First-ever science summit upcoming

Topics ranging from brain health to the frontiers of science will top the agenda Saturday, Oct. 24, when Skidmore College hosts its first-ever Science Summit.

Featuring speakers drawn from the Skidmore community, the summit will address both "the grand challenges in health care and the frontiers of science and entrepreneurship," says Kim Frederick, professor of chemistry. And it's "not just a spectator event. Participants will be invited to join these important conversations at the forefront of science and society." They can also meet with and ask questions of students presenting posters on their research.

The Science Summit is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

Keynote speaker is Cynthia Green, a psychologist and a professor at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (and the mother of Skidmore junior Jonah Jablons). An Alzheimer's researcher, she founded Mt. Sinai Medical Center's memory enhancement program as well as the Memory Arts firm and Total Brain Health education program. An author and blogger, she is a popular speaker and has appeared in media from Good Morning America to The New York Times.

The summit includes two panels, "The Evolving Landscape of Medical Science" and "Entrepreneurism and Science." With moderator Pat Fehling, from Skidmore's health and exercise sciences faculty, the medical panel features five alumni:

Felicia Axelrod '62, who created a center for familial dysautonomia, a neurodegenerative disorder, at NYU Medical Center; Joshua Boyce '81, director of allergy and associate chief of rheumatology, immunology, and allergy at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston; Kevin Hill '95, who teaches psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and directs substance-abuse counseling at McLean Hospital; Brooke Miller '99, a faculty member at the University of Florida medical school and McKnight Brain Institute; and Diana Perry '89, associate director of the neonatal intensive-care unit at South Shore Hospital, neonatal physician at Boston Children's Hospital and clinical instructor in pediatrics at Harvard.

Subtitled "The Intersection of Science, Technology, and Commerce," the entrepreneurism panel will be moderated by Cathy Hill, Skidmore's Harder Professor of Business Administration and founder of energy consulting firm CooperHill. Panelists include the following:

Jon Brestoff Parker '08, co-founder and CEO of Symmetry Therapeutics, an obesity research firm; Jason Lowenstein '03, a vice president at OwnEnergy; Courtney Mattison '08, who creates intricate and ecologically accurate sculptures of marine life that highlight its beauty and vulnerability; and Sue Van Hook, a retiree of Skidmore’s Biology Department, who is the chief mycologist at Ecovative in Green Island, NY.

For more details on the free Oct. 24 Science Summit at Skidmore, including additional information on all the speakers, please visit this web site.