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Jack Andraka        

Machine Learning Engineer at Stanford Vision and Learning, Cancer Researcher & National Geographic Emerging Explorer

Jack Andraka is a National Geographic Explorer who speaks to audiences around the globe about his personal story, research, and ideas for STEM education reform and fostering innovation. His journey began at age fifteen when he invented an inexpensive early detection method for pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancer that costs 3 cents and takes 5 minutes to run. Now completing his MS in Electrical Engineering at Stanford, Andraka conducts research on nanorobots, inexpensive biosensors, disease diagnostics, and global health interventions while serving as faculty at the Stanford Anesthesiology Summer Institute.

Andraka’s work has earned him international recognition, including the 2018 Truman Scholar Award, the 2014 Jefferson Award, and the Intel Science Fair Winner for 2012. His efforts have been acknowledged by former President Barack Obama and he was First Lady Michelle Obama’s personal guest at the 2013 State of the Union Address. His media appearances include documentaries like Morgan Spurlock’s “You Don’t Know Jack,” and appearances on "60 Minutes," "The Colbert Report," and "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer."

Andraka speaks at venues worldwide including universities, technology organizations, and hospitals across over 40 countries. He has delivered keynote addresses at notable events, such as a mainstage TED talk, 19 TEDx talks, and as a panelist at the Clinton Global Initiative. He runs mentoring programs for disadvantaged LGBT youth in STEM fields and competes in national and international kayaking championships, placing in the top 20 at the U-23 Wildwater Kayaking World Championships. Andraka’s diverse engagements highlight his dedication to using science and innovation to solve global challenges while inspiring the next generation in STEM fields.

Speech Topics

Big Data and Education

In this talk, Jack discusses the need for a reworking of our K-12 curriculum to prepare students for the data age, where every field from social justice to electrical engineering has been revolutionized by big data. He breaks down the story, history, and basic science of big data and discusses how to integrate the tools and strategy of data science into curriculums nationwide. By demystifying what data science is and how to use it, Jack sets out a bold vision where every student is data literate and is empowered to take charge of our increasingly data-drive world.

A New Approach to Health

Jack discusses a new paradigm of health, one where patients and healthcare providers collaborate to create a health experience tailored to the patient’s needs. He brings together the latest, cutting- edge research with his own experience and work to detail how to pioneer this new patient-doctor relationship through a diverse collection of stories and lessons learned from COVID-19, Ebola, the U.S. healthcare system, and global health interventions. Jack also discusses how new technologies such as 3D printing, real-time genetic sequencing, and molecular diagnostics will factor into this holistic version of health and how to use these technologies to personalize a patient’s health experience.

Putting the Social in Social Good

Putting the Social in Social Good An electrical engineer and anthropologist, Jack discusses the need for the social sciences in STEM fields and how these unlikely collaborations can yield results that change the world. From obtaining a better understanding of the consumer to predicting and preventing misuse of technology, Jack discusses how the qualitative insights of the social sciences can be married with cutting-edge science and engineering to create breakthrough in fields from biomedicine to big data.

Innovation and Exploration

In this talk, Jack tells his own unlikely story of how he – a high school student who didn’t know what a pancreas was- created a new way to detect early-stage pancreatic cancer for 3 cents in 5 minutes. He then discusses his current work as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer working on issues ranging from crowdsourcing environmental monitoring in Tanzania to investigating the causes of the Ebola epidemic. Jack then reveals how anyone can become an explorer and learn how to change the world around through passion and perseverance.

The Power of the Crowd

A pioneer in inexpensive yet powerful sensors for crowdsourcing environmental monitoring and epidemic surveillance, Jack discusses strategies to educate and engage the public in solving our world’s most pressing challenges. Within this talk, Jack leverages his experience as a National Geographic Explorer to show how to design crowdsourcing projects, explain science topics to the public, recruit participants, create engaging public interfaces, and turn data from crowdsourced projects into real-world changes. Jack then speaks about how his own story of using crowdsourced sensors in Tanzania and Sierra Leone led him and his collaborators to taking on multinational mining conglomerates and change the course of environmental regulation in Tanzania.

Viral Communities: Lessons from the Frontlines of COVID-19

In this talk, Jack discusses his experience on the frontlines of the COVID-19 epidemic, from leading a team of researchers at Stanford to track the virus via wastewater in the initial stages of the pandemic to his latest work on using big data and machine learning to design effective interventions against COVID-19. He interweaves this telling of his engineering research with his work for the last seven years as an anthropologist studying how public health crises like Ebola and COVID-19 create simultaneous crises of institutions, truth, and trust. In doing so, Jack discusses lessons we can apply to our own lives and communities to make them more resilient in the face of fear, loss, and mistrust.

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