Theme: Pale Blue Dot

In 1990, the Voyager 1 spacecraft took a picture of Earth from 6 billion kilometers away. Our entire world appeared as a small, barely visible blue pixel. This photo alludes to how all of our experiences - from triumphs to failures, agreements to conflicts, connections to divisions - are virtually nothing in the realm of the universe. Renowned astronomer Carl Sagan coined the term “Pale Blue Dot” in response to this image - “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.“

The sight puts into perspective how each of our stories is just one of the billions unfolding each day all around the planet. With every passing minute, new goals are reached, records are broken, and ideas are sprouted. Each of us journey through this world, forging our own unique path, slowly understanding the universe around us.

This year, we will zoom out and explore the bigger picture, because each individual story is surrounded by countless others waiting to be heard. What can we learn from this large dose of perspective? No matter how alone we might feel in our endeavors, there exists a world of incredibly different experiences out there so vast that we cannot possibly fathom it all.

Livingston Student Center
84 Joyce Kilmer Ave
Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854
United States

Alex Louie

Student at Rutgers University

Life moves fast. Getting what you want requires hard work and high energy. Most millennials recognize this, and Alex was no exception. He lived by the words, “nothing worth having comes without hard work,” so naturally, he believed happiness to be derived from achievement and tenacity. However, stage 4 cancer shook his world, and through his battle, he found himself reframing his idea of happiness. Now that he is cancer-free, he strives to redefine his perception of joy in the hopes of unraveling the truth behind what it takes to be truly content and grateful, even in your darkest times.

Brooke Getter

Student at Rutgers University

Brooke was destined to be bound by the confines of the extremely insular ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. When one of her parents left this technologically deprived society, allowing her to become a computer engineering major, she contradicted her upbringing and left the box she was put in at birth. Now, as a college student trying to explore freedom of choice, she struggles with the notion that there should be a “right box” for her to fit in when in reality she is someone who moves between the boxes.

Dr. Mason Ameri

Professor of Management Studies

Dr. Mason Ameri is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers Business School who specializes in managing diversity, specifically the equal employment opportunity of people with disabilities. He is recognized for applied research about disability as it relates to employment, the sharing economy and public accommodations, unionization, and civic engagement. Dr. Ameri’s work has been featured in more than 120 media outlets, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and PBS. At Rutgers Business School, he teaches in the areas of management skills, organizational behavior, human resource management, and negotiations.

Dr. Ronald Quincy

Professor of Practice

Dr. Quincy is a Professor at the School of Planning & Public Policy, Co-Academic Director, Collaborative Center for Community-Based Research & Service, Faculty Director, Honors South Africa Study Abroad Program and Academic Director, Mandela Washington Fellowship Civic Leadership Institute (an initiative of former President Obama). His former positions include: Cabinet member for two Michigan governors, Associate Vice President of Harvard University, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. President Reagan also appointed Dr. Quincy to a White House Fellowship, where he served as a Foreign Policy Advisor in the State Department and Special Assistant to the Secretary of HUD. His professional development & personal mentors included Mrs. Coretta Scott King and the Honorable Nelson Mandela.

Dr. Yana Bromberg

Associate Professor of Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology

Dr. Yana Bromberg’s research focuses on deciphering the DNA “blueprints” of life’s molecular machinery. She develops novel bioinformatics techniques to find out where this machinery comes from and why/how it runs. The answers to these basic questions are important for improving our health/quality of life, preserving our environment, and, well... did we really start as green slime?! Dr. Bromberg received her degrees from SUNY Stony Brook and Columbia University. Her work has been recognized by private and federal agencies, including NASA and NIH. She received an NSF CAREER award and is also a Fellow of the Munich Institute for Advanced Study. Her findings consistently indicate that our world functions via dependencies and interactions at all scales, which is an idea worth spreading.

Nandini Ramani

Chief Operating Officer - Outcome Health

Nandini Ramani has been the Chief Operating Officer of Outcome Health since December 2017 and before that she served as its Chief Engineering Officer. Prior to joining Outcome Health, Ramani was the Vice President of Engineering at Twitter, the most senior female role at the company. She also previously led the $320 million Java business unit for Oracle.

Palak Patel

Chef, Advocate, TV personality, Speaker

I'm a chef, an immigrant who was born and raised in India where I lived with my 15 person extended big fat Indian family under one roof. All meals were a production at our house it’s also where I learned the names of spices just like you'd learn the alphabet. I played helper to my mom, aunts, and grandmas who taught me how to cook. This was my earliest lesson on community and a strong culture around food. I believe if we are going to change behavior around eating healthy, we have to start looking at adopting these practices in our daily lives. We should commit to cooking and eating together.