2023 Black Innovation and Entrepreneurship program, part two: Intergenerational conversations

Ms. Richardson is a senior Electrical & Computer Engineering major at Morgan State University. She currently serves as the Chapter President of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the President of the Engineering Student Organization Committee (ESOC), a member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and a member of the Pre-Alumni Council. She is currently participating in a co-op program with DTE Energy, where she works closely with different software systems to analyze transformers, circuits, and other devices. 

Derrick Brent is the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As the Deputy Director, he serves as the principal advisor to Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, managing a wide portfolio of programs and operations for one of the largest intellectual property (IP) offices in the world, with more than 13,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $4 billion. His responsibilities include working with Director Vidal to lead the USPTO; advance IP policy and procedures for the benefit of the country; expand the USPTO’s outreach efforts to incentivize and support more innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide; and execute the agency’s policies, priorities, and programs. 

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Portia L. Deans has been employed at the USPTO since January 2017. She currently serves as an Innovation Outreach Program Specialist in the Office of Innovation Outreach. Prior to joining the USPTO, she supported multiple federal agencies, including the Defense Threat Reduction Agency; Headquarters, Department of the Army; the Office of Small Business Programs - Pentagon; and the National Guard Bureau.

Deans has over 20 years of acquisition and program management experience within the Department of Defense and civilian agencies. Her acquired knowledge, skills, and abilities include the career fields of contracting, program management, contracting officer’s representative, small business specialist, and industry liaison.

Isaiah Dornelus is a third-year industrial engineering student at Morgan State University. He is a member of the student chapter for the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). 

Mr. Dornelus has participated in several prestigious programs and internships, including the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, NACME-Google Automated Machine Learning Intensive, and NASA's Student Airborne Science Activation Program.

Mr. Dornelus works in a Morgan State University engineering lab completing projects related to heat transfer and energy processes. Mr. Dornelus also works as a math, engineering, and physics tutor for Morgan State University students.

NaThanya Ferguson serves as the manager of the USPTO’s Office of Innovation Outreach, which focuses on outreach to independent inventors, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and underrepresented communities of innovators across America.

Ferguson joined the USPTO in 1989. During her 33-year tenure at the agency, she has worked as a contracting officer representative, lead patent analyst for the Patent Process Reengineering initiative, strategic planning project manager for the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, and project manager for the National Council for Expanding American Innovation.

Ferguson has received numerous awards, including a Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 2015 for her contribution to the innovative and collaborative implementation of the First Inventor to File statutory provisions of the America Invents Act, a Department of Commerce Distinguished Career Award in 2011 for continued outstanding service, and a Silver Medal Award in 1999 for her contribution to the development and implementation of the Patent Process Reengineering initiative.

Ferguson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business and management from Johns Hopkins University and a Master’s Certificate in project management from Management Concepts and Regis University.

Leshell Hatley, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of Uplift, Inc. a 501c3 nonprofit STEAM education and consulting organization, and its Center for Learning and Education Media (CLEM). She is also the founder and Lead Engineer of emagine! technologies. Her 25+ years of research and teaching expertise includes topics like artificial intelligence, robotics, and culturally relevant computer science/computer engineering education. Dr. Hatley was recognized as one of the 50 Women in Robotics You Should Know in 2021 by RoboHub, in celebration of Ada Lovelace Day. In 2020, she was recognized as one of the 20 most influential technologists in Baltimore by technical.ly. Additionally, Dr. Hatley is the creator of Myles & Ayesha, culturally relevant digital friends (intelligent tutors) that help children learn. Previously, Dr. Hatley was an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Coppin State University. She and the students in her research lab, the Lab for Artificial Intelligence and its Applications (LAIA), won the 2016 USA White House HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Maker & Innovation Challenge.

Dr. Hatley is a passionate computer engineer, educator, and researcher who continuously combines these three attributes to create innovative approaches to teaching STEM concepts. With over 20 years of teaching experience, Leshell leads teams of enthusiastic students, dedicated volunteer instructors, and engineering teams to achieve award-winning success, national news coverage, and innovative technology product designs. She's a proud two-time graduate of Howard University, a place that she proudly proclaims helped shape who she is today.

Dr. Lawrence is Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Center for Intelligent Networked Systems (iNetS), and former Associate Dean and Bachelor Chair Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Before joining Stevens, Dr. Lawrence worked for Bell Laboratories, retiring as Vice President, Advanced Communications Technology. He led the development of technologies for worldwide communications networks and managed an R&D staff of over 500 scientists/engineers and a budget of about $100 million annually. During his career, his personal research activities provided major contributions to gigabit photonic and wireless networking, signal processing, modem technology, digital techniques, ATM and IP switching and protocols, HDTV, DSL, and speech and audio coding, among other areas. Dr. Lawrence co-funded four successful venture companies: Globespan Semiconductors Inc.; Elemedia, Lucent’s internet software business; Lucent Digital Video; and Lucent Digital Radio, iBiquity.

Dr, Lawrence was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2016. He is a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the IEEE, Fellow of AT&T Bell Labs, and Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He also served as Chairman of the IEEE Awards Board and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Communications. Dr. Lawrence is the co-author of five books. He holds 53 U.S. and international patents and has published over 100 papers in referenced journals and conference proceedings.

Dr, Lawrence received a Bachelor of Science in 1968 from the University of London, a D.I.C. in 1969 from Imperial College, and a Ph.D., in Electrical Engineering in 1973 from University of London, Imperial College.

Dr. Lillard is an immunologist and professor at Morehouse School of Medicine who is developing biologics and molecular tests to better treat or diagnose chronic diseases. His research involves dissecting the molecular mechanisms of chemokine-mediated solid tumors and heme malignancy progression, using clinically annotated DNA/RNA sequence data and the implementation of precision medicine. His research contributions span disciplines including oncology, immunity, inflammation, and biodefense. Dr. Lillard’s cumulative peer-reviewed funding over his scientific career exceeds $60 million, and he has authored over 300 scientific communications, including over 100 patents, which have been cited over 10,000 times. As the Senior Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, he oversees the Morehouse School of Medicine Office for Technology Transfer. Recently, Fortune Magazine reported on the number of patents produced by Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with Morehouse School of Medicine at the top of that list. 

Mr. Swann serves as the founding Director of Technology Transfer at Morgan State University, and is the University’s Chief Strategist and architect of Morgan’s assessment model and pathway to Carnegie R1 status. He has 50 years of experience as a researcher, technology transfer professional, and entrepreneur. In his 25+ years of university technology transfer experience, he was the founding director of the technology transfer offices at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. During his tenure in the university technology transfer arena, he has been responsible for the management of over 1,700 inventions; executed over 500 technology transfer agreements; facilitated 35 university start-up companies; and generated over $40 million in total income. 

He began his career in 1972 at W.R. Grace & Company’s Corporate Research Center as a research associate specializing in immobilization of enzymes and microorganisms. In 1981, he joined Genex Corp. as a research scientist and later manager of bio-catalysis R&D, marketing, and business development. He was awarded 10 U.S. patents and is author of various publications. 

Mr. Swann holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Sciences from Towson University.

Dr. Iris R. Wagstaff is a chemist, researcher, STEM policy advisor, and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and educational consultant. She is a sought-after speaker and science policy thought leader. She currently serves as a STEM Program Director at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) where she is Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) on five National Science Foundation (NSF) funded grants focused on broadening participation in STEM, supporting low-income students in STEM, and advancing innovation and entrepreneurship capacity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In this role, she oversees a portfolio valued at $30 million. She is also Founder and Principal Consultant of Wagstaff STEM Solutions, a DEI and STEM education consulting company. 

She was a 2015-2017 AAAS Science & Technology Fellow at the Department of Justice (DOJ) National Institute of Justice, where she developed and led an agency-wide strategic DEI initiative and led efforts to broaden participation in the forensic sciences. She spent 15 years as a research chemist for the Dow Chemical Company and has over 20 years of experience in leading DEI efforts in STEM and supporting the next generation of diverse STEM professionals. She is a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina and has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Chemistry, and a Ph.D. in science education research and policy.

Joyce Ward is the Director of the USPTO’s Office of Education (OE). Her work provides K-12 educators and students with unique learning experiences and resources that integrate knowledge of invention, innovation, entrepreneurship, and STEM. Her office also encourages the creation and protection of intellectual property.

Under Ward’s direct leadership, the OE successfully conceived and implemented numerous projects that have garnered national recognition for the USPTO, including the Science of Innovation series, a collaboration between the USPTO, the National Science Foundation, and NBC Learn; the exemplar National Summer Teacher Institute on Innovation, STEM, and Intellectual Property; an intellectual property patch with the Girl Scouts organization; and the first USPTO Inventor Trading Card series.

Prior to her current position, Ward was the Director of Program Support and Intellectual Property for the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF). Before going to NIHF, she served as a trademark examining attorney and later as an education specialist in the Office of Public Affairs at the USPTO. Ward received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Johns Hopkins University Professor James E. "Jim" West has over 250 patents to his name. He is best known for his work at Bell Labs and his invention of the electret microphone. Ninety percent of microphones produced annually are his, and can be found in everyday items such as your cellphone. West was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) in 1999 for the invention of the electret microphone. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; a Fellow and past President of the Acoustical Society of America; and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). West was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2006 by President George W. Bush, and is also the proud recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering.

In addition to his scientific contributions, West has advocated for greater diversity in STEM fields, serving on the boards of countless philanthropic organizations, including The Ingenuity Project. Jim is currently working with a local startup, Sonavi Labs, on developing a life-changing smart digital stethoscope with machine-learning algorithms to diagnose respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.