Sam Ransbotham is a professor of analytics at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. He teaches “Analytics in Practice” and “Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.” Ransbotham served as a senior editor at Information Systems Research, associate editor at Management Science, and academic contributing editor at MIT Sloan Management Review. He co-hosts the Me, Myself, and AI podcast, available on all major platforms. Ransbotham received a National Science Foundation Career Program award “in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education,” for his analytics-based research in security. He was also honored with an INFORMS ISS Sandra A. Slaughter Early Career Award, which recognizes “early-career individuals who are on a path towards making outstanding intellectual contributions to the information systems discipline.” Ransbotham earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, an MBA, and a doctorate, all from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before earning his doctorate, he founded a software company with a globally diverse client list including the United Nations IAEA (Vienna), FAO (Rome), WHO (Geneva), and WMO (London). Since 2015, he has been an editor for MIT SMR’s Big Ideas initiatives, including Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy, and Competing With Data & Analytics.
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
Jeffrey Rosen and Mary Sarah Bilder
John F. Kennedy Library
Ada Ferrer
Boston College - Gasson 100
A global leader driving public health research, policy, and practice, Dr. Ashish Jha joined the Brown School of Public Health as dean in September 2020. An accomplished and practicing physician, Dr. Jha is recognized globally as a trusted expert on major issues impacting public health, and a catalyst for new thinking and approaches. A long-time leader on pandemic preparedness and response, from directing groundbreaking research on Ebola to serving on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response, he has led national and international analysis of key issues and advised local and federal policy makers around the world. Matt McKnight is General Manager for Biosecurity at Ginkgo Bioworks. Biosecurity at Ginkgo is Ginkgo’s new $200M business unit focused on national security, public health, and pandemic response. Prior to building the Biosecurity business, Matt spent 4 years as Ginkgo’s Chief Commercial Officer and 7 years as an investor at IndUS Growth Partners where he was also the President and COO of Decision Resources Group. Matt has worked supporting business development at Palantir Technologies and is an active seed stage venture investor. Early in his career, he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Matt completed a degree in History at Dartmouth College and is a graduate of the joint degree program at the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he was a Zuckerman Fellow.
Boston Public Library - Rabb Lecture Hall
Elise (Lise) Breen has investigated the practice of slavery on Cape Ann, resurrecting profiles of individuals who resisted their enslavement as well as their enslavers. She has identified Cape Ann citizens’ participation in the slave trade, surfacing evidence from international archives as well as overlooked local materials from 1685 through the mid-nineteenth century. Lise has shared her research in her many public talks and with local institutions and scholars. Her essay, “Hidden City: Slavery and Gloucester’s Quadricentennial” in Gloucester Encounters: Essays on the Cultural History of the City 1623-2023 was published by the Gloucester Cultural Initiative. Lise co-authored Objects of Myth and Memory, American Indian Art at the Brooklyn Museum. Nerissa Williams Scott is the founder of the Boston-based company That Child Got Talent (TCGT) in 2009 and the producer of Dill. Her career experience includes more than 30 years in performing and media arts and the production of two feature films. Over the past 10 years, Nerissa has served as Production Manager for a variety of live events, theater, fashion films, documentaries, narrative shorts, and music videos in New England. Nerissa also leads the operations of Next Leadership Development Corporation and serves on the board of Women in Film and Video New England (WIFVNE). She received her MFA in Film Production (Emphasis in Producing) from Emerson College.
Old South Meeting House
Yiyun Li
Boston College - Gasson 100
Alan Palevsky grew up sailing on Great South Bay on Eastern Long Island. He started by crewing for his older brother in the Blue Jay Class in 1959, graduating to the Windmill in 1965. This boat was a Clark Mills design as the next boat up after the Optimist Pram. They took 2nd in the Windmill Nationals in 1968. In 1974 Alan started racing the Tornado, the Olympic class catamaran. He raced that class through 1988 and in 1986 he was ranked 10th in the US. He also raced Interclubs in the Marblehead Frostbite fleet from 1982 through 1990. Finally, he has been evening racing Solings on Boston Harbor since 1981. Palevsky earned a Bachelor's degree in physics from Williams College in 1973 and a PhD in physics from MIT in 1980. He spent 37 years at Raytheon and retired in 2018 at the level of Director. His work at Raytheon was across many disciplines including high-power microwave tubes, flat panel displays, and satellite communications. Since retiring, he has been consulting part-time in the electronics industry. He has also volunteered at Courageous Sailing in Charlestown, Massachusetts, helping maintain their boats.
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
Barbara Abrams, PhD, Laura, Levitt, PhD
Arsenal Center for the Arts
Joe Christo, Sanjay Seth, and David Abel
John F. Kennedy Library
Keri Day, PhD, is Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Her teaching and research interests are in womanist/feminist theologies, social critical theory, cultural studies, economics, and Afro-Pentecostalism. She has also been recognized by NBC News as one of six black women at the center of gravity in theological education in America.
Boston University School of Theology Community Center
Anita McBride, Barbara Perry, and Elizabeth Rees
John F. Kennedy Library
Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt
Foley & Lardner LLP
Danni Washington
New England Aquarium
Matthew Wilding
Old South Meeting House
For the latest information regarding each event please contact the presenting organization.