Newlab announced the launch of an Advisor Council made up of a diverse and talented group of executives, serial entrepreneurs, industry leaders, policy advisors, technology experts, and futurists. The Newlab Advisor Council will provide expertise and insight to support the Newlab community and champion the next wave of entrepreneurs, engineers, and inventors applying transformative technology to things that matter.

The first twelve members of the Newlab Advisor Council will provide expertise in the technology and industry sectors. The council will support the Newlab leadership team and member community in efforts relevant to each advisor’s respective areas of expertise by leading and participating in events, workshops, and meetings. The advisors’ areas of expertise span critical disciplines, including health and humanity; media and truth; cities and equity; infrastructure and resilience; materials and environment; and technology sectors such as A.I. and machine learning; robotics; computer vision; quantum computing; connected systems; agriculture and agtech; and manufacturing.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the members of our Advisor Council, each of whom brings a unique and diverse set of skills and expertise to Newlab,” said Shaun Stewart, CEO of Newlab. “The Newlab Advisor Council will serve as a key resource supporting Newlab’s leadership team and member community in applying transformative technologies to solve the world’s biggest challenges.”

The Advisor Council will consist of twelve leaders with expertise spanning various disciplines, including: 

  • Catharine Young - Agriculture/Agtech
  • Catharine M. Young, a longtime champion of agriculture and economic development, was named Executive Director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture at Cornell AgriTech in March 2019. Since Young took the helm in 2019, the Center of Excellence has helped member companies create nearly 300 jobs and realize more than $69.2 million in positive economic impacts.
  • Dustyn Roberts - Robotics
  • Dustyn Roberts is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. She is passionate about engineering education, evidence-based teaching, and creating opportunities for student success in and out of the classroom. She received her M.S. in Biomechanics & Movement Science (2004) from the University of Delaware and her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (2014) from New York University. 
  • Ioannis (John) Kymissis - Connected Systems
  • Ioannis (John) Kymissis is the Kenneth Brayer Professor of Electrical Engineering at Columbia University. John has won a number of awards for his work, including the NSF CAREER award, the IEEE EDS Paul Rappaport award, the Vodaphone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Award, the MIT Clean Energy Prize, and is a fellow of the SID.  He is a co-founder of Lelantos, Lumiode, Chromation, and Radiator Labs.
  • Mackenzie Mathis - Computer Vision
  • Prof. Mackenzie Mathis is the Bertarelli Foundation Chair of Integrative Neuroscience at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). Her lab works on mechanisms underlying adaptive behavior in intelligent systems, combining machine learning, computer vision, and experimental work in rodents with the goal of understanding the neural basis of adaptive motor control. 
  • Skylar Tibbits - Manufacturing
  • Skylar Tibbits is the founder and co-director of the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT, and Associate Professor of Design Research in the Department of Architecture. He has designed and built large-scale installations and exhibited in galleries around the world, including the Centre Pompidou, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and various others. 
  • Sri Chandrasekar - AI / ML
  • Sri co-leads Point72 Ventures investment activities and technical due diligence in artificial intelligence, machine learning and related technologies. Sri joined Point72 from In-Q-Tel, the strategic investment arm of the CIA and the U.S. Intelligence Community, in which he led Lab41, an AI-focused Lab that built and delivered solutions to some of the Intelligence Community’s toughest problems. 
  • Stonly Baptiste Blue - Infrastructure & Resilience
  • Stonly Baptiste Blue is co-founder of Urban Us, an asset manager specializing in early-stage startups upgrading cities for climate change. He's founded five companies, speaks 4 languages, codes, and has taught and lectured at the University of Chicago, UC Berkeley, and HBS.
  • Alicia Glen - Cities & Equity
  • Alicia Glen is the Founder and Managing Principal of MSquared and is a nationally recognized expert in impact investing, urban development, infrastructure finance, job creation and housing policy. Twice named “Most Powerful Woman in NYC” by Crain’s. Alicia is the current Chair of the Trust for Governors Island, and Chair of women.nyc. 
  • Nina Tandon - Health & Humanity
  • Nina Tandon is CEO and co-founder of EpiBone, the world’s first company growing living human bones for skeletal reconstruction. She is the co-author of Super Cells: Building with Biology, a book that explores the new frontier of biotech. Nina has also been awarded Crain's New York, Forty Under 40; Ernst & Young, Winning Woman; and Goldman Sachs, 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. 
  • John Levy - Quantum Computing
  • John Levy is the CEO, Chair, and co-founder of Seeqc, a quantum computing company, and previously founded ePlanet, a pioneering computer vision company. John is the Chair of the Investment Committee of the Nathan Cummings Foundation and was previously a board member of the Cathay Investment Fund. Additionally, he was a founding partner of L Capital Partners and a partner in the Shalom Equity Fund. 
  • Edward Roussel  - Media/Trust
  • Edward Roussel is Chief Innovation Officer at Dow Jones, responsible for identifying areas of new opportunity, with a focus on startups and relations with Silicon Valley companies. Edward joined Dow Jones in June 2013 as head of digital product development, overseeing projects including the redesign of The Wall Street Journal’s website and apps.
  • Elizabeth Hénaff - Materials/Environment
  • Dr. Elizabeth Hénaff is a computational biologist and holds an Assistant Professor position in the Technology, Culture and Society department at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in New York City. At the center of her work is a focus on how living beings interact with their environment, leading to scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, projects with landscape architects, and working as an artist in environments from SVA to the MIT Media Lab. 


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