NASA speaks at Yale on “Increasing Human Potential”

On Tuesday, April 26th, SafeRock CEO Shah Karim helped co-organize the first NASA Symposium at Yale University, New Haven as part of Friends of Yale from Industry (FYI). NASA Chief Scientist James Green and NASA Associate Chief Scientist Tara Ruttley led the discussion. The following is an excerpt from an article posted on Yale’s Office of Career Strategy. The full article written by David Halek with pictures made by Harold Shapiro can be found here.

On Tuesday, April 26, Yale University and Friends of Yale from Industry (FYI) hosted the Inaugural Symposium on Increasing Human Potential –Space Exploration. The keynote was entitled “Astrobiology, the International Space Station, and Opportunities for NASA Research,” and was presented by James Green, Ph.D., NASA Senior Advisor in the Office of the Chief Scientist, and Tara Ruttley, Ph.D., NASA Associate Program Scientist for the International Space Station.

The event kicked off with a special welcome by Paul Turner, Director of QBio Institute and Physics, Engineering and Biology Graduate Program and Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Lynn Cooley, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Genetics, of Cell Biology, and of Molecular Cellular & Developmental Biology.

Chemical Marketing and Economics (CME) originally introduced the NASA scientists to Yale leaders and Ph.D. students when the group held its ninth CME STEM Leadership Awards Luncheon in New York in December 2021. Yale faculty and students were thrilled to have CME representatives – George Rodriguez, STEM Program Producer, Board members Ksenia Takhistova, Karin Bartels, Shah Karim ’81, ’87 MA, ’07 MPhil, CEO Saferock, as well as Sam Samdani ‘84, Senior Industry Knowledge Expert, McKinsey and Co., in attendance at this follow-on event.

The symposium also provided a platform for Yale Ph.D. students to shine. Recent winners of Yale’s annual 3 Minute Thesis Competition (3MT) shared their thesis research and demonstrated their finely honed presentation skills in the highly engaging 3MT format. The student speakers were – Kimmy Cushman (Physics): Dark Matter: The Mysteries of Mass, and Aritra Ghosh (Astronomy): Black Holes: Ruthless Destroyers or Formative Gravitational Beasts? 

FYI Board members, including Shah Karim, Vishal Agrawal ’96, ’02 MD, and Richard Kayne ’76 MD, encourage fellow alumni to include Yale students and faculty in their association and corporate events to bridge industry and Yale. Organizations interested in learning more about Yale talent and recruiting options may connect with the Yale Office of Career Strategy.

CME is a non-profit dedicated to accelerating diverse STEM talent and leadership. Visit the CME website to take advantage of free student industry luncheons, mentoring and networking opportunities in NYC, and free fascinating webinars on energy, materials, and life sciences, including sustainability, innovation, and space exploration.