There is almost nothing more exhilarating than the feeling of discovering something new — being the first to realize an idea’s potential. Featuring mechanical engineer Leon Bellan, NPR music blogger Ann Powers, and serial tech entrepreneur Marcus Whitney.
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Leon Bellan
recently joined the mechanical engineering faculty at Vanderbilt University, where he spins fibers using a cotton candy machine to form intricate networks of channels that mimic capillary blood vessels.
Leon
is working on using
artificial blood vessels to provide cells embedded in engineered tissues with the nutrients and gasses necessary for survival. He
received his B.S. in Physics at Caltech
, his Ph.D. in Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell, and did his postdoctoral work at MIT.
Ann Powers
is a critic and correspondent for NPR Music, which hosts the All Songs Considered podcast, the Tiny Desk concerts and NPR’s music news blog, The Record. She helps curate undiscovered music and champion those musicians who might otherwise not find a space in the commercial realm. Ann has also worked as a music critic for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Village Voice. She has written or edited a few books, including co-writing “Tori Amos: Piece By Piece” with Amos, which was published in 2005. Ann is based in Nashville.
Marcus Whitney is the co-founder and president of Jumpstart Foundry, a leading healthcare startup accelerator. He is the founder of The Unlikely Company, dedicated to teaching entrepreneurship as a method to ending income inequality in America. He is also a co-founder of
Moontoast
(now Spendsetter
), Southern/Alpha and
Clariture Health, and was first chief architect of Emma Email Marketing.
Marcus serves on the board of the Nashville
Entrepreneur Center and the historic Belcourt
Theater. He is chairman of Nashville FC,
the city’s first membership-based soccer team.