Theme: Ripples - It starts with a drop

A single drop of water in an otherwise still sea has the ability to create ripples seen remarkably far away from the source. Movement-makers, truth-seekers, scientists, and innovators take on the brave responsibility of acting as that drop. Their groundbreaking activism, leadership, and research are prime examples of how to effectively create positive change within a community and around the world. The activists and leaders have created the tides of change, the artists, scientists and writers have distilled the truth, and the inventors, creators and trendsetters have served to transcending the currents of progress; yet, despite the different means, they all have created massive ripples.

Georgetown University
3700 O St NW, Washington, DC 20057
Washington D.C., District of Columbia, 20057
United States

Alexandra Bowman

Student and Political Cartoonist/Comedian

"Alexandra Bowman is a political cartoonist, satirist, and freelance illustrator from Washington, D.C. She serves as the Political Cartoonist for The Lincoln Project and environmental news platform Our Daily Planet. Alex is a member of the National Cartoonists Society, and the Cartoonists Club of Great Britain. She is the youngest current member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Alex is also the creator of “The Hilltop Show,” a political comedy webseries and talk show based at Georgetown, which seeks to present national and international news to young people across the United States. More information about the show can be found at hilltopshow.com."

Daniel Humm

Chef and Owner of Make It Nice

Daniel Humm is the Chef/owner of Make It Nice, which includes Eleven Madison Park, Made Nice, Davies and Brook at the Claridge’s Hotel. Over the next year, Humm and team will open a forthcoming restaurant at the new 425 Park in New York City. A native of Switzerland, Humm began working in kitchens at the age of 14 before earning his first Michelin star at the age of 24. In 2003, Humm relocated to the United States, recruited to run the kitchen at San Francisco’s Campton Place, where he received four stars from the San Francisco Chronicle. Three years later, he moved to New York to become Executive Chef at Eleven Madison Park.

Gerard McGlone

Jesuit Priest

Fr. Gerard J. McGlone, S.J., Ph.D. is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown. He was previously an assistant professor of psychiatry at Medstar Georgetown University School of Medicine. He has been Executive Director at several major treatment centers in the United States. He is the lead author of several award-winning books: Creating Safe and Sacred Places and two Catholic Press Association (CPA) Award winners The Inner Life of Priests and To Be One in Christ: Intercultural Formation and Ministry. He is also a survivor of clerical sexual abuse.

Hendrik Tolman

Senior Advisor for Advanced Modeling Systems at NOAA / National Weather Service

Dr. Hendrik L. Tolman has a degree in Civil Engineering degree from Delft University of Technology. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and came to the United States in 1990 as a NASA postdoc. Since 1992, he has worked for the National Weather Service (NWS), which is part of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He is the originator of the WAVEWATCH III wind wave model, and is presently the Senior Advisor for Advanced Modeling Systems for the NWS. In the later position, he leads strategic planning for the next generation of computer models and modeling approaches used for the NWS forecasting enterprise.

Kayla Friedland

Student at Georgetown University

Hailing from South Florida, Kayla Friedland is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University pursuing a Culture & Politics major with a minor in Women’s & Gender Studies. She hopes to utilize her educational privilege to uplift marginalized, working-class communities through grassroots community and worker organizing. Kayla has been active in the DC uprisings since they began in May and contributes to the Georgetown community through her work as an intern with the Kalmanovitz Initiative & student movements like the Black Survivors' Coalition and Georgetown United Against Police Aggression.

Kul Chandra Gautam

Diplomat and Former senior official of the United Nations

Mr Kul Gautam is a distinguished diplomat, development professional, public policy advocate and human rights activist. He is a former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. He has extensive experience in international diplomacy, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. Currently, Mr Gautam serves in the Boards of several national and international organizations dealing with poverty reduction, peace-building, inter-faith cooperation, public health, education, and the well-being of women and children, including: Nepal Economic Forum, Nepal Public Health Foundation; RESULTS.org; Global Partnership to End Violence against Children; and Religions for Peace.

Peter Almber

Executive Director at Giffords

Peter Ambler spent nearly eight years on the staffs of Members of Congress on Capitol Hill, serving as legislative director and deputy chief of staff to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, among other positions. In 2012, he was appointed as an advisor to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, focusing on clean energy finance and deployment. In 2013, he joined Congresswoman Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly to launch Giffords, where he serves as Executive Director and Founder.

Rebecca Cox

Owner of Project Olas

Rebecca believes in the power of language immersion and motherly love. At 16, she left home in small-town Maine to live in Seville, Spain for two years, graduating in 2019 from a local public high school. In 2020, as a freshman in the SFS, she founded Project Olas, a social venture employing moms in the Guatemala City Garbage Dump community as Spanish language tutors online. In April 2020, Olas won first place in the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Challenge for $10,000 out of 34 teams. Rebecca leads a team of 38, and oversees the operation of 13 Club Olas chapters across the US.

Stan Barr

Currently, Dr. Stanley Barr is a Senior Principal Scientist at The MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation that manages seven federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs).

Zev Burton

Student at Georgetown University

Zev Burton is a junior in the School of Foreign Service studying International Politics and minoring in Russian and Mathematics at Georgetown University. Zev is deeply passionate about helping keep people safe from threats — and he's fascinated by discovering unique ways to help make the world more peaceful. Zev is the author of "Two Fish in a Tank: How Jokes May Save Our Fractured World," which is set to be published in April 2021.