.

Ethan Trinh

Educator

Ethan Trinh is a graduate student of GSU’s College of Education and Human Development, majoring at TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language). Ethan is a Vietnamese immigrant, desiring to make a radical transformation in the U.S. classroom. Ethan is currently student-teaching at Clarkston High School, where the stories of refugee students inspired him to continue his teaching work. Ethan strongly believes in the power of education that can change a person’s life. Besides teaching, he is an active member in the Georgia ESOL community. He received the prestigious 2017 GATESOL Public Service Award by GATESOL for his contribution to English Language Learners in Georgia. At present, he is the Chairperson of Grants and Awards at GATESOL. He loves teaching and is willing to share what he has known to other educators to make an impact in students’ lives.

Hamza Rahman

Religious Studies Enthusiast

Hamza Habibur Rahman is a student at Georgia State University and an Atlanta native. He is currently a Biology Major with a Pre-Med focus, and plans on becoming a surgeon later in life. Hamza has a passion for studying religions and politics. He is a member of the GSU Chapters of the Muslim Student Association and United Muslim Relief. In his free time, he enjoys travelling and reading. His favorite author is Chinua Achebe.

Isbah Nasir

Artist

Isbah Nasir was born in Pakistan, raised in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to Georgia in 2017. She is a natural born and self-taught artist, who started drawing at just 6 years old. She began creative writing and poetry at 10 years old. She has 3 years of formal training in public speech and was on the New York National Urban Debate League. She earned numerous Top Speaker awards and topped every debate competition including the finals. She has won numerous writing and art related contests and has even had her art featured in the Brooklyn Museum for one ceremony. Her art has even been featured on bookmarks and debut novels. She has written for blogs and literary journals as well. She has publicly spoken on major issues such as education, the refugee crisis, economic sanctions, feminism, welfare, reparations, gmo foods, bioethics, immigration, and more. Currently, she is a Neuroscience major at Georgia State University.

Jessica T. White

Mental Health Counselor

Jessica T. White is a woman of God and award-winning philanthropist. She enjoys spreading love and helping others with her dynamic talks and community outreach. She is best known for her annual Know Your Worth youth conference, promoting self-acceptance and building confidence. She is the founder of The Sugar Love Foundation, Inc. a non-profit corporation, whose mission is creating a positive cycle of change for youth while spreading the love of God. While Jessica loves speaking and inspiring youth in South Florida communities and abroad, she is also a graduate student in Mental Health Counseling. She has worked as a child protective investigator and is certified in Human Trafficking, Child Sexual Trauma, Suicide prevention, and holds many other certifications that allow her to serve and protect children and families.

Kaila Hill

Civil Rights Activist

A Detroit native, Kaila Hill is studying African-American and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. Since studying at Georgia State, she has started a beauty business designed for Black Women, become a social and civil rights activist, and began making changes to the Georgia State environment. She plans to use her degrees to force drastic changes in the Black Community starting with the re-education of what we define as history. She hopes her voice will help spark controversial conversations and challenge people to evaluate their world views.

Michael Truong

Student

Michael is a senior at Georgia State University. He is currently pursuing a double major in Managerial Science and Marketing with a concentration in project management. Michael was born and raised in Georgia, and is bilingual in English and Vietnamese. Currently, He works as a brand ambassador at Urban Enterprises where he believes has improved his communication skills. Outside of School and work, Michael is an active member of GSUVSA and National Student Leadership Society (NSLS). In Michael free time, he enjoys signing up for touch the earth activities, Spotlight events, volunteer opportunities at GSU, and visiting GSU’s EXlab. Where students can explore and learn about laser cutting and 3D printing. He believes that GSU provide students with a plethora of opportunities, and plans to experience as much as he can before graduation in May.