NURTURING RESILIENCE THROUGH THE PANDEMIC - THIRD CONFERENCE OF ROMANIAN AMERICAN PROFESSIONALS

NURTURING RESILIENCE THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

THIRD CONFERENCE OF ROMANIAN AMERICAN PROFESSIONALS

When: June 4th, 2:00PM-5:30PM EST and June 5th 10:00AM-3:00PM EST

The focus of the event is to take stock of developments within the academic and professional councils established in the past and feature presenters from each field who will provide an overview of the evolution of our communities of practice, our knowledge networks that act as support resources for the entire Romanian American diaspora. We seek to focus the panel discussions on the nurturing of peer and mentor relationships that foster the true potential of the best and brightest members of our national community. We invite you to prepare presentations of your institutional and personal activities and efforts in this sense to create awareness and concerted support in promoting these through the following field specific councils: Arts and Culture; Medicine and Public Health; Legal counseling, Development and Public Policy; STEM and IT; Community civic engagement and Social entrepreneurship.

Program:

Opening Plenary Session, June 4th

2PM-2:15PM EST Welcoming remarks: Teodor Stan, President and Founder of Immigration Research Forum;

2:15PM - 2:30PM EST Formal opening remarks by guest of honor Ambassador of Romania to the United States of America, H.E. Mr. George Cristian Maior;

2:30PM – 2:45 EST Remarks of former Ambassador of the United States to Romania and Maryland State Senator James Rosapepe;

2:45PM- 3PM Presentation by the Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission for Educational Exchange Ms. Erica Lutes on “The Fulbright Schuman Program: Research Opportunities for US and EU Citizens” and transatlantic research opportunities;

3:00PM- 3:15PM EST Remarks of American-Romanian engineer and intellectual property attorney Mr. Andrei Iancu, the former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and former Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (2017 to 2021);

3:15PM-3:25PM EST Remarks by Romania's representative to the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Liviu Voinea, Senior Advisor to the IMF Executive Director;

3:25PM-3:30PM EST Address by Mr. Dorian Branea, Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York;

3:30PM-3:45PM EST Presentation by Honorary Consul of Romania in Seattle, Mr. Iulian Calinov, technical Program Manager at Facebook, on the mapping of diaspora community based organizations and the promotion of heritage cultural programs;

3:45PM - 4PM EST Presentation by Honorary Consul of Romania to San Francisco, Mr. George Roth, a researcher, investor and entrepreneur vested in the bilateral exchange of IT and AI expertise between Silicon Valley and Romania, who will speak on historic business-related developments in this sector;

4:00PM – 4:15 EST Presentation by Honorary Consul of Romania to Connecticut attorney Dana R. Bucin, Partner and Chair of the Immigration Group at Murtha Cullina LLP who will speak on the visa regime and the mobility of researchers, professionals and entrepreneurs impacting bilateral ties and diaspora stakeholders;

4:15PM-4:30PM EST Presentation by IRF Advisory Board Member, Prof. Dr. George A Calin, Co-Director of The RNA Interference and non-coding RNA Center at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and will speak on Romanian-American medical professionals’ exchange programs;

4:30PM-4:45PM EST Presenting on the EURAXESS North America, “Researchers in Motion” platform Regional Coordinator, Mr. Jackson Howard will discuss transatlantic academic research opportunities for stakeholders in the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions and the European Research Council.

Panel presentation sessions, June 5th

Consecutive panel sessions allowing participation in multiple roundtable discussions:

10:00AM-10:45AM EST Arts and Culture: Panel on promoting Romanian American artists and writers;

10:00AM-10:15 EST IRF Board Member, Theatre Artist, and Poet Cristina A. Bejanpresentation on the complementarity of the Romanian American Literary Circle, Bucharest inside the beltway and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York in promoting the transatlantic cultural ties;

10:15-10:45AM EST Romanian American Literary Circle panel presentation chaired by Novelist, Playwright, Theater Critic and Director Domnica Rădulescu, Distinguished Service Professor of Comparative Literature, Washington and Lee University, with the participation of Oklahoma resident Poet and Translator Roxana L. Cazan, co-editors of Voices on the Move: Writing by and about Refugees (2020) and book contributor Dr. Catalina Florina Florescu, Pace University educator and JCTC New Play and Voice International Festival Curator;

10:45-11:30AM EST Panel on professionals in legal counseling, development and public policy;

10:45AM-11:00AM Presentation by Carlton Fields Attorney Mr. Emil Hirsch providing a historical perspective on legal immigration and dynamics of diaspora lobbying on behalf of Romania;

11:00AM-11:15AM EST Presentation by D.Phil in Sociology Ms. Roxana Diana Galos, a Fulbright-Schuman postdoctoral scholar hosted at Yale University, New Haven on “Maintaining Privilege on the Labour Market: New Mechanisms of the Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality”;

11:15AM-11:30AM EST Presentation by Marie Skłodowska-Curie MIT Postdoctoral fellow and Vice-Chair of the Marie Curie Alumni Association - North America Chapter, Ms. Cristina Florea on her personal experience and the importance of peer support and alumni networking.

11:30-12:15PM Panel on professionals in medicine and public health;

11:30AM-11:50AM EST Presentation by National Institutes of Health, Center for Scientific Review, Scientific Review Officer Dr. Ileana Hancu in memoriam Professor Gheorghe D. Mateescu, scientist and Chemistry Professor at Case Western Reserve University. Followed by a moment of silence marking the lives of those we lost to the COVID-19 Pandemic;

11:50AM-12:05PM EST Presentation by the founder of Rheumatologist Oncall, Dr. Diana Girnita on "The future is here: the care for patients is ONE TOUCH away!”

12:05PM EST -12:25PM EST Presentation by the founder of stopcancertv.ro and Weill Cornell Medicine Dr. Doru M. Paul on transatlantic public health communication and awareness. Followed by Q&A session.

12:30PM- 1:15PM Panel on promoting mentorship and research achievements in STEM and IT;

12:30PM EST -12:45PM EST Presentation by J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor is in applied physics, thermodynamics, and evolutionary design at Duke University, Prof. Adrian Bejan;

12:45PM EST -1:00PM EST Presentation by Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Director of U.S. Army Automotive Research Center of Excellence and Editor in Chief of ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, University of Michigan Prof. Bogdan I. Epureanu;

1:00PM EST -1:15PM EST Presentation by Department of Computer Science, Purdue University Associate Professor Elena Grigorescu;

1:15PM-3PM Community civic engagement and social entrepreneurship panel.

1:15PM EST -1:30PM EST Presentation by Founding President of Blue Heron Foundation in Los Angeles, Mrs. Stefania Magidson;

1:15PM EST -1:30PM EST Presentation by Ana Muresan, Ph.D., Primary Examiner, President of the American Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS) Affinity Group at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO);

1:30PM EST -1:45PM EST Presentation by Executive Director and Co-Founder of The American Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS- Seattle) Professor Otilia Baraboi and ARCS Co-Founder, University of Washington Professor Ileana Marin;

1:45PM EST -2:00PM EST Presentation by Prof. Eugenia Popa, President of the Heritage Organization of Romanian Americans In Minnesota (HORA-MN);

2:00PM EST -2:15PM EST Presentation by Mihai Lehene, President of Romanian United Fund (RUF);

2:15PM EST -2:30PM EST Presentation by Ionel Dragos Hau, President of the Romanul Corporation of Connecticut;

2:30PM EST -2:45PM EST Presentation by RoAmPro board member Teodor Lazar on the concerted efforts of several diaspora organizations in establishing the Federation of Romanian American Organizations (FORA).

2:45PM EST -3:00PM Brief Q&A session followed by closing remarks on the charting of goals in the consolidation of our diaspora’s associative ecosystem by IRF president and host.