Theme: Future Reimagined

16 speakers and performers, and 20 exhibits. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks provided.

Mira Costa High School
1401 Artesia Blvd.
Manhattan Beach, California, 90266
United States

Amy Alkon

Mediator

Mediation is a powerful tool to resolve differences and create understanding, says Amy Alkon, and we don’t have to be professional mediators to use basic mediation techniques. A powerful tool to resolve conflicts is letting go of brute force and deciding to relax and listen to another person which leads to understanding and empathy. Amy encourages, “Don’t fight back — listen your way out of an argument.” Amy is a mediator, specializing in relationship mediation to help couples resolve disputes and training them to disagree lovingly and productively. She also volunteers as a mediator and gives behavioral science-based training sessions for the Dispute Resolution Program in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office and provides continuing education for experienced mediators. An award-winning nationally syndicated columnist and author, Amy gives talks on applied science to solve problems and improve lives, and has hosted the award-winning behavioral science podcast, “HumanLab.”

Benkadi Drum and Dance

Drum and Dance Performance

Founded in 2021, Benkadi provides West African drum, dance, and culture classes that develop skills in music, dance and confidence building in students throughout greater Los Angeles. Benkadi’s mission is to unlock learning skills for life, improve educational outcomes, and build communities. By providing instruments and instruction through experienced educators and world class professional West African musicians and dancers, Benkadi delivers semester-long programs for arts credits in schools, with a focus on learning communities of need. Benkadi also provides custom classes and programs to meet the educational and cultural needs of clubs, groups, and gatherings. While Benkadi is great fun, scientific research has shown that communal drum and dance develop cognitive skills such as concentration, recall, pattern recognition and coordination. Learn more about Benkadi at www.benkadi.live.

Cole Sternberg

Artist and Utopian Thinker

Cole Sternberg is a conceptual artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. He imagines a future where thoughtful analysis of society leads to a sustainable environment where its inhabitants can collectively thrive. Cole’s painting practice contemplates humanity’s existential quandary — that of being hopelessly destructive, yet forever and inevitably linked with nature. His recent paintings have centered on the environment acting as the true artist, incorporated also in poetry and photography. He also deconstructs historical and cultural myths through his sculptural installations and film. He has exhibited nationally and internationally. His works are also held by major collections throughout the world, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the El Segundo Museum of Art, the American University Museum and Deutsche Telekom, and his work has been featured in numerous national and international newspapers and magazines.

Dennis Hong

Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Founding Director of Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory at UCLA

Washington Post Magazine called Dr. Dennis Hong, PhD “the Leonardo da Vinci of robots.” Dr. Hong, a TED alumnus, is a Professor and Founding Director of RoMeLa (Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory) of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA. His research focuses on robot locomotion and manipulation, autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots. He is the inventor of several novel robots and mechanisms, including the ‘whole skin locomotion’ for mobile robots inspired by how amoeba move and the world’s first car that can be driven by the blind. Dennis has been named to Popular Science’s “Brilliant 10”, “Forward Under 40” by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Alumni Association and honored as “Top 40 Under 40” alumni by Purdue University. Hong’s other awards include the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award, the SAE International’s Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award and the ASME Freudenstein/GM Young Investigator Award to name a few.

Hannah Gedion

High School Student and Education Reform Activist

Hannah Gedion is a senior at Mira Costa High School. Noticing a lack of diversity in texts at her school, Hannah discovered ethnic studies and realized the courses would provide students with valuable perspectives that had previously been withheld. She believes that studying different cultures and ethnicities makes students global citizens who form meaningful relationships and empathetic connections with all kinds of people. Often the only African American in the classroom, Hannah hopes to eliminate the numerous insensitive, ignorant or misinformed comments she has endured by offering new ways to learn about other cultures and ethnicities. Hannah founded the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Chapter of Diversify Our Narrative. She is a member of the Equity, Diversity, Social Justice, and Inclusion Committee, which works under the MBUSD school board to provide input and feedback to create a more inclusive environment in Manhattan Beach schools.

Huda Al-Marashi

Author

As a child of immigrants, Huda Al-Marashi felt defined by her Iraqi-American background. She created a cultural shorthand to understand the world. Unfortunately, this reinforced the stereotypes that Huda was challenging in other areas of her life. Huda believes we are improving our accommodation of cultural differences and foresees our society reaching a place of deeper tolerance and coexistence. Huda is the author of First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story, which The Washington Post called “a charming, funny, heartbreaking memoir of faith, family, and the journey to love.” Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, al Jazeera, and elsewhere. First Comes Marriage was long-listed for the Chautauqua Prize and a finalist for the Southern California Independent Booksellers’ Award.

Marla Zaslansky

Competency Advocate

Marla Zaslansky believes in credit for competency. Marla, an active advocate for education reform, leverages a versatile background in education, entertainment, marketing, and business to create innovative solutions. Her ability to think holistically and inspire action has resulted in dramatically shifting the course of nonprofit and for-profit companies alike. Marla dreams big and delivers results. Currently, her dream is to shift the education system from a siloed “age and stage” model into a lifelong eco-system that assigns a value to competency, knowledge, talent, and experience — turning competency into currency.

Mary Lee

Mathematician

Mary Lee believes that the devices that will connect our brain and body to ‘The Internet of Bodies’ will become more and more popular in the future and will change our lives, from medical care to human performance. Leading a research project on the Internet of Bodies, Mary outlined the benefits and risks of these technologies, with recommended policy solutions. As the Inaugural Fellow for the RAND Center for Global Risk and Security and a mathematician at the RAND Corporation, Mary has researched mathematical modeling and simulation of complex systems in the areas of defense/aerospace, cyber policy, health care, and chronic diseases. Mary received her BA in Applied Mathematics at UC Berkeley, and MS and PhD in mathematics from UC Irvine, where her dissertation research focused on mathematical modeling of cancer growth and metabolism.

Maryam Bakhtiyari

Dentist and Entrepreneur

Maryam Bakhtiyari, DDS, is passionate about giving people beautiful smiles and healthy jaw placement through functional orthodontics. She has witnessed patients suffering stress to the body caused by TMJ and Sleep Apnea. By creating proper jaw placement, patients enjoy better breathing, sleep, circulation, digestion, and fewer headaches. She is the first woman in the world to become a Diplomate of the International Board of Orthodontics, placing her in the top 10% of practicing orthodontists in the world. Her non-invasive treatment of TMJ, Sleep Apnea, teeth crowding, migraines and childhood movement issues have earned her a devoted following. She is a strong advocate to implement airway and TMJ screening in every elementary school, to prevent childhood TMJ, sleep apnea, ADHD, and movement disorders. She is also the founder of BLAfit®, a facial exercise device which trains facial muscles that have become lax with age, for a rejuvenated facial outline, jawline and fuller lips.

Peter Samuelson

Producer, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Peter is a serial pro-social entrepreneur. He co-founded the Starlight Children’s Foundation four decades ago, and later started Starbright World, co-founded with Steven Spielberg. In 2005 he founded EDAR, and in 2013 he launched ASPIRE — the Academy for Social Purpose in Responsible Entertainment. Peter has also produced twenty-six films and raised four children. Educated at Cambridge and the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, Peter resides in Los Angeles with his wife Saryl.

Ruben Rojas

Artist

In 2013, Ruben Rojas traded his suit for a paint brush and began transforming blank walls into empowering messages to uplift communities, ignite creativity and inspire others to see the world through the lens of love. He’s been making a living as an artist ever since, building the “Live Through Love” brand one project at a time. Ruben’s murals can be seen in cities around the world, from New York to Los Angeles, to Miami and Paris. Once vacant walls are now vibrant and inspire people to dream big, feel beautiful, live in possibility, and to love. Ruben is also a product designer, corporate consultant and published author. With a little bit of paint and a lot of heart, he inspires people to make a positive difference every day. He believes that it’s important that his art and life’s work leave this planet better than where he found it and that his message to bring love, hope and change to our world becomes universally accepted.

Russ Prentice

Solar Power Entrepreneur and Nuclear Engineer

Russ is a nuclear engineer and CEO of Halcyon Energy Systems in San Luis Obispo, California. In 2018 Russ and his business partner, David McMillan, founded Halcyon with the intent to bring water and power systems to remote villages in West Africa. A Mechanical Engineering Master’s Program graduate of California Polytechnic State University, Russ has a passion for energy, mechatronics design and classic cars. He currently resides on California’s Central Coast with his wife, Jenn, and their two young boys.

Shannon Ryan

Certified Financial Planner and Author

Financial literacy is Shannon Ryan’s passion, and she credits her father for igniting her interest in the topic. He began his “money lessons” when she was 13 years old, emphasizing the behavioral side of money. Today Shannon is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) with two decades of experience. Her focus is the emotional side of money, focusing on how our financial narrative affects our decisions. Shannon is a wealth advisor, blogger, speaker, and author of two children’s books. She has appeared on Good Morning America, CNBC, PBS, and many radio shows. Shannon was also invited to the White House to recognize her work with the Women’s Bureau on financial issues.

Sirisha Bandla

Aeronautical Engineer and Commercial Astronaut

Sirisha Bandla believes in making space more accessible to all through Space Tourism. For the past five years, she has served as VP of Government Affairs for Virgin Galactic, supporting both LauncherOne and SpaceShipTwo programs. Leading Virgin Galactic’s efforts on policy, regulation, and business development for scientific payloads, Sirisha also serves on the Board of Directors for the American Astronautical Society, Future Space Leaders Foundation, and American Society for Gravitational and Space Research. She also helps to coordinate the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program, mentoring students interested in pursuing a career in the commercial space industry. Previously, Sirisha served as Associate Director for the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), where she promoted the commercial space industry to make commercial spaceflight a reality. Prior to CSF, she worked as an aerospace engineer, designing components for advanced aircraft.

Vinnie Malcolm

Media Executive and Mentor

Vinnie Malcolm believes mentorship is key to a well-functioning society, and that investing in younger generations through guidance, counseling, and life opportunities provides substantial benefits for both mentors and mentees. Vinnie is a seasoned marketing and business development executive with extensive multicultural experience across multi-media marketing, sports franchise management and grassroots initiatives. Throughout his career, he developed multicultural outreach opportunities in partnership with major brand marketers, proactively engaged underserved communities and sought to recruit, develop, and promote minority talent. Currently Vinnie has his own consulting company and serves as senior executive for a full-service multicultural advertising agency. He was President and GM of KTLA, L.A., President of the WBNA L.A. Sparks, and performed roles in many other major media corporations. Originally from Jamaica, he has three sons and resides in Southern California.