Theme: The Complexity in Everyday Life

Doors Open 12:30 | Talks Begin 1:30

A series of presentations by speakers who are experts on their topics. Our speakers have achieved things like:
- A Pulitzer (2024)
- Recognition by TIME Magazine for having one of 2023's best inventions
- Gates-Cambridge Scholarship
- Admittance to Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton

This event is largely funded by Pratibha Rikh.

Mahwah Public Library
100 Ridge Road
Winter Room
Mahwah, New Jersey, 07430
United States

Arshnoor Kaur

Undergraduate Neuroscience Major at Yale University

Arshnoor is a rising senior at Yale University studying Neuroscience and Spanish. Outside of her schoolwork, she conducts research on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Schizophrenia in a medical laboratory, works as a research assistant on an Alzheimer's project in the Yale hospital Emergency Department, and runs an anonymous peer counseling service with a mental health hotline on campus. Arshnoor has also had the opportunity to learn about healthcare needs across different communities through her role as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), volunteering both in Shelton, Connecticut and Mahwah, New Jersey. After graduation, Arshnoor will be applying to medical school, where she hopes to study public health alongside medicine through a joint MD-MPH program.

Elise Tao

Founder of Synthesis Publications; Incoming Harvard Freshman

Elise is a writer, entrepreneur, and advocate for change. She is a freshman at Harvard College and the founder of Synthesis Publications, a multimedia digital platform for teen artists and writers all around the world to use their voices and harness their creativity. As of 2024, Synthesis has over 70 staff members and has accrued over 500k+ impressions across social media platforms and the Internet. Elise has been named the 2024 Distinguished Young Woman of New Jersey and has been recognized by Good Morning America, ABC, The Walt Disney Company, CBS, NBC, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, and more. Elise's creative and journalistic work is forthcoming or has previously been published in the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Gallery, DIAGRAM, Poetry Online, and The Apprentice Writer. Elise is also passionate about women’s rights, gun safety, and Asian American issues, and will gladly have a conversation with anyone about her vinyl collection and thoughts on popular culture.

Gagan Khandate

Computer Science PhD Student at Columbia University

Gagan is a final year PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University and works in the Robotic Manipulation & Mobility Lab. His research primarily focuses on artificial dexterous intelligence with questions such as "How can our robotic hands be as dexterous as humans in the real world?". TIME Magazine recognized his work as one of the "Best Inventions of 2023," and it has also been featured in outlets such as IEEE Spectrum and RobotNews. After completing his PhD, Gagan will join Boston Dynamics as a Research Scientist working on the new Atlas humanoid robot. In his free time, Gagan loves to play guitar, hike, and read biographies.

Kanna Pichappan

Brain & Cognitive Sciences Undergraduate Student at MIT

Kanna is an undergraduate at MIT, pursuing studies in both brain and cognitive sciences and anthropology. Her research centers on neurodevelopmental differences and the neuroscience of mindfulness. Additionally, she has worked as a data analyst for health and education nonprofits, co-directed science fairs, volunteered as an EMT, and served as an interfaith hospital chaplain in neurology and trauma surgery. Kanna cares deeply about character development and strives to align her thoughts, speech, and actions with values like kindness, respect, service, sincerity, and integrity. She also has a strong affinity for novels and inspiring quotes!

Medar de la Cruz

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Cartoonist

Medar is a Dominican-American cartoonist and illustrator born in Miami, Florida, and he currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with a degree in illustration from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and has since worked as a freelance illustrator for The New York Times and The New Yorker. Beyond the drawing board, Medar has contributed part-time to the Outreach Department at the Brooklyn Public Library, where he provided book cart services to incarcerated individuals on Rikers Island. This experience has motivated him to explore the role of journalism in his autobiographical comics. Currently, Medar is working on a graphic novel about his experiences on Rikers to offer insights into spaces that are otherwise inaccessible to the public. In addition to drawing comics, he serves as an educator, sharing his passion for visual communication through community workshops across the city.

Rodrigo Córdova Rosado

Astrophysics PhD Candidate at Princeton University

Rodrigo E. L. Córdova Rosado (Osage Nation) is a final year PhD candidate in the Astrophysical Sciences Department at Princeton University. He studies the properties and impact of black holes on galactic evolution by measuring the arrangement of active galaxies (known as quasars) on the sky. Rodrigo was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and lived there until he graduated from high school. He majored in Astrophysics and Physics at Harvard University. He also did an MPhil program in the Archaeology of the Americas with a focus in Archaeoastronomy at Cambridge University as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. As part of his archaeological work, he is interested in monumental architecture and the ways it may encode the way ancestral communities saw the cosmos.