Previously, Dr. Mears was a senior advisor at Covington and Burling, where he advised companies in the aerospace, defense, and national security sector navigate policy and regulatory challenges involving the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch.

Dr. Mears has extensive experience in U.S. national security and defense strategy, planning, and resourcing, most recently serving as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense. Dr. Mears also advised the Defense Innovation Unit, which is building bridges between the Pentagon and the high technology centers in Silicon Valley, Boston, and Austin. His substantive areas of expertise include strategic planning, risk assessment and management, and advanced technologies.

Dr. Mears is a graduate of The Ohio State University where he earned a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in political science.

Dr. John (Marty) Emmert is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is also Director of the NSF Center for Hardware and Embedded Systems Security and Trust (CHEST) IUCRC. He has seven United States patents and has directed over $9M in research funding. In addition, he and colleagues have been awarded five phase II Small Business Innovative Research contracts from the Department of Defense. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and he has received the IEEE Harold Nobel Award and the AFRL Sensors Directorate James B. Tsui Award for best patent.

Mark Kvamme is a venture capitalist at the firm Drive Capital in Columbus, Ohio, and a sports car racing driver. 

Dan has nearly 40 years of consumer packaged goods experience. He has held senior management positions with large, multinational companies for 16 years, and  over the past 23 years, has  co-founded two start-up companies.

From 1978-1994, Dan spent 16 years with Procter & Gamble, Quaker Oats, and the Drackett companies in a variety of marketing, sales, and general management positions.

From 1994-2009, as co-founder of Changing Paradigms, Dan's team built an $85M CPG company, becoming a leader in premium private label products within the air care, household cleaners, drain care, laundry additives, and baby care categories.  During this time, Changing Paradigms became a key partner with P&G's GBD group leveraging his teams CPG experience to (1) resurrect orphan P&G brands like Downy Wrinkle Releaser, Febreze Laundry Odor Eliminator, and Dryel at home dry cleaner (which was later purchased), (2) build brand adjacencies for the Dreft Brand, (3) share technical knowledge to accelerate Febreze entry in the candle segment, and (4) incubate new concepts for the laundry care group. In 2007, Changing Paradigms was sold to oneCare, where Dan spent 3 years continuing to oversee the Changing Paradigms division.  

In 2009, Dan co-founded Nehemiah Manufacturing, whose mission is to build brands, create jobs, and change lives through employment and whole life coaching in the inner-city of Cincinnati. With the support of P&G, Nehemiah licensed the Pampers Kandoo business in September 2009 which was the foundation for the start of the Nehemiah Company. In 2012, Nehemiah acquired the Boogie Wipes brand, a patented saline nose wipe for little children, building the company’s presence within baby/toddler care. 

In October, 2013, Nehemiah entered an arrangement with Procter & Gamble to licensed 3 fabric & home care brands... Downy Wrinkle Releaser, Febreze Laundry Odor Eliminator, and Dreft laundry soil & stain remover, fabric refresher, and multi-surface spray/wipes. Located in its new 180,000 square foot facility at 1907 South Street in Lower Price Hill, Nehemiah currently employs 180 people, with over 125 employees in the production, warehousing, and office positions, being second change citizens. Second chance citizens are those that find it extremely hard to find sustainable employment because of having a felony in the background, or a history of drug and/or alcohol abuse leading the gaps in their employment history, or even those who have were homeless for a period of time. 

In 2015, Dan led a group that set into motion plans to team with other businesses in providing critically needed jobs for Returning Citizens. In April of 2016, the Beacon of Hope Business Alliance was formally launched, engaging leaders from business, government, churches and related social services. The mission over time is to expose 2,500 new jobs each year to the Second Chance population by creating awareness, providing a proven process and easy access to an ecosystem of social support – so that everyone who wants to work and change their life will be given that chance. To date, over 80 companies are involved in this mission while hiring over 600 2nd Chance citizens. In August, 2019, Nehemiah transitioned the Beacon of Hope Business Alliance to Cincinnati Works, to help take this Alliance to the next level.

Dan received his bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School in 1978. Dan resides in Cincinnati with his wife of 40 years and is the proud father of three girls and a 12 year old granddaughter.

Jillian Aurisano received her PhD from the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) in 2021, where she completed her research at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory.  She works at the intersection of data visualization and human computer interaction, and focuses on engineering visualization environments and applications that address ‘big data’ challenges in scientific communities.  She has a bachelor’s degree in biology, from the University of Chicago, and an MS degree in computer science from UIC.  She has held internships at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Monsanto, and Argonne National Laboratory.  She has worked on interdisciplinary projects with experts in bioinformatics, genomics, machine learning, natural language processing, ecology, and national security in academic, national laboratory and industrial research settings.  Her work has been recognized with several awards including the UIC Chancellor’s Graduate Research Award (2016), UIC Image of Research Award (2016), Best Paper Award (IEEE Collaborative Computing 2014), Poster Honorable Mention (IEEE InfoVis 2015) and Best Poster Award (Large Data Analysis and Visualization 2014 and 2019).  Her service work with the Women in Computer Science organization at UIC was recognized with the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in 2013 (now the Women Techmakers Scholars) and the UIC Student Services Award in 2015.    

Valerio Ferme, PhD, serves as the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, providing oversight and strategic direction for the University of Cincinnati's (UC) more than 46,000 students, 6,000 faculty and 13 academic colleges, the Graduate School, UC Online, and a collection of state-of-the-art university libraries. As the university's chief academic officer, Ferme oversees the human and fiscal resources that fuel UC’s academic and research mission with assistance from the academic deans and Provost senior staff while also supporting various aspects of faculty and student success.

Ferme joined UC in 2019 as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences - UC’s largest college - overseeing a $125 million budget and 21 departments. During his decanal term Ferme created a 21st Century Task Force to support the college’s strategic plan, spearheaded a college-wide commitment to sponsored research, expanded co-op and academic offerings, and created the position of Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence and Community Partnerships. Notably, Ferme successfully led the college through COVID-19 campus-to-remote transition, and despite the global pandemic, balanced the college budget for the first time since 2012 by reducing debt through operational efficiencies, increased research, and philanthropic partnerships.

Prior to UC, Ferme served as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Northern Arizona University from 2017-2019 and Divisional Dean for the Arts and Humanities at the University of Colorado from 2015-2017, where he also served as Chair of the Department of French and Italian for six years.  During his decanal term at Northern Arizona University, Ferme successfully addressed budget deficits, increased underrepresented faculty hires, and bolstered collaborations between students and cultural organizations within the Flagstaff area. At the University of Colorado, Ferme’s work also focused on curricular enhancements as well as support for underrepresented minorities. In 2014, Ferme was recognized for his pedagogy with the Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Teaching Award and in 2017 for his work in Inclusive Excellence on behalf of staff and underrepresented graduate students with a Special Recognition Award from the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement.

Ferme earned undergraduate degrees in Biology and Religious Studies at Brown University, a Master in Comparative Literature and Italian Studies from Indiana University and a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, where he was awarded Fulbright and Chancellor’s Fellowships. As a scholar, Ferme has published three monographs, three edited volumes, two scholarly translations and a bilingual collection of poetry, in addition to over 60 articles and reviews.

​College of Law | College of Medicine (Epidemiology)

J.D./Ph.D. Candidate, 2023

Dr. Ebony Ruhland received her Ph.D. from the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on how criminal justice policies and practices impact individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Ruhland is currently working on research projects in four areas: 1) examining factors that lead to probation revocations, including the use of probation conditions, specifically supervision fees; 2) exploring factors parole members consider to determine readiness for release; 3) identifying ways to bridge police and community relationships; and 4) examining the impacts of parental incarceration on children.
 
Through her research, Dr. Ruhland hopes to find ways to improve criminal justice and corrections policies to reduce mass incarceration, racial disparities, and collateral consequences while at the same time maintaining public safety.
 
Prior to joining the faculty, Dr. Ruhland was the research director at the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota Law School. Her work has been published in Criminology, Family Court Review, and Children and Youth Services Review.

Chief Operating Officer 
Urban League of Greater Southwest Ohio

In 2019, the Urban League reached over 18,000 people through our Workforce Development Training, Youth and Financial Services, and community partnerships.

The Urban League has served the region’s underserved populations since 1948. The Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio is recognized as the oldest and largest community-based organization devoted to empowering African American individuals and families.

Steve has been executive director for almost seven years. Previously, he was assistant superintendent of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, an agency under the Ohio attorney general that manages the state’s criminal database and criminal records repository, operates crime labs throughout the state, and has a large investigation staff. He was in charge of each of those operational divisions.

Ohio and other states across the country are still in the middle of an opioid epidemic. Prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, that was front and center for us. We believe the Board plays a role in and contributes to the state’s efforts to combat that epidemic.

Janet Moore teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Civil Rights Litigation, and Capital Punishment.  She received J.D. and M.A. (Philosophy) degrees from Duke University and a M.A. in Divinity from the University of Chicago. At Duke, she served as Editor-in-Chief of Law & Contemporary Problems. After graduation, she clerked for the Honorable J. Dickson Phillips, Jr., on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Professor Moore’s scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in journals such as Washington Law Review, Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, and Behavioral Sciences & the Law. Her research focuses on empowering low-income people to reduce the scope and harmful impacts of the carceral state. Her work draws on critical theory, interdisciplinary community-based research partnerships, and long experience in both capital defense and justice reform advocacy.

Professor Moore co-convened the Indigent Defense Research Association, a national organization of practitioners, researchers, and policymakers who use data to improve public defense. She has served or is serving as an invited expert for the American Bar Association’s Indigent Defense Advisory Group, the Indigent Defense Commissions of Michigan and Texas, the National Center for State Courts, and the Steering and Amicus Committees of the National Association for Public Defense. Professor Moore’s scholarship also led to her roles co-chairing a national task force on discovery reform, drafting a model criminal discovery reform bill, and serving as an advisor during the drafting and passage of the Michael Morton Act, which reformed criminal discovery procedures in Texas.

Awards include a 2020 University Faculty Excellence Award, 2018 University Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2018 University of Cincinnati College of Law Faculty Excellence Award,  two University of Cincinnati College of Law Goldman Prizes for Teaching Excellence (2012 and 2015), and a Junior Scholar Paper Competition Award sponsored by the Criminal Justice Section of the Association of American Law Schools. Grants include a University of Cincinnati Research Council award to support an investigation into quality communication in the public defense setting, and an Ohio Transformation Fund award to undertake community-based participatory research on redefining public safety and making it equally accessible to all.  The latter project received a 2018 Academic-Community Research Partnership Award from the University of Cincinnati Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training; based on her work on both projects, Professor Moore was chosen to serve as a Distinguished Mentor for the 2018-2019 faculty cohort of the University’s Transdisciplinary Research Leadership Program.

Dr. Danilo Palazzo began work as the director of the School of Planning at the University of Cincinnati in 2012. His major fields of interest are urban planning and design. He has worked and conducted research in land use planning, landscape impact assessment and urban design, and has worked as a consultant for both public agencies and private firms. 

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Jon Fortt is co-anchor of CNBC’s bi-coastal tech-focused program “TechCheck” (M-F, 11AM-12PM ET/8AM-9AM PT); and creator of the weekly segments, “On the Other Hand” on “Squawk Box” and “Working Lunch” on “Power Lunch.” Previously, he co-anchored CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” and prior served as an on-air editor based at CNBC’s global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Fortt joined CNBC as technology correspondent in July 2010, working from CNBC’s Silicon Valley bureau where he covered the companies, start-ups and trends that are driving innovation in the industry.

Fortt is the creator of Fortt Knox (https://www.youtube.com/forttknox), a digital show he launched in 2016 that features in-depth 1:1 interviews with founders, CEOs and innovators. In 2020, he created The Black Experience in America: The Course (https://forttmedia.com), an online resource for exploring history and culture.

Fortt came to CNBC from Fortune magazine, where as a senior writer he covered both large technology companies— such as Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft—and trends, including cloud computing and the smartphone revolution. Before joining Fortune in 2007, Fortt was a senior editor at Business 2.0 magazine where he produced the “What Works” section. From 1999 to 2006, Fortt wrote and edited at the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley’s hometown newspaper. There he contributed to several efforts that won awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.

Fortt graduated from DePauw University as a Media Fellow, with a B.A. in English.

Follow Jon Fortt on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonfortt/.

Bridget is an ethics researcher and the Mater Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Ethics at Queensland Bioethics Centre at Australian Catholic University. She is a Visiting Professor at the Julius Centre for Global Health at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She is an honorary at the Centre for Health Equity at the University of Melbourne. Bridget received her PhD in bioethics in 2012 and her Masters in International Health in 2009 from Monash University in Australia. From 2013 to 2015, Bridget was a Hecht-Levi fellow at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and a research fellow in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. From 2013-2020, she was a research fellow in Centre for Health Equity at the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne.

Bridget’s research interests include the ethics of global health research, health systems, and urban planning, with a focus on equity, social justice, and (more recently) ecological justice. In her work, she uses a combination of applied philosophy and qualitative methods, reflecting her belief that the most robust ethical guidance is informed by both theory and practice. She has developed ethical guidance on the following topics: research priority-setting, research governance, community engagement, ancillary care, capacity development, post-study benefits, and data sharing.

A UC graduate and Cincinnati native, Jenifer Moore is an accomplished communications and public relations professional with more than six years’ expertise developing and executing all aspects of public outreach campaigns to increase media exposure and support strategic marketing initiatives. She currently serves as the Senior Public Affairs Specialist at AAA Allied Group, as well as a public speaker. 

Rich Granger is Managing Director, Workforce Development at DriveOhio, the state government's one-stop shop to develop, test and deploy advanced mobility solutions across Ohio. He works with public and private partners including government, industry and educators to accelerate and launch a portfolio of workforce development programs that will prepare Ohio's existing and emerging workforce for the future of smart mobility. Granger graduated from The Ohio State University, where he received his MBA, BS and MS.

Dr. John S. Hutton, MS, MD, is a pediatrician and clinical researcher in the Division of General and Community Pediatrics and Reading and Literacy Discovery Center. His unique reading background includes over 20 years at the helm of Blue Manatee Children’s Bookstore and publication of over 25 children’s books, many with health-promoting themes, including screen time reduction (Baby Unplugged), reading and talking to babies, infant calming, safe sleep, breastfeeding, and ADHD. His books have been adopted in numerous statewide public health campaigns, distributed to over 2 million families, proceeds benefiting non-profit advocacy groups. He serves as “spokes-doctor” for the Read Aloud 15 MINUTES national campaign and works closely with the Reach Out and Read and other child literacy programs on local and national levels.

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Patrick Ray, PhD has a research focus of: Anthropogenic water resource systems are designed to sustain human civilization in balance with ecological wellbeing. Those systems are a mix of built infrastructure and natural pathways. They buffer us from flood and drought, and protect us from disease. In this research group we use numerical models to explore the net benefits of water system development alternatives, with an eye to their sustainability, distributional equity, and resilience to change.

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Bante received her PhD in bioethics and healthcare ethics from St. Louis University, where she also received her master’s in public health with a focus on community health. Her other areas of expertise include nutritional sciences, biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology. An alumna of the UC Women Lead leadership development program, Bante serves as the research ethicist for UC on the institution’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science Training and as the bioethicist for Hamilton County’s Public Health Department. In addition, she has overseen the review and management of financial conflicts of interest in research at the university and even co-authored a research casebook focusing on the responsible conduct of research at UC.

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Dr. Ittenbach has authored or co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications in the behavioral and biomedical sciences. He has been funded as a co-investigator and biostatistician on a number of NIH / CDC grants. He currently serves on the editorial board of four journals and reviews for several others. Areas of current professional interest include measure and scale development, mixed methods designs, as well as empirical bioethics.

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Dr. Lewis is family physician for UC Health in Cincinnati, where he serves a diverse population of patients from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds representing over 20 countries. He also uses his knowledge of medicine and passion for teaching to instruct budding physicians. He is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Assistant Dean in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

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David Lentz's primary research interests are in paleoethnobotany and paleoecology. He has conducted field research in many areas of North America, studying indigenous groups in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, as well as in the southwestern and southeastern US. To develop a greater understanding of how early cultures manipulated their environment through their agricultural and other land-use practices, he has examined the way in which indigenous people, including the Jicaque, Paya and the Kekchi-Maya, use plants. Much of his work has focused on the archaeobotany of the ancient Maya and Olmec, studying the differences in dietary habits among groups of varying economic status. Currently, he is investigating the land use practices of the ancient Maya at Tikal in Guatemala. He welcomes students interested in pursuing compatible research projects.

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Director of MOST AERO Labs and co-Director of UAV MASTER Labs conducting research in the following areas: Genetic Fuzzy AI, Collaborative UAV control and task planning, multi-agent decision making, UAV operations for enhanced situational awareness and resource allocation, disaster management using UAVs, estimation and control for feedback aerodynamic flow control, active vibration suppression, system identification of rotorcraft & morphing VTOL aircraft

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Jess Kropczynski, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the School of Information Technology at the University of Cincinnati. Her research is primarily in the design and evaluation of civic technology to support collective action in community networks. She has also worked with local and state governments to assess communication and information needs of target audiences in order to promote informed decision-making.

Jai Chabria serves as Managing Director in Mercury’s Columbus, Ohio office, where he specializes in public affairs and campaign strategy management. In this role, he is responsible for the leadership and management of all political and policy efforts across a host of arenas.

Kristen is currently a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati pursuing a PhD in the Community and Organizational Research for Action (CORA) Program. Her research focuses on Industrial and Organizational Psychology, more specifically her research investigates male allyship, leadership, leader identity, leadership training and development, and diversity. She also has experience teaching several courses, including psychology in the workplace, foundations of leadership, psychological statistics, community psychology, and psychology of interpersonal relations.

Michael Jones is an Associate Professor, Educator of Economics, at the University of Cincinnati. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Notre Dame and his MBA. from the University of Cincinnati. Prior to receiving his Ph.D., he worked as a Senior Research Analyst for the Nielsen Company and as a Senior Business Development Manager at Cincinnati Bell.

He is also the Academic Director for the Kautz-Uible Economics Institute and the Academic Director for the MS Applied Economics Program.

My research is driven by the questions, “What does a psychology of transformative social change look like?” and “What psychosocial and structural factors facilitate or impede processes of transformative social change?” In this, my work draws upon theories within and beyond psychology (e.g., social movement, feminist, and empowerment theories), employs engaged research methods, and aims to advance social justice and environmental sustainability. 

Themes in my current research include: (1) Climate Change and Environmental Justice: Developing community-based, participatory, and arts-based methodologies to promote agency and collaborative action to address environmental problems in local settings; (2) Community Partnerships: Employing community-engaged research methods (e.g., participatory action research) to strengthen community resilience, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and enhance undergraduate higher education; and (3) STEM Engagement: Applying interdisciplinary and action-based educational approaches to support STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) engagement by marginalized groups.

Methodologically, my research is guided by the question, “What types of research approaches contribute to enabling—or enacting—transformative social change?”, or put differently, “How can we, as researchers, best position ourselves to bring about a more just and sustainable world through our methodological choices?” In this area, my current research explores the concept and practice of Prefigurative Methodologies, or applying means-ends consistency (i.e., “being the change”) in research and collaboration. Much of my work revolves around broad inclusivity, democratic engagement, reflective practice, methodological innovation, and social and environmental action.

I teach undergraduate and graduate-level psychology courses, and I advise psychology doctoral students in UC’s Community and Organizational Research for Action (CORA) program.*

My professional homepage is: https://www.cdtrott.com/.

*I do not advise students in the Clinical program

Anne Delano Steinert studies public history and the history of the built environment with a focus on late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Cincinnati. She is the founder of Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine Museum and curator of the Look Here!, Schools for the City, and Finding Kenyon Barr exhibitions. At UC she has taught United States History II, Local History Research Methods, History of American Cemeteries, Introduction to Historic Preservation Planning (DAAP), History of Cincinnati, and Oral History Workshop. She has also taught The History of Housing in America at Xavier University. Steinert was co-creator, with Dr. Tracy Teslow, of the New Deal Neighbors oral history project. Steinert's dissertation, Standing Right Here: The Built Environment as a Tool for Historical Inquiry explores the built environment as a rich source for historians as they develop and investigate questions about the past.

Scarpelli has over 25 years of experience working in publishing. Her role is to lead and provide oversight of all Press functions including acquisitions, marketing, administration and business, as well as to build a regional, national and international reputation for the University of Cincinnati Press as an innovative 21st century academic press. 

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Professor Bonansinga was founding director of Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for Visual Art at The University of Texas, El Paso where she curated many exhibitions and established an undergraduate minor in museum studies and taught courses in curatorial practice.  She is in interested in museums as dynamic sites for learning, in the impact of art in gallery and non-gallery settings, and in the current methods that artists employ to make a difference in society and culture. 

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Neville Pinto was appointed by the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees to serve as the university’s 30th President. He took office on Feb. 20, 2017. Pinto was born in Mumbai, India. He was educated at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He earned his MS and his PhD in chemical engineering at Penn State University.

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