Symposium

Symposium Speakers

Date Speaker Biography
 11/29/2017 Leslie Wickman
Leslie Wickman
Professor of Aerospace, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering
Associate Dean, Gordon and Jill Bourns College of Engineering
California Baptist University

Leslie Wickman has worked as a researcher, teacher, and administrator, both in academia and in industry. She received her PhD in human factors and biomechanics from Stanford University and was Program Director of Engineering and Director of the Center for Research in Science, both at Azusa Pacific University, before joining the faculty of the Gordon and Jill Bourns College of Engineering at California Baptist University here in Riverside. Dr. Wickman's industry experience includes work at the Aerospace Corporation, the RAND Corporation, and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space. Her work there centered on the U.S. human spaceflight program, and she is a trained EVA/IVA test astronaut with over 100 hours of test time in a NASA spacesuit and has an FAA private pilot's license.
 11/01/2017  Angelov Farooq
Angelov Farooq
Trustee, RUSD Board of Education
Partner, Omnius Group
Angelov Farooq is elected to the RUSD school board, and he is a partner at the Omnius Group, a sustainable development company. Dr. Farooq is also the founding director of the UC Riverside Center for Economic Development & Innovation and serves as a faculty member in the UCR Graduate School of Business. In 2013, Governor Brown appointed him to the California Workforce Development Board. He was also appointed by California’s Chief Financial Officer, Controller Yee, to the Council of Economic Advisors to focus on shaping tax reform. A proud native of Riverside County, Dr. Farooq earned his Bachelor's Degree from University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s Degree and Doctorate of Policy, Planning and Development from the University of Southern California.

10/25/2017 David Reznick David Reznick 
Distinguished Professor of Biology
University of California, Riverside
David Reznick studies the process of evolution by natural selection from an experimental perspective. He also tests evolutionary theory in natural populations, primarily guppies from the Caribbean Island of Trinidad. His results show that evolution by natural selection can be remarkably fast—on the order of four to seven orders of magnitude faster than scientists infer from the fossil record. Dr. Reznick has earned numerous honors for his work, including membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also just completed a one-year Guggenheim Fellowship at Oxford University. Dr. Reznick’s book, The Origin Then and Now: An Interpretive Guide to the Origin of Species, is a great way to learn more about his work and thoughts on evolution.