STEM Speaker Series hosts Spaceflight and Precision Medicine Professor from Cornell Med

Sewickley Academy will host Dr. Christopher Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine as part of its inaugural STEM Speaker Series Monday, Dec. 9, at 11:30 a.m. in Rea Auditorium on the Academy’s campus. 

Dr. Mason, a genomics, physiology, and biophysics professor, will detail the genetic and epigenetic responses to spaceflight and plans for the Moon, Venus, and Mars. Dr. Mason’s visit will also engage students with opportunities to be involved with upcoming and future space missions.

“I am very much looking forward to visiting Sewickley Academy and engaging with their talented and academically curious students,” said Dr. Mason. “I will show them our lab’s work in spaceflight and precision medicine and hope to inspire them to dream big and see the transformative potential associated with STEM skills.”

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is highly encouraged. To register, visit swck.ly/stem.

Dr. Mason is the WorldQuant Endowed Professor of Genomics and Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, with appointments at the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center and the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute.

He also serves as the director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, co-founder and global director at Biotia, and co-founder and scientific director at Onegevity.

Dr. Mason is the author of “The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds” and co-author of “The Age of Prediction: Algorithms, AI, and the Shifting Shadows of Risk.”

Dr. Mason holds a dual Bachelor of Science degree in genetics and biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a doctorate in genetics from Yale University.

The Academy launched the STEM Speaker Series earlier this month to provide further insight for Middle and Senior School students into the importance of STEM education and future opportunities available to students with a strong STEM background.

“We are delighted to bring this STEM Speaker Series on campus this year with three phenomenal researchers who are experts in their respective fields,” said Dr. Ashley Birtwell, head of school. “This series underscores our ongoing commitment at the Academy to preparing our students for future careers that will rely so heavily on STEM fields.”

The first speaker was Dr. Andrew Moore, CEO of Lovelace AI, a start-up developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform and solutions to support missions in national security, disaster relief, and more. He is also an advisor with the United States Central Command.

During his talk, Dr. Moore shared his experience with developing AI tools, the advancements and challenges associated with current AI technologies, and his thoughts on the future of AI.

The third and final session in this series will be Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. It will feature Dr. William Oliver, the Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For more information, contact Jess Alberga, events coordinator, at jalberga@sewickley.org. 

Founded in 1838, Sewickley Academy is Pittsburgh’s oldest co-educational, college-preparatory, independent school. Sewickley Academy distinguishes itself by offering personalized attention with talented faculty and small class sizes, one campus integrating students from Jr. Pre-K to Grade 12, and leadership opportunities across academics, athletics and the arts. For more information, visit sewickley.org.