Kira leads the CITRIS Foundry, the University of California accelerator for founders building deep technology startups. We bring extensive experience at the leading edge of university-driven innovation and entrepreneurship to guide startups and institutional researchers in leveraging their innovation for significant impact on the world. Her background includes expertise in design thinking, grant writing, and clean energy technology. As the senior scientist at advanced materials start-up, and Cyclotron Road company Sepion Technologies, she tackled technical roadmapping and materials development for next-gen electric vehicle batteries. She earned her MSc. in Materials Science at Stanford University, where she studied non-hazardous thin-film solar cells, and was a design thinking lead for industry partners via the Stanford design school.

Speakers in tonight's Society, Robots and Us at 6pm PST Tuesday Feb 23 include Henry Evans, mute quadriplegic and founder of Robots4Humanity and Aaron Edsinger, founder of Hello Robot. We'll also being talking about robots for people with disabilities with Disability Advocate Adriana Mallozi, founder of Puffin Innovations and Daniel Seita, who is a deaf roboticist. The event is free and open to the public. As a result of a sudden stroke, Henry Evans turned from being a Silicon Valley tech builder into searching for technologies and robots that would improve his life, and the life of his family and caregivers, as the founder of Robots4Humanity. Since then Henry has shaved himself with the help of the PR2 robot, and spoken on the TED stage with Chad Jenkins in a Suitable Tech Beam.

Talking about racism and it's impact on robotics and roboticists was the first conversation in our new biweekly online discussion series "Society, Robots and Us" on alternate Tuesdays at 6pm PDT. It was a generous, honest and painful discussion that I hope has left a lasting impact on everyone who listened. There is systemic racism in America, and this does have an impact on robotics and roboticists in many many ways. The US Senator Elizabeth Warren in conversation today with Alicia Garza from Black Futures Lab said, "America was founded on principles of liberty and freedom, but it was built on the backs of enslaved people. This is a truth we must not ignore. Racism and white supremacy have shaped every crucial aspect of our economy, and our political system for generations now."