Guy Chriqui is a Senior Research Engineer at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center. His work specializes in opto-mechanical systems design and development. Guy’s current projects include the Segmented Planar Imaging Detector for Electro-optical Reconnaissance (SPIDER), a Photonic Integrated Circuit based imaging system. Guy and the lab where his SPIDER telescope is being developed will be featured in the Generation Beyond Virtual Field Trip during World Space Week, on Tuesday, October 4th at 1pm ET. Before coming to Lockheed Martin, Guy’s career path included time at Boeing, NASA, and Moon Express. His previous projects saw him leading teams to develop Lunar Micro Rovers in an effort to make a COTS rover a reality. Guy received his Masters of Science in Astronautics from the University of Southern California and his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Outside of work, Guy is an active mentor for students in robotics. His teams have won multiple world championships and over 50 regional titles as well as many design awards. This led to including him as a robotics advisor for Disney’s Big Hero Six.

Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen is the founder of Openwater whose goal is a wearable with MRI-plus resolution that can enable telepathy as well as drastically transform diagnostic costs for healthcare. Previously she was an engineering executive at Facebook, Oculus, Google[x] and Intel. In addition, Mary Lou has founded 4 startups including One Laptop per Child where she was CTO, chief architect and delivered to mass production the $100 laptop. Her startup CEO experience includes the world’s only fabless display screen company which was based in Taipei. She has been a professor at both MITs: RMIT in Australia and MIT in Cambridge. She is an inventor on well over 100 published or issued patents and has shipped billions of dollars worth of consumer electronics on the hairy edge of what the physics will do. She has been recognized with many awards including TIME magazine’s “Time 100” as one of the 100 most influential people in the world and as a CNN top 10 thinker.

With a continued dedication to promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to students everywhere, Discovery Communications partners with nonprofit US2020, which seeks to to dramatically scale the number of STEM professionals mentoring and teaching students through hands-on projects, with a focus on girls and underrepresented minorities.

Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold, providing girls across the U.S. and Canada with life-changing experiences and solutions to the unique challenges they face. The Girls Inc. Experience consists of people, an environment, and programming that, together, empower girls to succeed. Trained staff and volunteers build lasting, mentoring relationships in girls-only spaces that are physically and emotionally safe and where girls find a sisterhood of support with shared drive, mutual respect, and high expectations. Hands-on, research-based programs provide girls with the skills and knowledge to set goals, overcome obstacles, and improve academic performance. Informed by girls and their families, Girls Inc. also works with policymakers to advocate for legislation and initiatives that increase opportunities for girls. At Girls Inc., girls grow up healthy, educated, and independent.

AAAS is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its Science family of journals, AAAS has individual members in more than 91 countries around the globe. Membership is open to anyone who shares our goals and belief that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics can help solve many of the challenges the world faces today. You can lend your support to our efforts on behalf of scientists, engineers, educators, and students everywhere by becoming a member. Together we can make a difference: Join Us.

Iridescent’s mission is to create and deliver powerful science, engineering and technology education to help underprivileged children and youth develop: Curiosity to learn how things around us work; Creativity to try new ideas; Perseverance to keep improving and developing their ideas. We are an education non-profit that trains professional engineers, scientists, and parents to deliver cutting-edge STEM education to underserved girls, children and their families. Over the past seven years, we’ve trained more than 3,500 mentors and engaged more than 60,000 participants in our programs.

DIY (“Do-It-Yourself”) Girls’ mission is to increase girls’ interest and success in technology, engineering and making through innovative educational experiences and mentor relationships. We’re a supportive community for girls driven by an interest in creating and building with technology. DIY Girls uses a three-pronged program approach that integrates engagement, capacity building, and continuity to ensure girls’ success. We offer after-school and in-school programs, as well as workshops that provide hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) experiences for girls. Girls learn technical skills and apply them by creating their own creative projects and inventions. DIY Girls has reached over 1200 girls in Los Angeles since 2012.

Mouse is a national youth development nonprofit that believes in technology as a force for good. Mouse empowers all students to create with technology to solve real problems and make meaningful change in our world. Mouse is committed to creating more diversity in STEM and opening opportunities for students from underserved communities across the country.