The tools of molecular biology have augmented forensic biological analyses and contributed to solving crimes, developing investigative leads, and exonerating the innocent. The methods are exquisitely sensitive and highly resolving. Success stories abound and are reported almost daily in the media. Indeed, forensic DNA typing is the gold standard of the forensic science disciplines. Although the methods and interpretations generally are reliable, there are some limitations that scientists, stakeholders, decision makers, and the public may not appreciate. This presentation will provide insight into the applications extolling their value and discussing the problems that need to be overcome or avoided.

About the speaker: Bruce Budowle, PhD, director of the UNT Health Science Center's Institute of Investigative Genetics and vice chair of the Department of Forensic and Investigative Genetics, has been named a Health Care Hero by Dallas Business Journal. He joined the Health Science Center in 2009, bringing renowned expertise in the areas of counterterrorism, primarily in identification of victims from mass disasters and microbial forensics.

Prior to joining the Health Science Center, Budowle spent 40 years as a senior scientist for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C. He was a principal advisor in efforts to identify victims from the World Trade Center attack in 2001 and helped establish a mitochondrial DNA sequencing program to enable high-throughput sequencing of human remains.

Budowle's commitment to helping families resolve missing persons cases led him to Fort Worth after a lifetime in the Virginia/Washington, D.C., area in order to collaborate with Health Science Center researchers and advance the knowledge and use of forensics and DNA to improve health and safety of the world's population. Budowle has also been instrumental in establishing the DNA-ProKids initiative to identify missing children on an international scale.

About the talk

Emerging economies such as China and India have become “hotspots” of multinational R&D investments. As some observers have argued, some unique products/services are first developed in and for emerging markets, then subsequently introduced to advanced markets. This is named “reverse innovation” and proclaimed to bring great challenges for existing industrial dominators (Immelt, Govindarajan & Trimble, 2009). If true, what would be its impact on multinational global R&D strategies and organizations? What kind of capabilities and mechanism should be developed to respond this change?

Based on case studies in China, Dr. Liang will discuss three new types of multinationals’ R&D units abroad. All of them are host-country-based instead of home-country-based, which indicates the latest change of multinational global R&D distribution. Furthermore, the talk will also explore the global R&D strategy and innovation pattern of Chinese home-grown companies such as Huawei and ZTE, and the relationship between multinationals’ R&D relocation in China, as well as their implications on global innovation landscape.

About the speaker

Dr. LIANG Zheng is currently working at the MIT Industrial Performance Center (IPC) as the Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar. Presently he is carrying out research projects on multinationals’ global R&D network expansion and integration, as well as the internationalization of new industrial leaders from emerging economies. He serves as the associate professor of the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, as well as the research fellow and assistant director of China Institute for Science & Technology Policy at Tsinghua University (CISTP), which is jointly established by Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Tsinghua University, mainly focusing on the studies of S&T policy and the national strategy of S&T development. Before joining Tsinghua University, Dr. Liang served as the associate professor of the International Business School in Nankai University. He got his doctor’s degree of economics at Nankai University (2003) and accomplished the senior executive training program on leadership at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2010). The main areas of his research focus on globalization of R&D, IPRs and standardization and the National Innovation System. Dr. Liang has also participated in some of China’s key research projects such as the Strategic Research for National Medium and Long Term Science and Technology Development Program.

About the Speaker

Hany Nada is co-founder of GGV Capital and has worked as a long-term partner with more than 150 companies over the past decade to build companies that can succeed in today's global marketplace. He is a trusted resource to public and private company CEOs and management teams on global market development, customer introductions and M&A/IPO guidance across US and Asian markets. CEOs that have worked with Hany characterize him as their go-to advisor for both general direction and company growth strategies.

As a leading venture investor, Hany made his first investment in China in 2001, and has led the firm’s successful investments in athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN), Endeca (acquired by Oracle) Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU), Kintana (acquired by Mercury Interactive), Turbine (acquired by Time Warner) and Xfire (acquired by Viacom). Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors for Tudou, China’s leading video content provider, Vocera Communications, RootMusic, Glu Mobile, and Wild Tangent. In addition to actively making investments in the mobile and digital media sectors in the US and China, Hany is responsible for one of the industry’s most successful China/US investment teams as well as general oversight of the firm's funds.

Before entering the venture capital business, Hany spent ten years on Wall Street as a top-ranked research analyst at Piper Jaffray focusing on Internet software and infrastructure. Hany is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he earned a B.S. in economics and a B.A. in political science.