About Dartmouth College

Andrew Friedland is an environmental scientist with 35 years of experience studying air pollution in high-elevation forests. He researches element cycling, biomass removal impacts, and teaches environmental science and biogeochemistry.

Dr. Daniel R. Lucey is an infectious diseases physician and clinical professor at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine. He works with the Smithsonian on viral outbreaks and teaches in the Medical Humanities program. He has received multiple awards.

Professor Murnane specializes in user-centered design and socio-technical systems. At Dartmouth, she leads a lab developing interactive, data-driven technologies for healthcare, education, and sustainability.

Professor Geoffrey Parker is a Professor of Engineering and Director of the Master of Engineering Management Program at Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering. He is also a research fellow and visiting scholar at MIT’s Initiative for the Digital Economy. His research focuses on distributed innovation, energy markets, and the economics of information.

Jeremy "Jerry" DeSilva is a paleoanthropologist specializing in early human locomotion and foot anatomy. He authored *First Steps* and advocates for science education, living in Norwich, VT with his family.

Marcelo Gleiser is a theoretical physicist with expertise in cosmology, high-energy physics, complexity theory, and astrobiology. He has been a faculty member at Dartmouth College since 1991. Gleiser earned his undergraduate degree from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (1981), followed by a Master's from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1982) and a Ph.D. from King's College London (1986). He completed postdoctoral fellowships at Fermilab (1986-1988) and the Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara (1988-1991). Gleiser is a Fellow and former General Councilor of the American Physical Society and has received the Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House and NSF.

Peter Tse and his collaborators focus on exploring consciousness and its neural foundations, investigating several key areas. First, they examine the preconscious and unconscious neural processes that occur before we consciously perceive an event, such as the brain's processing of form, motion, and color. Second, they study the structure of subjective experience and how phenomenology can help decipher how the brain constructs consciousness, with a particular focus on insights gained from illusions. Third, they explore the role of consciousness in planning and action, emphasizing the critical link between attention, volition, and decision-making. Fourth, they view consciousness as a dual process that constructs an understanding of the external world while providing an internal "virtual reality" that allows for imaginative decision-making. Finally, they investigate the interaction between top-down and bottom-up neural processes and how this interplay shapes our conscious experience. For a more in-depth exploration of these topics, Tse's book The Neural Basis of Free Will (MIT, 2013) offers additional insight.

Petra Bonfert-Taylor is a Professor and the Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Technical University of Berlin in 1996 and spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan before joining Wesleyan University as a tenure-track professor. During her time at Wesleyan, she created the course "Introduction to Complex Analysis" (available on Coursera). In 2015, she transitioned to Dartmouth as a tenured full professor. Petra has an extensive record of publications and has delivered lectures to both national and international audiences. Her research has been supported by numerous grants from the National Science Foundation, and she is equally committed to teaching. She has received multiple accolades, including the Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching at Wesleyan University, the Excellence in Teaching Award at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering, and the NH High Tech Council Tech Teacher of the Year Award. Petra is deeply committed to broadening access to high-quality education and developing innovative teaching methods that provide equal opportunities for students from all backgrounds.

Steve Swayne is a professor specializing in art music from 1700 to the present, opera, American musical theater, and more. He has received fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. An accomplished author, he has published articles in various music journals and written two books, including Orpheus in Manhattan, which won the 2012 ASCAP Nicolas Slonimsky Award. Currently, he is working on projects related to chamber musicals, music and neuroscience, and American composer David Diamond. A recipient of the Professor John Rassias Faculty Award, he has taught at several institutions and served as president of the American Musicological Society. Swayne is also an accomplished concert pianist.

Sudipto (Sudi) Banerjee is a Principal and leader of the Pricing practice at KPMG in Atlanta, with over 25 years of experience in various industries, including automotive, healthcare, and technology. He specializes in commercial transformation, focusing on pricing strategy, sales growth, and marketing effectiveness. Sudi has led more than 200 pricing engagements in 30 countries and has founded pricing practices at top consulting firms. A Certified Pricing Professional (CPP) and thought leader, he holds an MBA from The Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, holding a Master's degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has authored 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestselling "Why Smart Executives Fail" and "Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent," which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman describes as the "leadership guide for the Networked Age." A Fellow of the Academy of Management, Finkelstein is a sought-after consultant and speaker for leading global companies, and he is featured on the Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. His research often involves in-depth interviews, which inspired him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, where he shares compelling stories from a diverse range of figures in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life.

Vicki May has been teaching engineering since 1997 and joined Dartmouth in 2005, where she serves as an Instructional Associate Professor at the Thayer School of Engineering. She is dedicated to helping people of all ages grasp fundamental engineering concepts and appreciate the engineering present in their daily lives. Vicki enjoys building projects, often with her children, and strives to incorporate hands-on learning in her courses. She earned her BS in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1991, followed by an MS and Ph.D. in civil/structural engineering from Stanford University in 1992 and 1996, respectively. Throughout her career, she has received multiple teaching awards, including Professor of the Year honors for both Dartmouth and New Hampshire.

Vikrant S. Vaze is an Associate Professor at Dartmouth College, specializing in digital transformation and transportation systems. He teaches the "Sneak Peek: Dartmouth's Digital Transformation Certificate" course on Coursera, which serves as an introduction to the full Digital Transformation Certificate program offered by Dartmouth.