We are honored to introduce Anneli Tostar! Anneli graduated from West Linn High School in 2011 and during her time with our district, she was an impactful member of our science fair community. Back then, Anneli spent several years investigating The Aesthetic Appeal of Design Layout Among Adolescent Subjects for which she won many awards including first place in her category, the award for enthusiasm, and recognition from the American Psychological Association for excellence in psychological research. 

Anneli went on an educational and entrepreneurial journey over the last decade and today she is Co-Founder and CEO of Tangible. Tangible is a unified software platform to catalyze the adoption of sustainable building products. Currently, building materials are responsible for about 11% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, yet the process of understanding the impact of buildings and finding better materials remains very labor intensive. Tangible is software to automate this process and drive decarbonization across the commercial real estate industry.

Prior to Tangible, Anneli helped commercial real estate developers build more sustainably. She worked for The Better Buildings Partnership, a non-profit in the U.K., and later helped a global real estate sustainability consultancy expand to the U.S. She has a master’s degree in Sustainable Urban Planning & Design from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and a bachelor’s in Anthropology and Environmental Science & Public Policy from Harvard University.

Anneli grew up in West Linn, has lived in 8 cities globally, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We are honored to introduce Dr. Sabrina Levy Maoz as our keynote speaker for the 2024 CREST-Jane Goodall Science Symposium. A distinguished alumna of West Linn High School,  class of 2011, Dr. Maoz first made her mark in the science community as a 4-time participant in our Science Symposium during her high school days. Her early forays into science, including her representation of WLHS at the International Science and Engineering Fair in 2008, and varied research projects, laid the groundwork for a remarkable career in neuroengineering.

Dr. Maoz's academic journey took her from being a National Merit Finalist to pursuing in-depth studies in cell and tissue engineering at UC Berkeley, where she contributed to significant research on synapse and cerebellar functions. Research opportunities then led her to further her studies at prestigious institutions, including Israel’s Tel Aviv University and the Neurosurgery department at Stanford. In 2017, she began her MD/PhD in Bioengineering at UCLA, specializing in neuroengineering.

Her PhD research, honored with a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Health, delves into how the brain encodes episodic memories, particularly the contextual and spatial features of an experience, and how the neural substrates of memory and spatial encoding remap across different experiences. Her research approach involved recording electrophysiology in human participants performing virtual tasks, both while ambulating freely and while remaining stationary. Dr. Maoz's went on to accept even more awards, such as the Viola G. Hyde Surgical Travel Scholarship, first place in a UCLA Neurotechnology Conference data blitz competition, and selection as an NIH NINDS Training in Neurotechnology Translation Fellow.

Beyond her impressive academic and research achievements, Dr. Maoz has made a significant impact on the community. She has served as a Council Representative for medical students, mentored undergraduates in neuroscience, and mentored a team of high schoolers proposing a bioengineered endoscopic sanitation device to address increasing infection in hospital settings (as part of UC Berkeley's Bioengineering Society Student Competition). 

Dr. Sabrina Levy Maoz's journey is an inspiring story that began here in our own district science fair. It is our honor to host her as keynote speaker of the 2024 CREST-Jane Goodall Science Symposium.

Some of you may know Nicole Day (née Laschober) from her days competing at our own Science Symposium! Nicole graduated from Wilsonville High School (class of 2015) and participated in our science fair for several years. Her senior project was entitled: "The Effect of Headgear on Soccer Ball Impact and Concussion Risk'' in the Medicine and Health Science category.

After her ISEF investigations, Nicole attended Oregon State University (OSU), pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering. During her undergrad years, Nicole performed research at OHSU in Portland, studying changes in platelet activation in response to anti-clotting drugs in the Biomedical Engineering Department, and worked at SeaGen in Bothell, Washington to develop methods for improving antibody production from bioreactors in the Bioprocess Development Department. She graduated in 2019 with an Honors Thesis entitled “Role of P2Y₁₂ Inhibition in PAR1 Stimulated Platelet Dense Granule Release.”

Nicole then went on to pursue a doctorate in Bioengineering at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder. At CU Boulder, Nicole is exploring magnetically controlled particle systems for the delivery of cancer immunotherapies. Her research involves the rational design of biocompatible particles to improve the release and localization of immunotherapeutic drugs, aiming to reduce toxicity and off-target effects of cancer treatment. Additionally, she studies the effect of next generation microrobotic systems on innate immune cells, investigating whether unintended cell activation can be avoided or harnessed for therapeutic use. 

Nicole’s accomplishments are numerous and they extend far beyond the world of academia. Through the CU Science Discovery program she has participated in STEM outreach for K-12 students, creating both virtual and interactive demos for students to engage with complex scientific topics in exciting ways. Additionally, Nicole has partnered with a local high school for several years, working with senior design students to solve biomedical problems relevant to her lab. 

We are pleased to announce our much-anticipated keynote speaker: Dr. Ann Bernert! Some of you may know Dr. Bernert from her days competing at our own Science Symposium or from the year that she spent wisely advising our science fair competitors. Dr. Bernert is a graduate of West Linn High School (class of 2011) and over her time there she presented several projects which won her four trips to the International Fair! Her senior project was entitled: “Rubus armeniacus Endophytes: Implications for and applications to biological control ” in the Life and Environmental Science category.

After her ISEF investigations, Dr. Bernert attended Oregon State University (OSU). She graduated with an Honors Bachelors of Science in Bioresource Research and an Honors Bachelors of Arts in International Studies. During her undergrad years, Dr. Bernert joined research teams investigating many different research opportunities in the field of plant pathology.  She was involved in research into antifungal properties of spotted wing Drosophila larvae, another project on the effects of fungicides on bee bread and honey bee associated fungi, as well as a project on the effects of honey bee antimicrobial drugs on Lactobacillus spp. in the honey bee midgut.  Dr. Bernert then went on to complete a doctoral degree in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Florida (UF).  At UF her skills and background gave her the opportunity to work with many of the world’s top researchers. Dr. Bernert focused her research on discovering missing genes in the biosynthesis of respiratory cofactors, vitamins, and antioxidants. One of her most noteworthy publications is entitled, “Recombinant RquA catalyzes the in vivo conversion of ubiquinone to rhodoquinone in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.” After finishing her PhD in 2020, Dr. Bernert then began work toward her Juris Doctor specializing in intellectual property law at Levin College of Law, also at the University of Florida, and she anticipates completing this course of study in 2023.

Dr. Bernert’s accomplishments abound, but one of her most prestigious awards was receiving the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Student Research Fellowship in 2018. Fellows receive a stipend of $34,000 along with $12,000 allowed for tuition and fees for 3 years, opportunities for international research and professional development, and freedom to conduct their own research without funding worries. Dr. Bernert’s passion for research is abundant but she also seeks to empower others. For example, in 2017 Ann and her fellow researchers won Best Team Business Plan and Investor Pitch 2018 from the Empowering Women in Tech Start-Ups University of Florida Innovation Hub.