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
Barbara A. Sawrey, PhD, Chair	Gerald E. Hoffmeister
Sam Takahashi, Vice Chair	Denise Lew, PhD
Richard J. Beach, PhD	Katie Smith, Ph.D.
Robert C. Dynes, PhD	Ned Smith, PhD
Joe Farrage	Dr. Alan Spector
Lloyd Flanders	Will Rodriguez, RADM, USN, Ret

Barbara A. Sawrey PhD, Chair
Associate Vice Chancellor, Undergraduate Education, UCSD

Barbara is currently serving as Chair of the Science & Technology Working Group and is also a member of The Foundation Board of Governors. Barbara’s previous positions include co-director, Doctoral Program in Mathematics and Science Education and vice-chair for Education in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. Barbara is a recipient of UCSD’s Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, an Alumni Excellence Award, and the American Chemical Society Award for Encouraging Women in the Chemical Sciences. She has been a faculty member in Chemistry & Biochemistry for 26 years, and is a local and national officer in the American Chemical Society. She received a BS in chemistry from Baldwin-Wallace College. Prior to earning her PhD jointly from SDSU and UCSD in 1983, she was an industrial chemist in Jacksonville, Florida.

Sam Takahashi, Vice Chair 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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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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Gerald E. Hoffmeister
Community Leader

After managing and expanding several global technology companies serving the energy industries worldwide until his retirement in 1997, Jerry currently provides strategic support and mentoring to early stage technology companies and community nonprofit organizations. His dedication and active leadership at The Foundation includes his current role as chair of the Board of Governors, as well as service on the Board Governance Committee, Organizational Success Program Working Group, the Science & Technology Working Group, and vice chair of the North County Coastal Civic Alliance. He is also president of the Board of Trustees of EJE Academies, a charter school located in El Cajon and chairman emeritus of Project Walk, a spinal cord injury recovery center headquartered in Carlsbad. Jerry earned his BA from Valparaiso University.
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Robert C. Dynes, PhD
Community Leader;

President Emeritus, University of California; Former Chancellor, UCSD
Bob’s career has encompassed a broad spectrum of experiences and accomplishments. Educated as a research physicist, in 1968 Bob joined AT&T Bell Laboratories, where his research earned him international prizes and election into the National Academy of Sciences. After 22 years at Bell Labs, Bob moved on to UCSD as a professor of physics, and within six years became chancellor. In 2003, Bob was appointed as president of the ten campus University of California (UC) system. In addition to his broad set of career accomplishments, Bob has served on a wide variety of for-profit and nonprofit local and national boards.
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Denise Lew, PhD
With over 20 years’ experience in molecular biology and gene therapy as a researcher in the local biotechnology industry and in business development of university technologies, Dr. Lew provides both scientific expertise and business leadership to The Foundation’s Science and Technology Working Group, which she chaired for two years.  She is a founding and current member of the San Diego Women’s Foundation, and her women’s advocacy touches San Diegans through board service to the Girl Scouts San Diego-Imperial Council, in addition to participation in other women’s professional organizations such as Athena and Association for Women in Science.  Having earned her doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Illinois, she was a National Institute of Health-funded Postdoctoral Fellow at the Salk Institute. supports and encourages young people to pursue careers emphasizing women's health.

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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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Alan R. Spector, PhD, MD, MBA
is a retired board certified obstetrician/gynecologist who practiced in San Diego for twenty-eight years.  He was president of the Gynecology Society of San Diego and Chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Alvarado Hospital.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement, The Balboa Park Trust, The Park Laurel Home Owners Association, and past Chairman of the Alumni Association Advisory Board for the Executive Masters of Business Administration Program at San Diego State University. He earned his SB and SM from the University of Chicago, his PhD in biochemistry from Northwestern University, did a National Institute of Dental Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University and the Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a member of Sigma XI.  Dr. Spector received his MD from Northwestern University and did his obstetrics and gynecology residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.  He is also co-author of Managing Smart.

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