Nemertes [Next] Virtual Conference Spring 2026

BIO:

Since fall 2025, Mariah has been leading the Orbit Fab engineering organization as the Chief Engineer and is driving innovation and excellence in refueling technology as Orbit Fab progresses toward on-orbit fuel transfer demonstrations in 2026. She joined Orbit Fab in 2023 as the Systems Engineering Director. In that role, she led the Systems team through design and delivery of flight refueling hardware and getting the first refueling payload to manufacturing kickoff. She also defined the company’s program gate and risk management processes.

She previously worked for General Electric (GE) in the energy sector as a mechanical design engineer, quality engineer, field engineer, and test engineering manager. There, she earned the Technology Excellence Award for being one of the top ten most influential engineers company-wide and was awarded five patents.

Mariah holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).

Abstract: In her session Satellite Refueling Technology to Enable Satellite Maneuverability, Mission Success, and Sustainability, Mariah addresses the fundamental limitations imposed by finite fuel on today’s satellites and how in-space refueling is set to transform the way spacecraft are designed, operated, and sustained. This talk examines the growing need for a logistics-based approach to space operations in order to protect assets and optimize missions in an increasingly dynamic domain.

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Bio: Ade Salami is the Program Director for Pro-Democracy Political Coalitions at Democracy 2076, an organization founded in 2023 working long-term to change our Constitution, political culture, and political parties. She was most recently a Senior Policy Aide for two Minneapolis City Council Members and worked as a lobbyist at Park Street Public, where she led bipartisan lobbying efforts to move policy and funding appropriations at the state, local, and federal levels. She received her B.A. from the University of Minnesota.

Abstract: In her session, Shaping Political Realignments for a Stronger Democracy, Ade joins Aditi Juneja as they share the research they have done on political realignments and their impacts on democracy. A political realignment, in its most basic sense, is a prominent change in a political party—what it stands for, the wedge issues that distinguish it from the other parties, and who is included in the coalition of the political party. Throughout US history, our political parties have reconfigured time and time again: the emergence of the New Deal Coalition in the 1930s, the racial realignment from Republicans to Democrats during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, the embrace of Reagan economic policies drawing in typically Democrat-leaning working-class white voters in the 1980s. ‍Walter Burnham's theory on political realignments posits that these transformative shifts occur every 30–40 years, meaning we have either recently completed a political realignment or are currently experiencing one.

Democracy 2076 is founded on the belief that it is not enough to protect democracy in a time when so many are dissatisfied with its outcomes. Rather, we need to reimagine democracy for the next generation, embracing all of the complexities and challenges. Through a comprehensive synthesis of over 100 research pieces, expert interviews, and surveys across the political spectrum, we identified 17 new axes of political polarization that transcend the traditional left-right divide. These newly identified spectra represent fundamental changes in how political coalitions and divisions are forming, providing a framework for designing interventions that help us move towards a pro-democracy future.

BIO:

Anna Shaposhnik is the Founder & CEO of ORBES (Techstars ’25), America’s space drone company. She brings a rare creative-technical edge to aerospace. A USC-trained creative technologist with coursework in astronautical engineering, her background spans filmmaking, VR/AR, and 3D visualization—she has flown in zero gravity and filmed for the IMAX giant screen. She is a Zed Factor Fellow and Iovine and Young Development Prize winner, driven by the belief that the full breadth of our humanity belongs in space. Previously, she was marketing manager at Orbit Fab during key milestones including the first commercial on-orbit fuel sale and the rollout of the RAFTI refueling standard and helped build several rockets at USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory—leading to the highest and fastest collegiate rocket to reach space, Aftershock II (475,000 ft).

Abstract: In her session Space Drones to Film & Maintain Space Infrastructure, Anna will address the fact that billion-dollar space infrastructure is being built without a way to maintain it long-term: Commercial space stations to replace the ISS, national security satellites, and orbital data centers (the largest IPO in history from SpaceX!) are creating a future where persistent operations in space will be essential.

This session will explore the history of space infrastructure maintenance, from the Shuttle and ISS era to today’s emerging commercial ecosystem, and present a new approach built around small, proliferated robotic drones. ORBES’s two flagship products, ORB, a free-flying robotic assistant for space stations and exoORB, a small escort satellite platform for external inspection are designed to make space infrastructure safer, more autonomous, and continuously operable.

ORBES will also offer a glimpse inside its lab, including its air-bearing testbed for simulating zero-gravity dynamics on Earth, and hint at their next generation tools to enable passive, affordable, high-fidelity orbital robotics testing

BIO:

Dr. Edward Tate is the CTO & co-founder of Virtus Solis Technologies, which is commercializing space-based solar power to produce clean energy on Earth and beyond. Their work won awards from NASA, the UK government, and ARPA-E/Department of Energy. Under the DOE program, he leads Virtus’ technical team with a goal of demonstrating long-distance wireless power transfer with 70% efficiency from power input to power received. He has earned dozens of patents covering vehicles, energy systems, and software. As a seasoned engineer and executive, he has led global teams in development, applications, and technical sales. Dr. Tate is an alumnus of the University of Michigan, Stanford University, and Kettering University.

As a passionate advocate for the space industry, he leads the Missions and Ecosystems Roadmap group in the Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities (COSMIC).

His full profile and posts on space industry are available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/edtate/ and https://virtussolis.space/blog

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Bio:

Travis J. A. Craddock, Ph.D. is the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Quantum Neurobiology at the University of Waterloo. He is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biology, and Physics & Astronomy at Waterloo, and a member of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology. Dr. Craddock seeks to understand the basic underlying quantum physical and molecular processes of neuroinflammation to improve diagnosis and identify novel treatment strategies for neuroinflammatory illnesses including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Craddock completed his B.Sc. in physics from the University of Guelph and went on to complete his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in physics at the University of Alberta where his graduate research activities focused on sub-neural biomolecular information processing, and nanoscale neuroscience descriptions of memory, consciousness, and cognitive dysfunction. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo in May 2024 he was as an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale FL USA where he served as the Director of Clinical Systems Biology at the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine.

Abstract: In his session, Quantum Biology and its Potential to Treat Neuroinflammatory Illness, Travis shares the following: Quantum biology is the study of biological processes and biochemistry at the quantum level. As an emerging field, it is advancing rapidly as new methods make it increasingly possible to probe biological mechanisms at atomic and subatomic scales. Applied to the brain, quantum biology aims to understand cellular function beyond conventional models of electrical activity and neurotransmitter signaling. This perspective could lead to new diagnostics and therapies for neurological and mental health disorders, while also reshaping our understanding of cognition, behavior, and consciousness. This session discusses quantum biology broadly and explore how it may be applied to the brain to develop new approaches for disorders with a neuroinflammatory component, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Bio:

Dr. Hiromitsu Nakauchi is a Professor at Stanford University and a world-renowned leader in stem cell biology whose research aims to harness regenerative capacity to extend human healthspan and longevity. His work integrates fundamental discoveries in hematopoietic and pluripotent stem cells with transformative translational advances in regenerative medicine. 

In 2019, Dr. Nakauchi’s laboratory achieved ex vivo expansion of functional hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), overcoming a major challenge that had remained unsolved for more than half a century. This breakthrough enables reliable engraftment, precise genome editing, and rejuvenation of aged stem cells, providing a powerful platform to restore hematopoietic and immune function. These advances open new therapeutic opportunities for age-related immune decline, hematologic disorders, and durable in vivo gene therapy using engineered HSCs. 

His group has also pioneered induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)–based therapies, including rejuvenated antigen-specific T cells for cancer and infectious diseases. In addition, his team developed methods to produce functional platelets from iPSCs as a safe and stable alternative to donor-dependent transfusions. Clinical trials using iPSC-derived rejuvenated T cells and platelets have already begun. 

Dr. Nakauchi further introduced the “organ niche” concept and demonstrated interspecies organ generation, establishing a path toward producing transplantable human organs from patient- derived stem cells to address organ shortage and advance regenerative medicine.

Title and Abstract: Bodyoids: Lab-Grown (Nonsentient) Humans for Body Parts

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Bio: Rachel has spent the past 30 years in technology leadership roles across retail and investment banking, insurance, telecoms, utilities, advertising/media ,and consumer retail, living and working in EMEA, NA, LATAM, and ASPAC. Her last three roles were as the Global Chief Information/Digital & Technology Officer for BT, WPP, and Marks & Spencer where she led the tech recovery following their much-publicized cyber incident.

Rachel now has a portfolio career serving as a Non-Executive Board Director, as a Strategic Advisor to enterprises on business resilience and digital transformation, and to VC Investment Houses and their portfolio companies on GTM and product strategy. Her mission is to guide organizations as they build enterprise-grade technology platforms, product roadmaps, digital experiences, and high-performing teams, and as they enhance business resilience, govern strategic investments, and minimize risk.

Passionate about giving back, Rachel has served as a charity NED for the past 20 years in the arts and health sectors, currently serving on the Board of Macmillan Cancer Support and chairing their £30m VC Impact Investment Fund.

Abstract: In her session The Next Frontier of Innovation: Co-Design, Validation, and Real-World Impact, Rachel examines how today’s most effective innovators ensure those products actually land, scale, and deliver impact. Rachel shares two powerful models—from cancer care and enterprise transformation—where co-design, clinical/operational expertise, and industry-led validation have reshaped early-stage innovation and accelerated adoption. This approach provides session participants with a fresh, cross-sector perspective on how collaborative innovation is becoming the decisive factor in achieving real-world outcomes.

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Bio: Aditi Juneja is the Executive Director of Democracy 2076, an organization founded in 2023 working long-term to change our Constitution, political culture, and political parties. She was previously Chief of Staff at the Movement Voter Project and prior to that spent four years at Protect Democracy where she led the work of the National Task Force on Election Crises. Her writing has been featured in Vox, NPR, and Non-Profit Quarterly. She received her J.D. from NYU Law School and a B.A. from Connecticut College.

Abstract: In her session, Shaping Political Realignments for a Stronger Democracy, Juneja joins Ade Salami as they share the research they have done on political realignments and their impacts on democracy. A political realignment, in its most basic sense, is a prominent change in a political party—what it stands for, the wedge issues that distinguish it from the other parties, and who is included in the coalition of the political party. Throughout US history, our political parties have reconfigured time and time again: the emergence of the New Deal Coalition in the 1930s, the racial realignment from Republicans to Democrats during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, the embrace of Reagan economic policies drawing in typically Democrat-leaning working-class white voters in the 1980s. ‍Walter Burnham's theory on political realignments posits that these transformative shifts occur every 30–40 years, meaning we have either recently completed a political realignment or are currently experiencing one.

Democracy 2076 is founded on the belief that it is not enough to protect democracy in a time when so many are dissatisfied with its outcomes. Rather, we need to reimagine democracy for the next generation, embracing all of the complexities and challenges. Through a comprehensive synthesis of over 100 research pieces, expert interviews, and surveys across the political spectrum, we identified 17 new axes of political polarization that transcend the traditional left-right divide. These newly identified spectra represent fundamental changes in how political coalitions and divisions are forming, providing a framework for designing interventions that help us move towards a pro-democracy future.

Please scroll down to read bio and session abstract.

Bio: David Pogue is a seven-time Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. He’s also a New York Times bestselling author, a five-time TED speaker, and host of 20 NOVA science specials on PBS. From 2000 to 2013, he was The New York Times weekly tech columnist.
He’s written or cowritten more than 120 books, including dozens in the Missing Manual tech series, which he created in 1999; six books in the For Dummies line (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music); two novels; his three bestselling Pogue’s Basics books of tips and shortcuts (on Tech, Money, and Life); his practical guide to the climate crisis, How to Prepare for Climate Change; and his 2026 magnum opus, Apple: The First 50 Years.
After graduating summa cum laude from Yale in 1985 with distinction in music, Pogue spent ten years conducting and arranging Broadway musicals in New York. He has won a Loeb Award for journalism, two Webby awards, and an honorary doctorate in music. He lives with his wife Nicki near New York City.

Abstract: In his talk, Apple: The First 50 Years, Pogue covers Apple's history from the beginning, through Steve Jobs’s absence in the late Eighties and early Nineties during which it was struggling to survive, only weeks from bankruptcy, and into its current world dominance. As the company turns 50 on April 1, 2026, it is now one of the most valuable companies on earth, with a worth approaching $4 trillion.

To mark the 50-year milestone, Emmy-winning, bestselling author David Pogue (“CBS Sunday Morning”) has written a 600-page, full-color magnum opus called “Apple: The First 50 Years.” In this session, Pogue reveals what he learned from interviewing 150 current and former Apple executives, designers, and engineers. He’ll share, for the first time, some amazing origin stories (Apple II, iMac, iPod, iPhone). He’ll draw some counterintuitive but powerful lessons from Apple’s unlikely rise, fall, and rise. And he'll provide his thoughts on what this means for the future of innovation, as well as of Apple.

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Bio: Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a “security guru” by the Economist. He is the New York Times best-selling author of 14 books—including “Rewiring Democracy” and “A Hacker’s Mind”—as well as hundreds of articles, essays, and academic papers. His long-running newsletter and blog, “Schneier on Security,” is one of the most popular sources of cybersecurity news on the Internet. Schneier is a Fellow and Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Munk School at the University of Toronto. He is a fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and AccessNow, and an advisory board member of EPIC and VerifiedVoting.org. He is also the Chief of Security Architecture at Inrupt, Inc. (Photo credit: Asa Mathat)

Abstract: In his session The Impact of AI on Democracy, Bruce addresses the fact that AI is about to alter the fundamental work of democracy in the U.S. and around the world, including campaigning, voting, writing legislation, enforcing policy, how courts are run, and more. This talk explains a dozen—or so—social and political changes that will result from AI technologies. The good news is that many of the changes are going to make democracies more responsive to the will of the people, will involve citizens ever more deeply into the act of governance, and could make aspects of our society more just especially if we begin the conversation now and create secure and trusted AI systems.