2016 Talks

Fong Tran is currently the Director of Student Activities and Campus Life at the College of Alameda. He received a masters degree in Community Development from UC Davis, where he focused on the experiences of youth of color in social media.

Dr. David Lang is a Full Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). In addition, Dr. Lang routinely teaches various courses at UC, Davis, in the Economics, Statistics, and Mathematics Departments.

Ellen Davis is a senior studying Communication at UC Davis. As a board member for We Are Aggie Pride, Ellen became very interested in philanthropy and hopes to pursue a career in fundraising. We Are Aggie Pride (WAAP) is a student run philanthropy on the UC Davis campus that raises money for students in emergency need of financial aid.

Mindy Romero is the founder and director of the California Civic Engagement Project (CCEP) at the UC Davis Center for Regional Change. Romero is a political sociologist and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Davis. Her research focuses on the intersection of political behavior and race/ethnicity.

Ralph Washington, Jr. is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and a second-year Ph.D. student in Entomology and Nematology. He is the Chair of the UC Davis Graduate Student Association, the Co-Chair of the UC Council of Student Body Presidents, and one of the leaders of the UC Davis Black Graduate and Professional Students Association.

For over two decades, Michael has been a recruiting executive. In the 1990s he started a new staffing firm for a Fortune 500 company. What began with just Michael and a used desk grew over eight years to a $50 million company that eventually employed more than 1,500 people in 18 offices throughout the United States.

Rylan is a fifth year computer science engineering and statistics double major, whose difficulty with choosing his major is reflected in his varied adventures at UC Davis.

William Tavernetti has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from UC Davis and is currently a lecturer at UC Davis in the department of Mathematics. William also works as a teacher fellow for the Introduction to Engineering Mechanics Cluster at the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS).

Kevin has had the privilege of mentoring hundreds of college students in varied capacities and is currently serving his 3rd term as the national president of a medical student organization that represents roughly 3,000 members. Prior to medical school, he worked in hospitality, on 9-1-1 ambulances, in sales/marketing, and in community education.
Gurminder Singh is a Professor of Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School and the Founder and CEO of OpunUp, Inc. He wants to open up the world's knowledge and make it accessible to everyone by democratizing contact between people. He thinks he has found a way to do so!