Vice Chancellor Wakimoto received his B.S. with honors and great distinction in meteorology from San Jose State University and his Ph.D. in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago. He has previously held a professorship at both UCLA and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has received many honors, including a scientific and technical achievement award from the Environmental Protection Agency for observations of air pollution as well as the Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award from the American Meteorological Society for his contributions to understanding of mesoscale phenomena.  He became the UCLA Vice Chancellor for Research on July 1, 2017.

Azar Nazeri is manages the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps™) program at UCLA. Dr. Nazeri has over fifteen years of experience as a research scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and as a Program Manager at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), where she oversaw vital Naval technology developments and materials research programs. Dr. Nazeri received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from UCLA in 1989.

Mel Bulu-Taciroglu has been teaching for the Technology Management Technical Breadth Program at UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering since 2011. She also continuously collaborates with active entrepreneurs, corporations, and non-profit organizations. She holds a B.S. from the Middle East Technical University in Economics, a M.A. from Boston College in Economics, and a M.S. in Mathematics and Ph.D. (ABD) in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Professor Carman, UCLA faculty since 1991, holds the Ben Rich Lockheed Martin Chair. His impactful career includes chairing ASME’s Adaptive Structures and Material Systems (2000-2002) and editing prestigious journals. Recognized with the Northrop Grumman Young Faculty Award (1995), ASME Fellowship (2003), and the ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Prize (2004). Honored by SPIE in 2015 and Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE Magnetic Society in 2016. He currently holds directorship roles for both the Institute for Commercialization and Industry Collaboration and the Center for Advanced Surgical & Interventional Technology (CASIT).

Schaffer Grimm, ICIC Director of Industry Relations, leads collaboration between industry and academia. Formerly with the ITA, he co-founded Craytex LLC, specializing in carbon nanotube composites. His role at Northrop Grumman involved managing operations for the Microelectronics Products and Services organization. With an MBA and MS in Electrical Engineering, Grimm’s multidimensional expertise contributes significantly to the I-Corp program.

Arnaud pursued his career in the music industry (ZYX Music, Arcade Music, EMI France, and GM at Eagle Rock Entertainment France) before transitioning into tech startups. In 2009, he became VP of Business Development at French audio tech startup Audionamix, where he led its entry into Hollywood and secured key studio deals. In 2014, he launched Haystack Innovations to help French tech startups build commercial ties with the U.S. entertainment industry. He later founded GoFarVR, a VR fitness platform for Samsung Gear, and served as CEO of Boardroom One during the pandemic, successfully pivoting the company for the post-COVID market.

Nick is the Administrative Director for the UCLA Institute for Technology Advancement. He has over 10 years of experience working within the UCLA School of Engineering, managing extramurally funded research contracts and grants from federal and state agencies, as well as for-profit companies. Nick received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Boston University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Tina Ma is a junior at UCLA studying Mathematics of Computation. She is interested in design and software development and would like to pursue software engineering or product design as a career. On campus, she has been part of LA Hacks, Bruin Asset Management, and club Ultimate.

Tanmay Desai is a junior at UCLA studying Computer Science and Engineering. He is interested in software development, data analytics and data science and would like to pursue a career in the likes. He has experiences with clubs at UCLA including Consult Your Community, the Data Science Union and UCLA Cricket.