The Science & Technology Working Group is composed of community leaders with expertise in biotechnology, telecommunications and issues related to science and math education and workforce development. This group of volunteers oversees grantmaking and donor engagement strategies to meet the most critical needs of San Diego’s science & technology nonprofits, and creates partnerships and initiatives to support those strategies.

Current Working Group Members
Gerald E. Hoffmeister, Chair	Denise Lew, PhD
Barbara A. Sawrey, PhD, Vice Chair	Ned Smith, PhD
Richard J. Beach, PhD	Sam Takahashi
Julia Brown	Carisa Wisniewski

Gerald E. Hoffmeister, Chair, is a community leader currently serving as member of the Board of Directors of Del Mar Village Association, San Diego Social Venture Partners, Friends of the Powerhouse, Advanced Monitors Corporation and Ebert Composites, Inc. He is a member of the Science and Technology Working Group and Community Partnerships Committee for The Foundation; Past Chairman and member of the San Diego Chairmen’s RoundTable, Past Chairman of the San Diego Corporate Directors Forum; former Chairman/CEO of GEA America, Inc., a German high technology engineering company; former executive of Rockwell International and Amcast Industrial Corporation. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Valparaiso University.
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Barbara A. Sawrey PhD, Vice Chair, is a professor of chemistry at UCSD. Previous positions include Co-Director, Doctoral Program in Mathematics and Science Education- and Vice-Chair for Education. She received the UCSD Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, 1997 and the American Chemical Society Award for Encouraging Women in the Chemical Sciences, 2002. Her research is focused on (1) how to promote meaningful learning in college science teaching, i.e., how to assist students to store more information in a memorable, readily usable fashion, and (2) how to facilitate the development of effective problem solving skills. Specifically, she investigates the role interactive, computer-based multimedia packages can play in learning and how effective they are as tools to encourage the understanding of complex scientific processes and concepts. She also studies the impact of a systematic, computer-based representation of a scientific topic on a student's learning and recall of that topic. Dr. Sawrey received her PhD jointly from University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University.
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Denise Lew, PhD (Previous Chair) is employed at UCSD in Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Services. Originally from Texas, she earned her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois and conducted her postdoctoral research at the Salk Institute. She then transitioned into the San Diego biotech industry where she was a research scientist in molecular biology and pharmacology. As a researcher in the San Diego biotech industry for 10 years, her investigations included developing gene therapies for cancer and infectious diseases. Dr. Lew serves on the Board of Governors for The San Diego Foundation and is a founding member of the San Diego Women’s Foundation and serves on their Education committee. She recently joined the board of the Doris A. Howell Foundation for Women's Health Research, an organization that supports and encourages young people to pursue careers emphasizing women's health.
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Richard J. Beach, PhD, is Chief Innovation Wizard, TIME Innovation Office, Classroom of the Future Foundation; where he is leading a collaborative consulting team to engage the 42 school districts in San Diego County to bring technology productivity to the practices of teaching and learning. He is also President of the Amazing Possibilities Foundation. Previous positions include Document Technology Manager, Xerox Business Services; Corporate Architect, Xerox Corporation; Principal Scientist and Laboratory Manager, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Other activities include being Director of the Classroom of the Future Foundation and serving as Director and on the Executive Board of the San Diego Science Alliance. Dr. Beach has a PhD in Computer Graphics from the University of Waterloo.
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Julia Brown is a member of the Board of Directors of Labopharm, Inc. MediQuest Therapeutics, Inc. and Trius Therapeutics, Inc. She was a member of the Board of Directors of Tanox, Inc. from 2005 until its acquisition by Genentech in 2007. She serves on the business advisory board of CovX Pharmaceuticals. Julia is a member of the board of CONNECT and has just completed her second term as a trustee of the University of California, San Diego Foundation. She is a Tech Coast Angel, a member of BIOCOM, Corporate Director's Forum, and Athena. From 2000-2003, Julia was Executive Vice President of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and continues to serve as Advisor to the CEO. Prior to joining Amylin, Julia was Executive Vice President of Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She was with Dura from 1995-1999. Julia spent over 25 years with Eli Lilly and Company in progressively more senior roles.

From 1992-1994, Julia was Vice President of IVAC Corporation and General Manager of its Vital Signs Division (a Lilly subsidiary). She was Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for Hybritech (another Lilly subsidiary), and led global marketing from1986-1992. She held a variety of positions in the pharmaceutical division, including eight years in the Company's international division. She did basic research in antimicrobials from 1969-1973. Julia is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University where she studied microbiology and biochemistry.
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Ned Smith, PhD was an academic fellow of the National Institutes of Health, an award winning college professor, and is a successful fundraiser, facilitator, project leader, and writer and reviewer of grant proposals. Former positions include Director, Science and Technology, The San Diego Foundation; Executive Director, Birch Aquarium, Scripps Oceanography, UCSD; Director, North Carolina Aquariums Division. He has established boards, been a member of several boards, was CFO of an arts council, and led four nonprofits in their successful national accreditation efforts. His consulting work has ranged from organizational analysis to advice on hiring to exhibit and program development. Smith is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. Dr. Smith has a PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Pittsburgh.
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Sam Takahashi is currently an engineering consultant. He has worked as an electrical engineer for most of his career. Most recently, he was on the founding team of Copper Mountain Networks, a company designing DSL products for the broadband access market, founded in 1996. Formerly, Mr. Takahashi was one of the founders of Primary Access Corporation, a telecommunications company founded in 1988 and purchased by 3COM Corporation in 1995. Prior to Primary Access, he was with Linkabit Corporation for 12 years. Mr. Takahashi received a BS in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley.
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Carisa M. Wisniewski, CPA
Partner, Moss Adams LLP
Wisniewski brings over 16 years of public accounting audit experience to her current leadership role as vice chair of The Foundation’s Finance Committee. She is a founding board member of the San Diego Foundation Regional Disaster Fund and was actively involved during the wildfires in October 2003. Wisniewski has recently expanded her Foundation involvement as a new member of the Science & Technology Working Group. Prior to joining Moss Adams as a partner, she took on a variety of roles at Deloitte & Touche including audit partner and national energy partner. She has extensive experience auditing public companies and emerging life science and technology companies. A member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of CPAs, Wisniewski earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from California State University at Fullerton. Back to top