Team
Shaz Akram
Fulbright Association
Shaz Akram joined the Fulbright Association in 2012. As Senior Director, she oversees all membership initiatives, serves the sixty plus chapter networks across the US, administers the Chapter Grant program, and works with events, conferences and Fulbright Association Corp and Insight Tours. She also edits the Fulbright Edge (Fulbright Association’s) e-newsletter. Shaz has also worked as the Director of Chapter and Institutional Relations at the Association. Prior to joining the Fulbright Association, She served as an Assistant Director at the Diversity Center, Mississippi State University, where her name had become synonymous with the word “international.”
Shaz also served as faculty and student adviser for the Fulbright Program (FPA) at Mississippi State University. She has extensive knowledge of J, F and H1-B visa regulations, academic exchanges and study abroad programs and served as an adviser to international students for several years, before joining the Association in DC. She was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria and has lived in her home country, Pakistan. She is fluent in several languages and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and French, a Masters in English Literature, and Business Administration with a minor in Finance. Shaz has also been part of the prestigious Civil Services of Pakistan and worked under the Auditor General of Pakistan’s Office as Deputy Controller Military Accounts and Deputy Director Commercial Audit for several years before moving to the US. Shaz can be reached at Shaz.akram@Fulbright.org
John Carfora
Expense Director
Dr. Carfora holds graduate degrees from a number of universities, including The London School of Economics, Harvard University, and a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. A recipient of several international awards, John regularly lectures in the USA, Europe, Canada and Africa. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), and was an IREX Fellow to Russia and a Fulbright Scholar to Ireland. Dr. Carfora has been a tenured professor, research scholar, and an international consultant with clients such as American Airlines, Disney and “U.S. News and World Report.”
John K. Bates
Speaker Coach
John Bates is in business to bring out what is awesome inside every person so it can live in the world and make a real difference. His group training is world famous and executives from companies like Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Second Genome, Care Fusion and more recommend him to their colleagues as the best communications and leadership trainer working today. John's training is based in human evolutionary biology and human neurophysiology so you learn not only what works, but WHY it works. That gives you principles which allow you to achieve ever increasing success along with the ability to play and create in the areas of communication and leadership. John has trained hundreds of TED and TEDx speakers all over the world. John also works with C level executives at top companies to make their communications "TED-Worthy." John is a co-author of "World Class Speaking in Action" an Amazon best seller. In his previous positions John was an early stage employee and/or co-founder at influential Internet companies like Virtual Vegas, BigWords.com, MindArk and Goldstar.com. Whatever his official title was he was always the Chief Evangelist. He is passionate about people and loves making a difference for those who make a difference.
http://www.ted.com/profiles/87147
Chris Coraggio
Experience Director
Chris has organized TEDxLoyolaMarymountU for 3 years now. In that time, he has worked with marketing, design, registration, volunteer management, speaker recruitment and coaching, project management, partnerships and fundraising. Chris attended TEDActive 2015 in Vacouver and has talked to TEDx organizers across the world. Chris also started a TED-Ed club at Stern MASS High School on the Cal State LA campus. Chris has a full time job as a math instructional coach and curriculum specialist at the Alliance charter school network, serving low income students in South, East, Northeast and Downtown LA.
Miguel Cruz is an Spanish filmmaker based in Los Angeles. His more than 15 years of experience include dozens of commercials and on-air promotions (some of them Promax nominated), almost 200 episodes of prime-time TV, and one feature film “Vulnerables”, widely distributed theatrically in Spain and Latin America. In addition to his directing career Miguel works as a teacher and Director of Fulbright Initiatives in the New York Film Academy, and serves as Chair of Diversity in the Fulbright Association Greater Los Angeles Chapter.
Cristina is a Lecturer in Business Studies at Coventry University, UK and a Fulbright Alumna of the University of Texas at Austin. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Economics and International Business and she has a background in Communications Studies and Marketing. Her current research aims to unwind a modern Gordian knot tied from migration studies and consumer culture theory strands. In order to conduct her research, Cristina spent extensive time in places as diverse as Texas, England and Romania. Before starting her academic career, Cristina worked as a Marketing Expert for various companies such as GDF SUEZ and Betafence. Outside of the world of tomes and analyses, she is a keen traveler, with a passion for performing arts, never one to shy away from a new adventure.This is her second year as TEDxFulbright organizing team member.
www.cristinagalalae.com.
Guillermo is an Industrial Designer recently graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. His passion for product and experience design earned him a Fulbright scholarship in 2013 to pursue his Master in Fine arts. Guillermo has a background in Industrial Engineering and over 8 years of international work experience in the public and private sectors. In the public sector he managed projects for State and local Government and coordinated logistics and design at events, forums and expos. His private sector experience includes working for international manufacturing companies including Fender Musical Instruments, Besam Iberica and experience marketing company George P. Johnson.
Grant Graves
Curator / Stage Manager
Grant W. Graves is the Curator of TEDxSantaMonica Salon Events. Grant is an award winning director, director of photography, and photographer who works in extreme environments with difficult to capture subjects with much of his work related to water. He has founded multiple non profit corporations, several of which he still remains in leadership roles. He is a scuba, freediving, rebreather, and technical diving instructor trainer having published extensively and helped develop multiple programs.
Kristina Hahn
Licensee/
Lead Curator
Scott Hutchinson
Advisor
Born and raised in the Black Forest in Southern Germany, Kristina enjoyed living, studying and working in Stuttgart, Paris and Tokyo. Kristina was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to continue her academic training in the United States. Ten years ago Kristina relocated to Los Angeles where she became a licensed architect and a LEED accredited professional. Her background includes designing a wide range of high profile projects which have consistently won national and international design awards. Her work focuses on energy sufficient commercial and residential projects, environmentally conscious design and innovative workplace strategies. Kristina has taught design studios, lectured and been invited as guest critic at various universities and conferences. www.kristinahahn.com
For six years Kristina was the President of the Fulbright Association, Greater Los Angeles Chapter. She currently serves on the Board as Director of Events. Kristina is a TEDx Organizer and holds the TED license of TEDxFulbrightSantaMonica. Kristina can be reached at Kristina.Hahn@fulbrightmail.org.
http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/15775
http://www.ted.com/profiles/3941348
Scott Hutchinson (BA, MFA UCLA), is the Program Director for the Design, Studio Arts, Art History, Photography, User Experience and Sensing programs at UCLA Extension. Scott serves as an advisor for AIGA LA, and previously was an education committee member for AIGA National. He also helps create, or acts as host to numerous events, including Schools of Thought, Emerge, Los Angeles Portfolio reviews, and dozens of open access lectures. He is on advisory boards for Woodbury University, Hanyang University, Moorpark College, and non-profit foundations in Los Angeles including Vista Del Mar and Hathaway-Sycamores. Campus affiliations include being part of the core build team for the UCLA Volunteer Center, and cross departmental work with Human Complex Systems. Scott is a curator and license holder for TEDxUCLA conferences, and advises for outside TEDx conferences. (And has been part of the main TED conference since 1999.) Presentations and teaching includes design and physical computing workshops for various departments on the UCLA Campus, Cal Poly SLO, Northridge, Cal Arts, and UCLA Extension. Scott also consults as a designer, mostly in the branding and interactive spaces for non-profits and purpose driven companies.
http://www.ted.com/profiles/672
Through a United States Fulbright Fellowship in Australia (2000-2001), Dr. Shahrdad Lotfipour became fascinated by neurobiology and addiction. This led to graduate studies at the University of California, Irvine, where he studied at the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, one of seven National Institutes of Health funded centers in the United States aimed at fighting the tobacco addiction pandemic. His research studies focused on the mechanisms of adolescent addiction, consequences of developmental nicotine exposure and the role of other constituents in tobacco smoke that interact with nicotine to mediate addiction. Shahrdad is the 2015 TEDxFulbright Talent Director, which stems from his Bachelor of Arts Drama degree during his undergraduate studies. In the summer of 2015, Shahrdad will be starting as a new investigator at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine.
As a neuroscientist at Heidelberg University, Germany, Julianne’s passion for developing therapies is driven by both the challenge of using nature’s ingenuity to overcome its own diseased processes and the moral obligation to support human health. She currently leads the International Brain Bee neuroscience education program, an organization that engages students across 25 countries in learning about the brain. Julianne has established four independent science outreach organizations, recently served as the Director of Youth Education for a European-wide ethics society, and has helped to organize four TEDxFulbright programs. Fulbright to Sweden, 2006.
Ramesh Ramakrishnan
National Fulbright Association Board of Directors
Adrian Roup
Partnership Advisor
Dr. Ramesh Ramakrishnan is a Senior Fellow, R&D Strategy, at Fluidigm Corporation, in South San Francisco, and has spent an equal amount of his life in the USA and India. He has more than 15 years of R&D experience in commercial settings, and is passionate about science and the scientific process. He is currently involved in projects involving single cell “Omics” using microfluidic technology. He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the China Medicinal Biotech Association. He was also a Member of the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme ( DPFS) Expert Group, Cambridge, UK. He earlier developed oligonucleotide expression and SNP microarrays for the pharmaceutical marketplace, when he worked with Motorola Life Sciences, as the Section Manager. As a Research Scientist at Vysis, Inc., he worked on developing multi-fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) probes to examine chromosomal aberrations. He loves West Coast Jazz and Chicago-style blues, originally hails from Bangalore (now Bengaluru) in south India, and attended Bishop Cotton Boys’ School there. He was a Fulbright scholar from India in 1985-86 in Genetic Engineering, at Georgetown University, and completed his Ph.D.in 1990 with a degree from the University of Poona, India. He also has a Masters degree in Biochemistry from the Maharaja Sayaji Rao University of Baroda, and an M.Phil. in Zoology from the University of Poona, both in India.
Adrian Roup is the Director of Sponsorships for TEDxSantaMonica. Adrian has multi-tiered experience in film production, sales, and marketing and a proven track record of successfully conceptualizing, developing, and executing creative campaigns, social media marketing videos, and new business development strategies for domestic and global audiences. Adrian is also the producer and director of a short film which won awards at the Las Vegas and Monaco International Film Festivals.
Jose V. Siles
Dialog Director
Munir Sayegh is an artist, photographer, and designer. His BA is from St. Ambrose University where double majored in Marketing and Graphic Design. He conducted research on a Fulbright Scholarship to Egypt in 2011-2012 on Arabic calligraphy and typography. His photographs of Egyptian graffiti have been published in Art in America Magazine, Walls of Freedom, and Arabic Graffiti – Extended Edition. After working in the media industry as a project manager, he is now back at St. Ambrose University as their International Recruiter. Munir believes strongly in family, food, and dancing.
Jose Siles is an engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA, where he arrived as a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar from Spain in 2010. His research focuses on the design, development and test of ulta-compact high-frequency instruments for future NASA missions in the fields of astrophysics, planetary science and Earth science. This technology allows to understand the formation of stars and planetary systems, decipher the composition of other planets' atmospheres, and monitor the Earth health from orbit. Before joining JPL, Jose earned his PhD in telecommunications and electrical engineering from the Technical University in Madrid, and has worked at the Observatory of Paris in France, and at the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy, where he conducted research for the European Space Agency. He is the recipient of the 2012 NASA/JPL Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Award and the 2014 NASA Group Achievement Award. Jose serves as Acting President and Director of Academic Outreach of the Fulbright Association - Greater LA Chapter. Jose is also the TEDxFulbright Dialog Director.
TEDxFulbright is a Fulbright Association organized event. The organizing team consists of volunteers selected from the Fulbright community, including national and international scholars, alumni/ae, and members of the national Fulbright Association office. TEDxFulbright would not be possible without the continuous support of the Fulbright Association Board of Directors. The Board of Directors are unpaid and serve in a pro bono capacity. Members also pay their own expenses for travel to board meetings and make a significant financial contribution to the organization each year. Board members are elected for 3 year terms.
