About the talk: We tend to romanticize tech entrepreneurship, promoting myths of unique visionary founders who see the future and then move heaven and earth to make it happen. In reality, entrepreneurship usually involves several pivots, lots of pitfalls, and a good dose of luck. Fortunately, entrepreneurship can be done by anyone, and is something that one can better at with practice and through study. This talk aims to demystify entrepreneurship as a profession and discuss some of the ways entrepreneurs can improve their chances for success.

About Tom Moss: Tom Moss is a seasoned technology executive and serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of building, scaling, and leading innovative companies in the mobile, consumer electronics, and robotics industries. He has founded multiple successful startups including 3LM (acquired by Motorola) and Nextbit (acquired by Razer), and has held senior leadership positions at Google, where he served as the first global head of business development for Android, as well as Motorola, Razer, and Skydio, where he served as the company’s first COO and most recently served as CEO of the APAC region. A prolific inventor with 25 patents, Tom is also an active angel investor in over 40 companies and serves as a Mentor and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Techstars, is a limited partner in multiple venture capital funds, and sits on the board of multiple deep-tech startups.

The Department of Bioengineering invites you to a special seminar showcasing research from undergraduate students engaged in faculty-mentored projects across the Knight Campus and beyond. This session will feature presentations from six students representing a range of programs and research labs:

• Alex Aeschliman, HUI Scholar, Benoit Lab

• Brooklyn Cessna, Hosseinzadeh Lab

• Caroline Foskett, KCUS Scholar, Hettiaratchi Lab

• Sophia Foerster, CURE/CSWS Fellow, Willett/Lindberg Lab

• Sid Lefranc, Hosseinzadeh Lab

• Charlotte Olds, KCUS Scholar, Lindberg Lab

Join us as these emerging researchers share their work in bioengineering, biomedical science, and translational research. All are welcome to attend.

The Knight Campus Department of Bioengineering and the Dalton Lab are pleased to announce that Kelly O’Neill will defend her bioengineering PhD thesis, to be presented during the Department of Bioengineering Seminar Series.

Kelly's PhD defense presentation is titled: “Advanced Manufacturing of Microfiber Conduits for Tissue Engineering.”

This talk explores the use of advanced manufacturing technologies, including melt electrowriting (MEW) and solution electrospinning (SES), for tissue engineering with a focus on peripheral nerve repair. The presentation will highlight the hardware and software tools for tubular printing, advances in multi-material scaffolds, studies on Schwann cell guidance, and hydrogel-based coatings for cell attachment. It also addresses the economic perspective of translating a MEW-based nerve guide to clinical use.

The Knight Campus Distinguished Lecture Series welcomes Zhenan Bao, K.K. Lee Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, for a talk titled “Learning from Skin: from Materials, Sensing Functions to Neuromorphic Engineering.”

Skin—the body’s largest organ—continuously transduces rich sensory information. Building on this inspiration, Bao and her team have pioneered the design of organic electronics with skin-like properties such as stretchability, self-healing, biodegradability, and the ability to convert external stimuli into spike-train signals. These innovations form the foundation of soft bioelectronics and open new possibilities in medical devices, robotics, wearables, and neuromorphic engineering.

Bao, a member of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking research in skin-inspired electronics. She has published more than 700 papers, holds over 80 patents, and has co-founded several startups translating her lab’s discoveries into real-world applications.

Hybrid Option: In-person attendance is encouraged. Remote access via Zoom will be available, with a link posted closer to the event date. Please note this lecture will not be recorded.

Time: 3–4 pm Lecture; 4–5:30 pm Networking Reception