Cathy Sorbara is a neuroscientist and passionate about raising the voices of women. For 10 years she worked as a researcher in academia in Canada and Germany, studying neurodegenerative diseases. But when she moved to England, Cathy decided to explore a different path. She became Chief Operations Officer of a start-up company called Cheeky Scientist, a global professional network that helps PhDs see their value and find meaningful work outside of academia. Now she lives and works in the Netherlands where she continues to support academics by advocating for their mental health and wellbeing through her own company, Sorbara Consulting. ​

Elisa Hurwitz enjoys developing technical solutions to problems in a variety of areas, including electrical engineering, material science, and electromagnetic theory.  She recently founded Currently, LLC to commercialize a current sensor to promote the safety and efficiency of electrical systems.  She earned a B.S.E.E. from Georgia Tech, a MSc in Photonics and Optoelectronic Devices from a joint program between the University of St. Andrews and Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, and completed her PhD at UNC Charlotte.  During her PhD, she extended Maxwell’s equations to find exact solutions that enable the design of directionally invisible objects.  These algorithms may be used to design a new class of optically switchable perfectly transparent optical devices.  Previously, she worked as an electrical engineer for several years for a small government defense contractor simulating and developing sensors and sensor systems for various applications.