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Presentations for Small Solutions, Big Change

November 16, 2011 / Ignite Phoenix @ ASU: Small Solutions, Big Change / ASU at the Polytechnic campus

01. Audio Excursions / Benson Garner (past Edson winner)
02. Ignite Sustainable Innovation by teaching people to become leaders / Alan Greenspan
03. Club to College / Mike Mader & Mindy Elias
04. What can we do about education? / Kevin Keller (past Innovation Challenge winner)
05. Rape Defense International / Sarah Hall
06. Zoo Poo / Eric Kern & Charlie Rodriguez
07. Empower Locally, Change Globally / Mohamed Camara & Marie Simonsen
08. Getting out the Middle / Nate Anderson
09. How we can solve the energy crisis: Build a PowerNet / Nicholas Vaidynathan
10. How to Change your World within 140 Characters Or Less / Casey Thomas
11. Smart Girls, W.I.S.E. Women: How to Launch a Generation of Socially Intelligent Entrepreneurs / Robyn McKay
12. Mandala / Justin Huang
13. Adapting Digital Memories / Kayla Burkholder

Submissions

Transition and the Disabled Student
Presenter:		Shelly Morgan
Bio:		I am a life coach, working with adults who have some sort of disability. My job allows me to help people build goals and creates the opportunity for them to plan and succeed at their endeavors though acquiring skills such as time management, self-reporting and skills training. I am a Higher and Post-secondary education grad student and have been working at ASU a total of 5 years. One day I plan to receive an Ed.D in Higher and Post-secondary Ed.
Description:		The talk would be about helping students with disabilities gain a greater understanding of the Arizona State University system before transitioning from high school to an institution of higher education through life coaching. Students in general are leaving high school less prepared to withstand the rigors of college, are sometimes unable to advocate on their own behalf or to teach others to understand their special needs in the for inclusion on the ASU campus, early intervention and skill building in this area could have a positive impact on students who are seeking to further their education.

 

$2 a day, keeps the doctor away
Presenter:		Megan Salisbury
Bio:		Social Work major. Public Relations novice. A leader advocating for change with the belief, even leaders aren't always followed.
Description:		Over 2 billion people live on less than $2 a day. If every ASU student skipped something every day (think a soda) and saved $2, that would raise $51,100,000. Imagine all the hunger and poverty that could be alleviated and the amount of hope such a small amount of money on an individual level could raise.

 

What is human nature?
Presenter:		Tyler Olsen
Bio:		I'm a student of philosophy here at ASU.  My primary interest is in the underlying values which establish the foundation for the norms and practices of society.  I believe that the brutality of the contemporary world is due to the distorted values that underlie our world.  I grew up in NY, but moved to AZ 6 years ago, at the age of 20.  At the age of 23 I enrolled in college, and it was certainly the best choice I ever made.  School has been a thoroughly stimulating, enriching experience.  For the first 2.5 years of my education, I was working full time and attending school full time.  This semester however, due to scholarships awarded, I was able to quit my job and have been investing much more time, thought, and energy into my studies.  I plan on avoiding working a job throughout the rest of my college education, so that I can get the most out of this time, and help inspire others to work towards their goals with a similar level of fervency.  I'm the current president of Amnesty International ASU, and educate students about human rights abuses in that capacity already.
Description:		Beginning in the modern period in Europe, the notion that human nature is rooted in self-interest has proliferated.  Hobbes, after his experience with the English Civil war, an experience which skewed his perception of reality, brought this notion (human nature rooted in self-interest) to the fore.  The economists of the Enlightenment took this vile conception of self-interest and made it into a virtue.  By the time we get to Hayek and Friedman, economists of the twentieth century whose ideas define the current economic paradigm, self-interest has become THE virtue, THE core of human nature, THE organizing principle for society.  In the context of ANY religious tradition, this is a purely heretical idea.  It flies in the face of the fact that we evolved over the past million years or so, and survived all this time by HELPING each other.  Because of this conception of human nature, inequality has skyrocketed both within the US, and across the globe, over the past 30 years.  We need to re-think our notion of human nature, and emphasize the fact that we are actually rooted in COOPERATION, not egoism.  Erich Fromm, in his exhaustive analysis of human nature (The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness) emphasized the fact that we are in fact rooted in cooperation and brotherhood, and not this modern notion of egoism.  Changing this belief will establish the foundation for a more just world to emerge.  It is a necessary condition for the possibility of REAL change.

 

What can we do about education?
Presenter:		Kevin Keller
Bio:		My major is Chinese and I’m a senior in the Barrett Honors College.  During the spring of 2009 I lived in Guilin, China, and worked as an English teacher for approximately 200 teenagers.  My sixth grade class had science lessons right before English; one day I walked in to find the blackboard covered with complicated electricity diagrams and equations, and when a student asked me help I was completely unable to respond.  Here was a group of fifty 12-year olds, all of them completing sophisticated physics calculations!  I was astounded. I was inspired, too, to create Science Detectives. Working with several longtime friends, I hammered out a semester long after school program at elementary schools.  Each week an ASU student would act as class instructor; each lesson was based on a mystery (for example, how do whales stay warm?), and we focused heavily on familiarizing the kids with the scientific method.
Description:		I will present about Science Detectives, an afterschool science program at local elementary schools that was created and is managed completely by undergraduates at ASU.  My talk will have two objectives.  First, I will explore the benefits of more closely integrating college students into the K-12 education process.  Second, I will discuss the effect of grassroots activism, and whether college students can really be independent change-makers in our community.

 

Getting out the Middle
Presenter:		Nate Anderson
Bio:		Nate Anderson is the authentically over-flowing Founder and Executive Director of Ear Candy Charity. He is not a musician, a teacher, or a parent, yet his passion to share music coupled with his skills as an entrepreneur have created an organization impacting thousands of youth annually. In a short amount a time Nate has created a sustainable, community driven organization to address the need for music education in Arizona, which is a state nearly last in per person educational funding. Nate has been deemed the Best Sales Person of a Good Cause by the Phoenix New Times, recognized in the Business Journal’s 40 under 40, and a recipient of the Hon Kachina award for his work as a progressive Social Entrepreneur.
Description:		In January 2012 Ear Candy will be debuting an Online Instrument Donation System which allow instrument donors to choose a music program where there donation will impact student.  To date Ear Candy has impacted nearly 15,000 youth in the valley by being in the "middle" of this donation process by having physical donation sites and constructing a crazy web of logistics.  It's time to get out of the middle and unleash the potential of the Ear Candy mission of providing youth access to music education!

 

How we can solve the Energy Crisis: Build a PowerNet
Presenter:		Nicholas Vaidyanthan
Bio:		I'm a graduate student at Arizona State University with a passion for life and making the world a better place. I have eclectic intellectual interests, all based around the premise of leveraging software--the power of the human mind crystalized--and using it to construct a better world. I work to improve undergraduate engineering education (and education in general), public transportation, public health and food consumption, understanding of ourselves, and in this talk I will present my ideas on solving the energy crisis. I think It's not as hard as some think.
Description:		I argue that current methodologies and ideas about solving our energy issues are fundamentally broken. What's needed is transformative change. Rather than relying on our current energy generation and transmission models that resemble classical client/server network architectures, we can build distributed energy networks that resemble Peer-to-Peer BitTorrent networks. Communities can link to each other to form energy sharing Microgrids via effective harvesting of ambient energy that is insignificant in small doses, but via the power of the Long Tail scales more efficiently. Moreover, the Internet has already shown us the model for building such a system. Applying its concepts and realizing that a Smart Meter is "Just An App", and many of the necessary tools are already in place, I lay out a vision of a better future enabled through software.

 

Smart Girls, W.I.S.E. Women: How to Launch a Generation of Socially Intelligent Entrepreneurs
Presenter:		Robyn McKay
Bio:		I'm the psychologist for the Herberger Young Scholars Academy at ASU-West, and the advisor for the Women in Science and Engineering (W.I.S.E) program at ASU-Polytechnic. My mission is to find, guide, and advance a new generation of global leaders: socially intelligent women entrepreneurs.
Description:		"To thrive in the global economy, young women in STEM fields require more than technical expertise. They also need training in leadership and entrepreneurship. In my research on talented girls and women, I've identified a small cohort of girls and young women who I believe are poised to become the next generation of global leaders: they're smart, innovative, and socially intelligent. In this talk, I'll profile a few of the high-potential girls and young women I've met; and give you my best solutions to the following questions: what can we do to ensure that they're LAUNCHED, not lost? How do we keep them in the pipeline so that we all can benefit from their unique and innovative contributions? "

 

Zoo Poo
Presenter:		Charlie Rodriguez, Eric Kern, Jordan Montgomery, Emilio Torres
Bio:		The four of us are students in EPICS Gold II. Charlie is a senior in Civil Engineering, Eric is a sophomore in Industrial Engineering, Jordan is a sophomore in Chemical Engineering, and Emilio is a sophomore in Mechanical Engineering. In working on project Zoo Poo we have formed strong friendships with each other through our uniting interest in using innovative techniques to help the community.
Description:		"Local zoos spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in sending out animal waste for treatment; we want to propose a sustainable solution in the treatment of this toxic waste with the most environmentally friendly, economical, and beneficial material - algae. By starting with the Phoenix Zoo, we will implement a low upkeep algae trough to sanitize the animal waste, extract nutrients from the waste, and harvest the algal bioproduct for use as healthy animal feed. The zoo saves money, the animals get to eat a feed full of vitamins and anitoxidants, and the process will leave the e-footprint of a butterfly.”

 

Syllandar
Presenter:		Tyler Shane Strahl
Bio:		I am a Junior at ASU Tempe Campus. I love innovating and building/breaking down things. I am in an entrepreneurship class that suggests going to this event.
Description:		"I am proposing that ASU adopt a new downloadable calendar for students in which teachers must provide an electronic syllabus of test dates (bare minimum, but other due dates such as homework and online posts should be added as well) that is compatible with the calendar. Basically, from the My ASU page every student can download the ""Syllander"" and then subsequently download the important dates document submitted by each class. This needs attention because organization is key to success and a Syllander app for a smart phone that provides weekly notices of due dates is a necessity. "

 

Breaking the textbook monopoly
Presenter:		Tim Maher
Bio:		I am a recently retired secondary English and History teacher. I started teaching in 1986, and have taught in public district schools, charter, and Catholic school. In my retirement, I work part time as a classroom aide in Chandler , and write curriculum materials for secondary Social Studies.
Description:		Traditional textbooks are overpriced, create bias in the learner, and in today's electronic world, are unnecessary. What can we do about it?”

 

How to Change Your World in 140 Characters or Less
Presenter:		Casey Thomas
Bio:		I am a native Arizonan and two-time Sun Devil alumna. I received my bachelor's degree in public relations from the Cronkite School and two years later completed my master's in higher education. My graduate applied project discussed the use of Twitter as a discussion tool in the classroom, and yes, I live-tweeted from my poster consortium. My love of Twitter, and the impromptu decision to start following my future boss on the site, helped me move into my current position as Social Media & Telecounseling Coordinator for the ASU Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Twitter is my passion, not my pastime.
Description:		Twitter has over 200 million users, yet most people I talk to seem to use it for a week, lose interest because they don't understand it, and only log back on after months of inactivity after someone prods them to use it again. My presentation will cover how changemakers can use Twitter correctly the first time to network, spread the word, and make change all in 140 characters or less. I will use personal anecdotes about how Twitter has changed my life, and best practices to find out how anyone can affect change through social media - for free.

 

USB
Presenter:		Xiaolei Mao
Bio:		I am a sophomore student in ASU. My major is industrial design. I want to join you, and show my ideas. Thank you!
Description:		I have a new product. That is an amazing USB driver. It looks cute and the price is not expensive compared with the current USB in the market. I believe if people will love the new product. And I also have some reliable manufactures in Taiwan. And these manufactures have good reputation!

 

My Future- Retirement and Beyond
Presenter:		Team Epics RnB
Bio:		Veterans are faced with compounded end of life issues in comparison to civilians. These issues, surrounding death and dying, are often perceived as ambiguous and costly. Epics RnB is a team project that is dedicated to providing a web based tool to be initially targeted at veterans to assist them with advanced care planning, with a focus on end of life care. This web based tool will centralize all possible resources that are needed for quality and free end of life care planning.
Description:		Our idea is not just a business proposition or campaign, but rather a movement that will self-perpetuate long after all of us are gone, that will forever change the way people look at their end of life. We hope that people will come to the realization that death is a milestone not a gravestone.

 

Es2te2am 360: Re-engineer, Re-structure, Re-discover
Presenter:		Camilla Finnie
Bio:		I am an artist and photographer working on a BFA in Painting. I have been involved in the Phoenix community on an activist and local organizer level since 2004. I am a wife and mother of 3 who homeschools my 9 year old son and 5 year old daughter while trying to keep my 18 month old out of trouble.
Description:		THE IDEA ES2TE2AM 360, Inc is designed to Re-Engineer, Re-Structure, & Re-Discover through Ethnorhythmic Education. Exposing Youth to the Science of Cultural Music & Engineering, Visual Artistry & Technology, and Creative Non-Fiction Writing, Film, & Social Entrepreneurship. THE FACT The family unit is on the social decline with single parent households being 20% of all households in Phoenix. The youth of Phoenix are denied ethnic studies due to legislation, and the artist community is in need of a creative environment for expressing their craft while sustaining themselves and their communities.

 

Underground Startups
Presenter:		Michael O'Brien
Bio:		Michael O’Brien is a Philosophy major at ASU. After his degree he plans on taking his GMAT’s and attending a high ranking MBA program to help his entrepreneurial efforts. Mr. O’Brien was a co-founder for “The Open Source Project” a collaborative workspace/coffee shop in Tempe. He also has an extensive tech background as a web designer for the City of Scottsdale and holding his own computer repair business in high school. Mr. O’Brien is a lifelong entrepreneur and an expert on trends due to his astute private research. He’s played professional disc golf in the past as well as an aficionado of the equity markets. Chances are you'll catch him riding his orange scooter down mill on his way to the brickyard to work on mobile apps. Mr. O’Brien has aspirations to integrate entreprenurial efforts with finance in the future among the many other industries he’ll tackle. He has a core belief that an entrepreneur is not a one-trick show, and feels he should be conscious of all industries and skillsets in order to be successful.
Description:		A little about our vision, we are developing a C corporation which will develop ideas in a think tank, tailored to our highly skilled and motivated individuals. What we have done so far is recruited some of the most astute, interdisciplinary individuals involved at ASU with exponential human capital and apply them towards, action orientated business steps, to create substantive change at a local, scalable level. We have individuals involved in fields that range from the left and right side of the brain, Computer Science, Engineering, Manufacturing, Business, Finance, Law, Social Entrepreneurship, etc.. they are all valued and needed. Our mission is to aggregate a myriad of skills and bring them together for one common goal: synergetic impact. We want to create multiple startups which have dual layer, altruistic purpose and high potential for return. Our businesses will be brought to market in short time frames (6 months or less).

 

Mandala
Presenter:		Justin Huang
Bio:		I'm a recent ASU graduate in Biology and Anthropology with hopes of matriculating into an MD-PhD program. Although I consider myself a native Arizonan (born and raised), I have spent many summers in the country my parents immigrated from: Taiwan. Mandarin Chinese was actually my first language, but as soon as my older sister started school, my interest in that language began to fade. My most recent trip to Taiwan has brought to my attention just how much opportunity I have here in the States. So, here's one of my first attempts to take advantage of an opportunity that is readily available to me.
Description:		Based on personal experiences, however limited it may be, I feel like a good majority of other countries are inhabited by bilingual citizens. Not only that, but it seems to me that many "foreigners" seem to have a good handle on both their native tongue as well as English or another language; some even raise the bar and know three languages. Of course the degree of fluency in their second or third languages are at many different levels, but ask one of our Arizonan citizens if they know a second language, chances are they'll respond with "Hola" or "Buenos Dias" and that is the extent of their bilingual competency. I may be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if similar levels of competency hold true throughout our nation. With the globalization of technology, economy, and even culture, I'm sure there are many obscure languages and dialects that will fall off the face of the planet. I would like to discover a tool that will preserve the diversity of the countless languages gracing our earth, through "social language learning."

 

MediTrack
Presenter:		Shardul Golwalkar
Bio:		Meditrack is a team of four engineering students. We began collaborating in September 2011 under the Engineering Project In Community Service (EPICS) Gold program at Arizona State University, which helps engineering students tackle world problems through social entrepreneurship.
Description:		Team MediTrack is focused on creating an integrated system for facilitating effective doctor-patient interaction where patients can easily transmit medical data to their doctors as per their convenience. MediTrack focuses on making medical data transmission as efficient as possible through a wide arena of accessibility such as smartphone and website access for the doctor, patient, and other healthcare personnel.

 

Wii Smartboard
Presenter:		Ayuda con Amor
Bio:		We are engineer students at Arizona State University, involved in a program called EPICS, Engineering Projects in Community Service. We hope to make a difference in the world by applying engineering principles to find solutions to everyday problems.
Description:		We hope to integrate low cost and interactive technology into the classroom. The Wii whiteboard would allow students to have access to a Smartboard anywhere you could have a projector, all for under $50.

 

Adapting Digital Memories
Presenter:		Kayla Burkholder
Bio:		My name is Kayla Burkholder and I am currently a sophomore at the ASU Polytechnic campus where I am pursuing a degree in Graphic Information Technology. For me memories and history is very important part of my life. Helping major guiding me in the directions. I hope that some day I can use my interests in community service and entrepreneurship to help better the world.
Description:		In a world that is becoming more intrinsically reliant on technology what is going to happen to the accessibility of information, but more importantly what will become of your families everyday memories. How many of you actually have printed photo albums, or postcards anymore? Well that fact is that no longer are photos being printed or postcards sent. For me this is more then just an issue of losing family memories, but losing an important part of the past. Learning from the past is the only way we can continue to move forward in a positive direction. Without having some place where our information is accessible and utilized properly, many of our digital memories are going to go to the wayside.

 

The Art of Engineering
Presenter:		Hannah Kolar
Bio:		Hello my name is Hannah Kolar and I am an engineering major with the college of technology and innovation out at the polytechnic campus. I was born in Austin, Texas and lived there until I was nine years old. Right before my 10th birthday my dad got a job offer in Grenoble, France. While living in France for 5 years I learned a lot of great new perspectives and was forced to step out of my comfort zone. I was able to learn French and visit places that I hadn’t ever dreamed I would be visiting. From the grand pyramids in Egypt to the Duomo di Firenze in Florence I was changed for forever and my eyes had been opened. I moved back to the United States in 2007 and I went to High School back in Austin, Texas where I graduated in 2010. Interestingly enough I found myself going back to my roots when I accepted my offer from ASU. Phoenix is where my mother grew up and where my mother and father met so I have lots of aunts and uncles who live here. I love being a part of ASU and I think it is the best fit I could have ever found.
Description:		"My talk is going to be on a new wave of engineers who not only are creating functional and great working products but they also make sure that every piece they design is a masterpiece that is appealing to the eye. I want to bring art into engineering because in this ever technologically based world it is hard to find the natural contrasts and colors that the world has to offer. I’m want to promote and build on bringing the warmth of life back into the products that engineers and people use and therefore making these products even more functional and appealing. “

 

Club to College
Presenter:		Mike Mader
Bio:		Mike Mader is currently the Assistant Dean of Students at ASU Poly where oversees the student union, student orgs, student government, leadership development, conduct, and a host of "other duties as assigned." He is the co-chair of 10,000 Solutions Advisory Board at ASU and advises the student group connected to that initiative. Mindy Elias is the Branch Executive of the Boys and Girls Club of the East Valley Compadre Branch in Chandler. She oversaw the construction of this Club's new state of the art LEED certified facility, which opened in November of 2010. In 2009 she was selected by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as one of the Top 40 leaders under the age of 40. Anita Verdugo-Tarango is the Director of Outreach at ASU where she coordinates ASU's efforts to transform Arizona's college-going culture by empowering students to invest in their future and attain a university degree. She sits on the board of the Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program, is president-elect of the Chicano/Latino Faculty and Staff Association, and is senior advisor to the Vice President of Educational Outreach and Student Services at ASU.
Description:		College students, faculty and staff perform many acts of service throughout the year, but most of these efforts are "one and done" types of events that have a short-term impact. After a two-day alternative spring break planned by ASU students last March at the Boys and Girls Club in Chandler (thematically titled "Club to College"), Mike Mader and Mindy Elias decided to create a more sustained effort that would have a lasting influence on the kids, provide a richer learning experience for college students, and be of broader benefit to the state of Arizona. The program--Club to College--was developed over the summer of 2011 in collaboration with Access ASU, which has expertise in developing successful college-going programs in the public schools. This program is compelling and important because the college-going rate for the fastest-growing population in the U.S. and Arizona (Latinos/Latinas) is only 13%, and nearly 60% of the kids at the Boys and Girls Club in Chandler is Latino/Latina. We will not be successful as a country if we do not prepare our children to succeed in the global economy, and a university education is necessary to compete in the global economy. Also, since the setting for this program is an after-school option, the kids are getting an out-of-class experience that reinforces the importance of education. Thus far, the program has this design: academic preparation; financial literacy; change the culture of low expectations with regard to a university education. The deliverables come in the form of weekly interactive workshops, field trips, and social activities coordinated and facilitated by professional staff of ASU and the Boys and Girls Club. Math tutoring and a student mentorship program are now being developed, as both have been identified as a need. The kids are also keeping portfolios, earning points that lead to a "GPA", and will be invited to a year end recognition ceremony. The leadership team looks forward to sharing how this pilot program will grow into a national model for Boys and Girls clubs across the country so ALL clubs will be "Club to College" clubs!

 

Rape Defense - International
Presenter:		Sarah Hall
Bio:		I am a first-year Global Health PhD student at ASU. I also have a Master of Public Administration with a Nonprofit Management emphasis. For the past five years, I have worked with NGOs both domestically and in Ghana, Mexico, Kenya, and Thailand. My niche is starting up NGOs or helping NGOs that need to move in a new direction.
Description:		Rape of women is a big problem throughout the world, including Africa. A recent study estimates more than 400,000 women being raped in the Congo alone in a 12-month period. That is 1,152 women raped every day and 48 per hour. In the United States, RAD and other defense programs teach women how to defend themselves and escape when confronted with a violent situation. Women are taught to yell, block, identify and strike vulnerable parts, and run. It builds skill and confidence, empowering women to believe they can fight back. The presentation will address how a program like this can be perpetuated in Africa and other countries?

 

Healthcare Reform - Who Cares?
Presenter:		Dan Munro
Bio:		Dan Munro is the Founder and CEO of iPatient - a cloud-based solution designed to transform the patient-provider dialog – which often starts today with a handwritten paper form. Dan was formerly the CEO of 4Blox, an ASU spinout, and VP of Business Development at Aerocast – a Content Delivery Network that was funded by Motorola, Liberty Media and George Soros in 2000. Aerocast was the predecessor company to LimeLight Networks which is headquartered in Tempe. He has successfully raised both angel and Venture Capital and accelerated the profitable exit of a number of startups including a healthcare payer solution that was acquired by WebMD ($65M) in 2004. Another early stage venture, Sequoia Software, was acquired by Citrix ($185M) in 2001. Sequoia’s XPS portal technology pioneered the use of XML in healthcare. Among the first to use XPS was Baylor Health and the resulting solution was featured by Bill Gates at the annual Microsoft Healthcare conference. Dan graduated from the International School of Brussels before completing his undergraduate degree in Communications at the University of Redlands.
Description:		"There has been - and will continue to be - lot's of headlines, rhetoric and political posturing over U.S. Healthcare Reform. That noise will only get louder as we await a landmark SCOTUS decision and the Presidential Campaign season enters full swing. Unlike other debates, we all have a dog in this hunt. In 5mins and 20 slides - I will highlight the history of our current dilemma, why it deserves so much of our individual attention and how reform at every level - including individual choices and Small Solutions - can often result in Big Change."

 

Empower Locally, Change Globally
Presenter:		Mohamed Camara & Marie Simonsen
Bio:		"My name is Mohamed Camara, I was born in France and moved to the United States in 2003. My dad used to work for the United Nation, which is why I spent most of my childhood traveling. After high school I attended Oregon State University for two years, then moved to Arizona to attend ASU. I am currently pursuing a bachelor in psychology and pre-med. I hope to one day create my own organization… My name is Marie Simonsen, I moved to the United States in 2009. I am an International student from Norway currently studying Psychology and Business at ASU. I have had the experience of growing up in Europe and then living a few months in Indonesia. In the future I would like to be able to make an positive difference in people's lives."
Description:		"As part of a New American University and already in accordance with ASU's mission, our talk would focus on offering incoming freshmen with a course similar to ASU101. The goal of this course is to empower and educate students on pressing Global Issues, such as child education, women empowerment, successful global businesses and much more. Also, we wish to inspire them to contribute to communities issues in the future and on finding solutions to Global challenges."

 

Composting at ASU
Presenter:		Josh Shane
Bio:		I am a student at the school of sustainability and I am the co-president of Oxfam Club at ASU. My goal in the future is to become a lobbyist for environmental organizations or companies and I would like to start by building support for environmentally conscious organizations on campus.
Description:		Stating composting at ASU is a task that has been attempted but not firmly established. I believe that we have the brainpower and the support to start a composting program at ASU and if we can set it up here, our method can be replicated at any university in the country. By gaining enough support for this objective that is undeniably a necessary part of our future, we can improve ASU's green image and show students that there are solutions to even the most difficult environmental problems.

 

Audio Excursions
Presenter:		Benson Garner
Bio:		I recently graduated in May 2011 with a degree in Management and with certificates in Small Business and Entrepreneurship and International Business. Just before graduation I was awarded with a grant as a winner of the Edson Student Entrepreneurship Initiative to start up an entrepreneurial venture, which is currently operating under the name of AudioExcursions. My wife and I love travel and the outdoors, are expecting our first child, a little girl, and enjoy re-modeling our home in Mesa.
Description:		People love to travel and explore but many times they simply do not have immediate resources available to learn about their surroundings, whether in their hometown or while traveling. Audio Excursions specializes in aggregating all audio and electronic tours available on the market into one easy to use website. AudioExcursions provides tours from organizations such as art galleries, gardens, museums, state parks, planetariums, zoos, and outdoor sites such as campgrounds, hiking/biking trails, and nature walks, allowing users to search out and download the widest range of tours in the world, and offers a mobile app to experience these tours while traveling or on the go. AudioExcursions also provides full scale audio tour production, publishing, and implementation for organizations seeking to provide an interactive experience to their visitors.

 

Ignite Sustainable Innovation by teaching people to become leaders
Presenter:		Alan J Greenspan
Bio:		Born and raised in Phoenix metropolitan from Glendale to Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale. Interned in Israel for 6 months for Leviathan Energy Inc, a micro wind/water/wave turbine developer and also promoted the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference; also was their spokesperson at Watec 2009 in Tel-Aviv. Was a spokesperson at the Solar International 2010 at the Los Angeles Convention Center for G-D Solar and China Guodian. From then I decided to start my own venture in changing the world. I started a Solar Fashion and accessory line while living in LA that is capable of charging portable electronic devices anywhere and anytime and provide light and other novelties. I volunteered for a community garden in LA and now volunteer for the Environmental Fund for AZ while starting PlantMySeed.org and GreenSpanTheGlobe. I have enjoyed pursuing passions my whole life, staying positive and active(run, bike, swim, snowboard, wakeboard, hike, camp, raft, surf, handstand, etc), and ABC - Always Be _____ (Changing, creating, closing, congregating, collaborating..)
Description:		The amount of information out there and easy access through social media to get involved is amazing but the problem is the lack of motivation, direction, and political and social barriers to getting involved. I propose a multi-faceted marketing strategy to utilizing social-game theory with social media to unite the sustainability movement and integrate it into everyone's every day life. Green Span The Globe will teach the community to build DIY solar panels and art installations, window farms and living walls in and around buildings, to leverage government grants to build urban gardens and green roofs, and to film the creation of these processes using an entrepreneurial start-up incubator mindset to instill innovation and passionate creativity in the public through education programs for people across all realms of socio-economic classes around the world.

 

Inspired: How a New Generation of Leaders Creates Change
Presenter:		Leah Luben
Bio:		I currently serve as the Director of the Student Leadership Team for Changemaker Central.
Description:		Changemaker Central is like no other institution at ASU. We have the capacity to support students at any level of engagement and allow them to develop their ideas into applied solutions. We are part of a new, active community and want to make our resources and opportunities accessible to everyone.

 

Zap App
Presenter:		Jake Slatnick & Chris Riha
Bio:		"Jake Slatnick: I am a freshman in the newly founded technological entrepreneurship and innovation management program. I have a passion for business and have done a lot to bring this passion to reality. Over the last few years I have started three businesses and competed in many business competitions. The competitions were in a nationwide organization, DECA. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. For my senior year in high school I was the president of my chapter. Currently I am apart of the start-up of the human resolve club on the ASU Polytechnic Campus. This club is based off of social entrepreneurship and brings sustainable technologies and economies to countries living off of less than one dollar a day. Chris Riha: I am currently a sophomore seeking a degree in economics. Beyond an average job during high school years, I founded and ran a Mobile Auto Detailing Business. I was an active member in DECA for two years, one year of which serving as president of the chapter. I am driven by business and even more motivated to bring change to the world using ethical business practices. My experience from having a job, a business, and achievements in DECA competitions has prepared me to compete aggressively in the world of business.”
Description:		"ZAP APP CHANGING THE WAY INFORMATION IS SHARED With a forecast of over one billion Smartphone users by 2013, the market for phone applications is exploding. Zap App taps into this market with an innovative application that brings individuals and businesses together. By making a virtual business card anyone can easily exchange there contact and business information. This goes beyond the typical phone number and address. The platform will allow graphic presentation of products, businesses information, websites, and virtually anything you can display on your phone. With such an exploding market for mobile applications it is difficult to differentiate oneself in the market and have a draw for users to purchase the app. Zap solves this problem by using the advertiser/subscriber model. Zap will initially target trade shows and conferences. Businesses at tradeshows have large show budgets and often spend heavily to collect attendee data. The current technology is old card scanners that companies pay dearly for to use at these shows. These scanners allow for information transfer only from the attendee. There is no take home information transferred. We plan to sell through the trade show channel to the exhibitors. They can use Zap technology to transfer company information to attendees to take home while simultaneously collect attendee contact and demographic information. Attendees would receive the app for free and exhibitors would pay for the service. This will make it incredibly easy for both parties to get any and all information needed. Once Zap reaches a reasonable size user base, a low cost add on app will be offered which will enable pier to pier business contact transfer. Individuals will likely pay a small add on fee to share business contacts with individuals once they become accustom to the app. The Zap App ultimately will become a mobile Rolodex. A tool to utilize Smartphone’s that truly simplifies the way almost a billion people exchange information."

 

Hate paying taxes? Tips you can use to legally reduce the taxes you pay to Uncle Sam
Presenter:		Regina de la Macorra
Bio:		I am a mother of 4, an entrepreneur, a wife, a business owner, and a passionate tax lover. Yes you heard correctly, I love to learn about taxes and I love assisting others in preparing their taxes. I started my own accounting firm in 2007, which specializes in accounting and tax services. My passion for taxes is that much, that I’m currently in the process of becoming an IRS Enrolled Agent. With that said I would like to share with everyone how taxes can be fun and exciting!
Description:		"You already know that Uncle Sam wants a piece of the pie, but how can you legally reduce the taxes that you pay to Uncle Sam? I want to share my love for taxes and my knowledge of taxes to empower the community on how to make the right decisions when tax season comes around. After you hear my talk, it will be the first time that taxes will leave you feeling excited!"

 

Campus Microcredit at ASU
Presenter:		Kaitlin Savage
Bio:		Many aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners do not have the credit history and collateral to borrow from banks, or simply need a loan smaller than the minimum loan sizes offered by existing lending institutions. Because there are no local institutions that provide the loan packages and advisory services to meet their needs, entrepreneurs born into poverty are trapped in a cycle: they cannot build businesses and attain economic success without capital and training, and they cannot get that capital and training without businesses and economic success. Microcredit has proven itself to be a solution to this problem by providing capital to low-income small business owners.
Description:		Arizona Microcredit Initiative is a student-run nonprofit that provides startup capital and small business consulting for entrepreneurs in the greater Phoenix area who have limited access to traditional sources of credit.

 

Protective Laptop Backpack
Presenter:		James Oplinger
Bio:		I am a freshmen at ASU Polytech studying Engineering.
Description:		I want to develop a backpack that will protect a laptop if the bag is dropped. Primarily this product appeals to longboard users such as myself. The other night a rock caught my wheel and threw me off. I had to fall forward in order to protect my laptop, thus scraping my face, shoulder, and knees. This backpack I am proposing has an extra slot that resides closest to the wearer. The slot is lined with a dense foam and it will close around the laptop, holding it in place and cushioning the device.

 

PV Base Micro-grids using the Roof Stewardship Collaboration Model
Presenter:		Maxx Patterson
Bio:		"Thank you for taking the time to review my bio and submission. Professional: My educational background consists of a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Master of Science in Technology with a focus on Alternative Energy (May 2012). Currently I am volunteering as Principle Project Engineer for Solar Hope Project, a non-profit start-up company, and PV based micro-grid thesis research in collaboration with Biosphere2. I served as Electrical Engineering project lead of seven products for Orbital Science Corp. While there I took on the title of Responsible Engineer (RE) for Boeing related components. All levels of approval, nonconformance resolution, department communication, and intra-company communication must go through the RE and conversely the RE is responsible for everything related to these components. Further responsibilities encompassed overseeing of in house manufacturing teams, production schedules, and nonconformance resolution. During my service to the Brain Modeling Laboratory, I managed probe production and maintained required component stores. On my own initiative I developed the gen 3 intra-cranial probe and revised the fabrication process. In doing so I reduced the production failure rate from 20% to 2%, and reduced training time from 30 days to 14 days. These probes are currently used in in-vivo research at the Barrow Neurological Institute. At Creative Environments I functioned as Network Administrator where my department was responsible for the hardware and software needs of a 100+ users. I would like to also point out that I have the Technology Entrepreneurship certification through Arizona State University. Through this program I gained a strong business skill base in areas of negotiation, management, Intellectual Properties and Patent law, marketing, communication, business and collaborative strategy, and business financial systems. Memberships: IEEE, ASES, PES, TIE AZ Chapter, USGBC ASU Chapter, LinkedIn Hobbies/Interest: Solar Hope Project, consulting, Hiking, Podcast, FPS gaming, technical research, Product reviews (my Youtube channel: maxxmentum), entrepreneurial connection building, audio books, scavenger technologies, smart phones Books currently/recently reading: The Art of War, Perfect Power, Four Hour Work Week, The Goal, Master Thinker II: Six Thinking Hats"
Description:		Using solarized micro-grids to restore home values, generate jobs, and reduce stress on the aging power grid. This is done through collaboration between the Utilities, cities, and Home owner/Builders.