Greg Rutledge is the Lammot du Pont Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. He served as Director of the Program in Polymer Science and Technology and Executive Officer in Chemical Engineering. He is a Fellow of AIChE, APS, and PMSE Division of ACS. He received the AIChE Braskem Award, Fiber Society Founders Award, Morton Distinguished Visiting Professorship (University of Akron), and Thinker-in-Residence (Deakin University). His research entails the molecular engineering of soft matter, with publications on process-structure-property relationships for polymers and the fabrication, properties and applications of ultrafine fibers. Prof. Rutledge is editor for the Journal of Materials Science.

Dr. Yuly Fuentes-Medel is a catalyst of creative ideas and ecosystem builder. Now working in the Massachusetts Institute of technology as Program Manager of Fiber technologies and founder of Value of Science. She created DESCIENCE, a global collective of designers, scientists & technologists, connecting the world of science and Design as one. She was selected as Human of the year by motherhood Magazine on 2018 and received the 2015 Boston Business Magazine “Woman to Watch” Award. She graduated with a PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Postdoctoral trained in the MIT Sloan School in Technology Innovation & entrepreneurship. Currently serving as President of the board of the Chile-Massachusetts Alliance to support international exchange of investment, technological business, talent and social impact. Trained as a biochemist at University of Concepcion in her native Chile, she is constantly in the search of opportunity to support young talent and technologies that need to make an impact in global markets.