2023 Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program: Inspiration for innovation

Dr. Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn is an educator, speaker and professional learning facilitator. Sarah is also an experienced non-profit manager. As a professional trainer, Sarah’s areas of focus include workplace cultures, leadership skills, and diversity, equity and inclusion. She has designed and facilitated talks and workshops with schools and organizations across the country, including Learning for Justice, Microsoft and LinkedIn. Sarah is a LinkedIn Learning instructor and the author of the forthcoming middle grades book Exclusion and the Chinese American Experience. She is known for creating and developing learning experiences that are engaging, meaningful, and oriented towards action.

Sarah has a Master of Arts in Social Justice and Education from University College London’s Institute of Education and an Ed.D. from Johns Hopkins University.

Juliana Broste, “TravelingJules,” is a 12-time Heartland Emmy award-winning Travel Video Journalist: a producer, shooter, writer, editor, and host. Whether you spot her in front of the camera or behind the lens, you’ll recognize this fierce female filmmaker sporting pink lipstick and an armful of camera gear!  

Maybe you've seen Jules on TV waiting for a flight. She’s been spotted on media networks like CNN Airport, PBS, The Weather Channel’s Local Now, Lonely Planet, Matador Network, USA TODAY and beyond. Jules creates content for tourism boards and brands with signature style—including dream job travel assignments for Bumble and Viator. Her TravelingJules vlog showcases epic experiences and fun things to do around the world. Her enthusiasm and joie de vivre inspire travelers to get out of their comfort zone and try new things. 

Always up to date on the latest camera tools and trends, Jules shares creative and technical tips on her website, The Video Hustle. She has been featured in campaigns for Canon, Manfrotto, Adobe, B&H, and NAB SHOW.  Jules serves as Vice President and National Trustee on the Board of Governors for the Heartland Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Deepak Dashairya works in the Office of Innovation Outreach at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) creating intellectual property (IP) awareness programs and managing outreach services to independent inventors, small businesses, entrepreneurs, makers, and universities across the nation. Dashairya is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with over 19 years of federal service.

Before joining USPTO in June 2020, he served in leadership roles at the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Commerce, both in Washington D.C. and the Detroit Metropolitan Area, where he currently resides. Dashairya received a Bachelor of Science in statistics and a Master of Science in applied statistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Linda manages partnerships with national outreach organizations that advance the mission of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This includes coordinating USPTO’s partnership with the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF): supporting the NIHF induction ceremony; the NIHF museum at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia; and NIHF educational programs like Camp Invention and the Collegiate Inventors Competition, among other collaborations. She manages the award process for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, a Presidential honor for America’s leading innovators, and the associated partnership with the National Science and Technology Medals Foundation. She also manages partnerships and programming with the National Academy of Inventors, the Smithsonian Institution, and other federal agencies.

Charles Kim currently serves as the Director of the Office of Petitions at the USPTO. The Office of Petitions reviews and decides various petitions to the Director of the USPTO, such as revival of abandoned applications, reinstatement of expired patents, withdrawal of patent applications from issue, review of previous decisions of the Technology Centers, suspension of regulations, and questions not specifically provided for by regulations. Prior to working at the Office of Petitions, Charles served for two years as a Senior Advisor to the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy. Charles also previously served as a Supervisory Patent Examiner in Technology Center 2100—Computer Architecture and Software. 

In addition, Charles currently leads the USPTO’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emerging Technology (ET) Working Group. This working group is comprised of AI experts from across the agency and has been responsible for several initiatives at the USPTO, including the issuance of request for comments, reports on AI and intellectual property (IP) policy, and the formation of the AI/ET Partnership, which was announced by Director Vidal in June 2022. 

Charles has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University and received his JD degree from George Washington University Law School. 

Dr. Amit Lal is an electrical engineer focusing on creative solutions to hard problems. He is a co-founder and advisor at Geegah, a company whose mission is to make micro and nano imaging simple, powerful, and available everywhere. 

Lal obtained his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. He conducted his doctoral research at the Berkeley Sensors and Actuators Center in the area of ultrasonic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). After working at University of Wisconsin-Madison as an assistant professor, he is now a professor at Cornell University, in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He holds more than 30 patents and has published more than 190 research papers in the area of microsystem engineering.

Previously, Lal served as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the Microsystems Technology Office. At DARPA, he managed 10 and started six new programs in the area of navigation, low-energy computation, bio-robotics, and atomic microsystems. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award and the Whitaker Foundation Award. He has won several best paper awards with his students at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Ultrasonics and Frequency Control Symposium, and IEEE Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems (NEMS) conferences. He is also a recipient of the Department of Defense Exceptional Service Award and a Best Program Manager Award for his work at DARPA.

Amy Li was diagnosed with stage IV cancer in the prime of her life. During her recovery, she found solace in her childhood passion for music, dance, and the arts. This experience ultimately inspired her to invent Dance4Healing, a patent-pending artificial intelligence (AI) "tele-dance" platform that pairs people with chronic diseases, older adults, and their caregivers with compatible buddies to build lasting healthy habits through tailor-made recorded and live video creative arts classes (imagine YouTube, Zoom, and eHarmony for health buddies). Dance4Healing has won more than 20 awards, including AARP's CES Annual Pitch "People's Choice Award," and was one of the top 10 Diversity and Inclusion startups to exhibit at CES 2023.

Amy also founded the Stage IV {Wicked Wisdom} Multi-Media Platform, which includes her upcoming book, a web magazine, and an "Experts Voice" interview series. She is a User Experience (UX) and behavior strategy expert in innovation and AI for global brands such as Yahoo, AT&T, Volkswagen, and Sony, earning multiple patents for her work and features in prominent news outlets including The New York Times, NBC, Yahoo!, and Gizmodo.

A Singularity University graduate and board member of Humanity+, a non-profit renowned as a top global think tank in AI, robotics, longevity, and bio-hacking, Amy has been recognized by Time magazine for her non-profit work and featured in major Chinese media. She also serves on the American Psychological Association COVID-19 task force, and was recently chosen as one of the first two Asian women leaders for the Culture of Health Leadership Institute for Racial Healing, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program.

Lynn is a Filipina-American who develops equitable programs for entrepreneurs involved with public and private sector procurement and contracting supply chain management. She has successfully assisted 1,500 start-ups and emerging businesses in the industries of real estate development, construction, hospitality (restaurants and food trucks), and retail. Lynn received her notice of patent allowance for a procurement data management system and method that will change how to efficiently vet certified small businesses for public and private contracting. In Minnesota, Lynn has successfully helped 127 minority- and women-owned businesses attain over $42 million in contracts using her processes and methodology.  

Gina M. Raimondo serves as the 40th U.S. Secretary of Commerce and was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on March 3, 2021. As Secretary of Commerce, she is focused on a simple but vital mission—to spur good-paying jobs, empower entrepreneurs to innovate and grow, and help American workers and businesses compete.

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Prisha Shroff, 16, a high school student from Arizona, is a compassionate changemaker. Prisha loves to invent: her passion is to create solutions to real world problems by leveraging STEM knowledge. Her notable inventions include GlucoseAssist; an artificial intelligence (AI)-based wildfire prevention, detection and suppression system; a self-cleaning solar panel; AquaSaver, an Arduino-based water leak detection/overflow device; and a solar-powered drone.  
 
Prisha earned the Lemelson Award for Invention for her AI-based solution for wildfires. While on vacation, Prisha was impacted by California wildfires. Seeing the devastation first-hand drove her to find a solution to this pervasive problem. Her invention is a novel, AI-based solution that effectively detects wildfires and hotspots, and deploys drones to spray fire retardant.
 
Prisha is driven by a desire to offer the same opportunities she gets to others. She has led multiple STEM and coding workshops for underserved students in rural areas. She continues to influence women and girls in STEAM as a flight crew member for the Million Girls Moonshot program, an International Leadership Council Chief Science Officer, and the Founder of Astralis. She has also spoken at the United Nations, encouraging youth to be agents of change and take action toward sustainability goals.

She has won numerous awards, including high school Student of the Year and her school district's Superintendent Citizenship Award. She has also been featured as one of the Sixteen Innovators to Watch in 2022 by Smithsonian Magazine, and among the Best and Brightest 18 under 18 in Arizona.