About

This event is focused on professional development during unprecedented times.

​Our speakers will be explaining their experience launching their careers and offer advice to students now!

TAKEOFF! is open to the entire UCR community. 

Date: May 27, 2020

Time: 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM PST

Location: Zoom

Speakers

Jonathan Javier

CEO and Founder of Wonsulting

Dian Grueneich

Co-Creator of Stanford Energy Internship Program

Zack Burton

Researcher for the NASA Astrobiology Institute

Full bio

Jonathan Javier is the CEO/Founder of Wonsulting, a career consulting firm whose mission is to turn underdogs into winners: helping those who come from non-target schools/non-traditional backgrounds to get them into their dream careers. So far, he's helped tens of thousands land opportunities in top companies including Google's, Deloitte's, and Goldman Sachs' of the world. He also has worked in Strategy & Operations at Google, Snap, & Cisco coming from UC Riverside. He works on many initiatives, providing advice and words of wisdom on LinkedIn and through speaking engagements. In total, he has organically gained 28,000+ LinkedIn followers with 7 million impressions and has led 85+ speaking engagements in 5 countries including the Mena ICT Forum in Jordan, Resume/Personal Branding at Cisco, LinkedIn Strategy & Operations Offsite, Great Place To Work, Talks at Google, and more.

Full Bio

Dian is an internationally recognized energy expert, has worked on energy policy for over four decades, and has served on external advisory committees to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National  Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). She has received numerous awards, including the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Clean Energy Award, the 30th Anniversary Award  of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) for Outstanding Contribution and its National Champion of Energy Efficiency Award, and EE Global Forum’s first “Visionary Award”.  

Dian is currently a Precourt Energy Scholar with the Precourt Institute of Energy, Stanford University. She is also a Commissioner Emeritus of the California Public Utilities Commission, serving there from 2005-2010.  Dian helped create the Stanford Energy Internships in California and the West program for Stanford undergraduate and graduate students, now in its 5th year and continuing summer 2020 as an online internship opportunity.

For this TEDx talk, Dian will share lessons learned from her professional career, especially overcoming challenges and expanding career options.  She will also discuss paths for moving forward professionally for students during the current pandemic.

Full Bio

Zack Burton is a geology PhD candidate at Stanford University, and is a researcher of Mars-like materials with the NASA Astrobiology Institute and SETI Institute and of energy resources with the U.S. Department of Energy. He has worked as a social impact analyst in southern India for the Stanford business school and as an energy policy analyst for the Precourt Institute for Energy. Zack is the founder of Stanford’s Energy Policy Community, which has held 22 events for hundreds of students. He is co-founder of the play, “The Manic Monologues,” which highlights true stories to disrupt the stigma surrounding mental illness, and has been featured by The Washington Post, NPR, Broadway World, and others. In his free time, he composes science poetry, which has been featured in The Wall Street Journal. For this TEDx talk, Zack will share how student initiative and volunteering for research can enhance relationships with professors and help with graduate school and getting a PhD.