Lehigh@NasdaqCenter

Our final episode of the 2022 Women in Technology and Innovation series, features Samantha Walravens in conversation with young alumni Samantha Orlan, Senior Program Manager at Narvar. Learn how Samantha Orlan navigated her early career in tech and when she knew it was time to seek out her next professional opportunity. She also shares insights on the value of professional development and how important mentorship is to achieving your career goals. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter accelerates student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership. We educate, connect, and inspire the next generation of global entrepreneurial leaders.

In Episode 3, we continue our discussion on Women in Technology and Innovation featuring Samantha Walravens in conversation with Jessica Davidoff, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Easton Rae. Listen in as Jessica discusses her experience building companies, how she has learned to trust herself, the unique opportunities and challenges for female founders, and how to plan a successful exit. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter accelerates student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership. We educate, connect, and inspire the next generation of global entrepreneurial leaders.

In this series on Women in Technology and Innovation, we learn from remarkable female entrepreneurs and technology leaders who are changing the world through innovation and creating new paths for the next generation of female leaders. In Episode 2, Samantha Walravens speaks with Aimée Lapic, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at GoPro. Listen in as Aimée shares her insights on how to effectively communicate using data, why empathy is so essential for marketing leaders, and the importance of diversity and inclusion! Lehigh@NasdaqCenter accelerates student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership. We educate, connect, and inspire the next generation of global entrepreneurial leaders.

In this series on Women in Technology and Innovation, we learn from remarkable female entrepreneurs and technology leaders who are changing the world through innovation and creating new paths for the next generation of female leaders. In Episode 1, join Samantha Walravens for a discussion with Kate Adamson, product lead at Plaid, and Archie Agrawal, product lead at Amazon on how technology can be leveraged as a partner and connector for humans through machine learning, AI, and FinTech. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter accelerates student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership. We educate, connect, and inspire the next generation of global entrepreneurial leaders.

Samantha Walravens leads a ranging conversation with Kathleen Egan, the Co-Founder and CEO of ecomedes about how she is building sustainable enterprises. Kathleen discusses how her passion for surfing and background as an engineer and consultant intersects with her mission to simplify sustainability and scale green building. Together they examine how disruptive engineers are creating new solutions to reduce negative environmental outcomes in the building industry and the steps each of us can take to help reverse climate change. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

This week, Shanna Tellerman, the CEO and co-founder of Modsy, sits down with Samantha Walravens to discuss her passion for design and technology, and how she built this into a virtual interior design company. Before founding Modsy, Shanna was a partner on the investing team at Google Ventures. Learn about her journey from studying landscape painting to developing cutting-edge 3D visualization platforms and how she uses disruptive technology to solve problems and create value. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

Samantha Walravens and Luis Dussan discuss how AEye is making next-generation transportation a reality using LiDAR systems. Building on his experience as an aerospace engineer, Luis founded AEye in 2013 with a unique perspective on how to effectively enable LiDAR-enhanced perception for automated driving systems and robotic vision. Luis shares insights about building a high-performing team and advice for students launching engineering careers. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

Host Samantha Walravens leads an engaging conversation with Liz Maida about how she pivoted her career from civil engineering to internet infrastructure and eventually founded her own cutting-edge cybersecurity company, Uplevel Security. As the founder and CEO of Uplevel Security, she created the industry’s first adaptive system of intelligence that uses graph theory and machine learning to modernize security operations. Learn how Liz is innovating and creating next-generation approaches to enterprise security. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

Join Samantha Walravens and Tom Chavez for a discussion about new approaches to data, decision science, and AI. Tom is a technology entrepreneur and is currently building Ketch to automate data privacy, governance, and security. Additionally, through his startup studio, super{set}, he partners with other engineer entrepreneurs to found, fund, and build cutting edge software companies focused on emerging technologies. Learn how Tom leverages his background in computer science and philosophy to create disruptive solutions and what our relationship with data could look like in the future. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

This week, Samantha Walravens hosted a panel discussion with two leaders at the forefront of disruptive technologies. Jeff Rosedale is a registered U.S. patent lawyer working with clients on the cutting edge of science and technology to develop and protect their intellectual property in the areas of biotech, AI, big-data, and nanotechnology. Pranav Gokhale holds a PhD in quantum computing from the University of Chicago and started his own company, Super.tech, with the goal to help bridge the gap between existing theoretical algorithms and practical quantum computing architectures. Join this insightful conversation that examines emerging technologies and how intellectual property law protects and encourages innovation. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

For our first conversation in this series on Disruptive Engineers, host, Samantha Walravens sits down with Dr. Ikhlaq Sidhu, the author of the book Innovation Engineering: A Practical Guide to Creating Anything New. Dr. Sidhu is Chief Scientist and Founding Director at UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET). Samantha and Dr. Sidhu dive into how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and the integral role engineers play in driving innovation. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

This week, Samantha Walravens facilitates a conversation with influential thought leaders on the importance of allyship for women and other underrepresented populations in tech. Melinda Briana Epler shares from her experience as a consultant, tech executive, and Founder & CEO of Change Catalyst about the importance of digging deep and thinking systemically to address inequities. Jeremy Sussman is a senior product manager at Google and serves on Google’s Allyship NYC Steering Committee. Jeremy talks about how allyship is a choice and an action that we need to take again and again. As Senior VP and General Manager at VMWare, Tom Gillis shares how essential it is for leaders across functional teams and at all levels of the organization to take ownership of DEI work. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

Listen to an inspiring and engaging conversation with Sara Luchian, the Head of Passenger Experience at Virgin Hyperloop, to learn what it was like to be one of the first two people to ride in a hyperloop pod during a successful test run. Host, Samantha Walravens, talks with Sara about an optimistic future for transportation that is fast, clean, convenient, and designed with passengers in mind. Sara shares how she applies both her psychology and business training to design next-generation transportation technology. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

Join host Samantha Walravens in conversation Ruthe Farmer as they discuss the policies and passions that are inspiring the next generation in tech. Ruthe is the Chief Evangelist at CSForAll and a Former Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. As if that’s not enough, the Last Mile Education Fund that Ruthe founded, has also just been named one of 10 finalists for the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge which is awarding $40m to organizations that enable women to make a difference in their workplaces and communities. This is an episode you don't want to miss, as Ruthe shares the important work being done to engage girls in computer science and technology courses and programs and, equally important, the strategies and resources necessary to support girls and women through graduation, internships, and initial career placement. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

Hear from recent graduates and early-career female tech professionals who are creating the tools and services we use every day. This week, our young alumni panel features Emma Catlin, an engineer at Pinterest, Christine Quan, a data scientist & engineer at Dropbox, and Kira Gobes, a technical program manager at Amazon Web Services. These emerging leaders talk with Samantha Walravens about successes, challenges, why having (and being!) a mentor is so important, and what they wish they knew before starting their first full-time engineering job. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

This week, Kelly Steckelberg, CFO of Zoom Video Communications, Inc., chats with Samantha Walravens about the path to leadership for women in technology. Kelly discusses the challenges and opportunities for women who aspire to leadership roles. Learn how to talk with your manager about taking on more responsibility and asking for coaching and advice to help you advance towards your leadership goals. Join the conversation and gain insight into Kelly’s strategic decision framework when making difficult decisions, learn the characteristics of an empathetic leader, and how Zoom is thinking about life and business and a post-Covid world. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

In Episode 2, join Samantha Walravens for a discussion with Dawoon Kang, Co-founder and Chief Dating Officer at Coffee Meets Bagel. Listen in as Dawoon shares her experience as a female entrepreneur in the tech industry, what it means to be resilient in business and leadership, and tips on finding love! Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

In this series on Women in Technology, we shine a spotlight on the remarkable women entrepreneurs, business leaders, and engineers who are changing the world through industry and innovation. In Episode 1, join Samantha Walravens for a discussion with Bärí Williams, Chief Operating Officer at BandWagonFanClub, and Jossie Haines, the Senior Director of Engineering at Tile, on the challenges and opportunities that women today face as they navigate a still very male-dominated technology industry. Our conversation digs deep into the issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Lehigh@NasdaqCenter is an exclusive academic in-residence collaboration between Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. Our theory of change is to accelerate student transformation and societal impact through inclusive entrepreneurial education, research, and thought leadership.

In Episode 7 of the Women in Technology and Innovation series, we learn from thought leaders who are at the forefront of emerging trends in tech. This week features diverse perspectives across functions and specializations including robotics, AI, and big data. Cack Wilhelm is a Venture Capital Partner at IVP, Kathleen Cavanagh is a Software Developer at Symbio Robotics, and Fiona McEvoy is a technology ethics researcher and Founder of YouTheData.com. Together with host Samantha Wallraves, these women share valuable insights and thoughtful viewpoints on privacy, regulations, and ethics.

Episode 6 of the Women in Technology and Innovation series features Allie Diracles, founder and CEO of VidCode; Sona Dolasia, co-founder of Reaching Out with Robotics; and Dhana Pawar, general manager at VeraTempo. These tech educators, mentors, and innovators examine how to inspire the next generation of women in technology. Through entrepreneurial venture, education programs, and mentorship, they have each created unique ways for young women and girls to learn coding skills and discover their own passion for technology.

In Episode 5 of the Women in Technology and Innovation series, we feature a discussion with engineers and analysts who are female and in the earlier stages of their careers in technology. Kati Pease, Deployment Strategist at Stripe; Christine Quan, Data Scientist and Engineer at Dropbox; and Emma Catlin, Software Engineer at Pinterest share how they have navigated the transition from college to the workforce including tips on interviewing, being the first woman on the team, and leveraging a breadth of skills to be successful.

Experienced female executives discuss career progression, leadership, and work-life balance in Episode 4 of the Women in Technology and Innovation series. Kathleen Egan, Co-Founder and CEO of ecomedes, Aparna Pujar, Founder and CEO of Zemplee, and Mercedes Broening Vice President of Product and Technology Strategy at First Republic Bank each share unique perspectives and insights on managing teams and leading organizations in Silicon Valley.

Episode 3 features a conversation with two guests from the VC world. Lisa Jones is a Board Member and Partner at Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund and Susannah Shipton is the Head of Platform at AlleyCorp. Host, Samantha Walravens, continues the Women in Technology and Innovation series by exploring the unique aspects of investing in women-led and other diverse startups.

In Episode 2 of the Women in Technology and Innovation series, Ari Horie, Founder and CEO of the Women’s Startup Lab, and Maci Peterson, Founder and CEO at On Second Thought share success strategies of female founders. With a wealth of unique experiences starting and leading organizations, they share wisdom, lessons learned, and thoughtful insights on entrepreneurship, venture creation, and building successful teams.

In this series, we are exploring the topic of women in technology and innovation. Through engaging conversations with female leaders in Silicon Valley, we discuss timely topics such as the importance of diversity and representation in product development, female founders and funders, as well as the importance of leadership, mentoring and giving back. In Episode 1, join Samantha Walravens for a discussion with Bärí A. Williams, VP of Legal, Business, and Policy Affairs at All Turtles and Jossie Haines, Platform Engineering Director at Tile about why diversity matters in the world of technology and innovation.