Zina Jarrahi Cinker, Ph.D. is a globally recognized Graphene expert, R&D strategist, and condensed matter physicist. She currently serves as the founder and Director General of Advanced Material Future Preparedness Taskforce (AMPT) -- an international, public interest organization of over 20 country chapters, orchestrating the global use of Advanced Materials to solve humanity’s most immediate challenges--. Dr. Cinker earned a PhD in the field of Condensed Matter Ultrafast Spectroscopy from Vanderbilt university and has spent the past decade expediting the commercialization of Graphene and advanced materials from breakthrough to industrialization. She previously served as the Executive Director of the U.S. National Graphene Association, the main organization and body in North America of over 5,000 international members and organizations.

As a Deep Tech advocate and system-change activist, Dr. Cinker’s recent initiatives focus on building an international infrastructure to enable material science and technologies to solve complex challenges of global magnitude where strategic dialogue and world-wide action among spheres of science, industry governments and civil societies are needed.

In this episode…

What do you want to be when you grow up? When you ask a child, you expect the answer to be cute...and transitory. It's important to not stop asking yourself this question as you do "grow up," because, for most people, the answer continue to evolve throughout their lives.

In this episode of An Unconventional Life, Dr. Zina Jarrahi Cinker and Dr. Russell Strickland geek out on physics, the role of science in society, and the psychology of effective communication. Dr. Cinker's dream of growing up to be an astrophysicist, and Bill Gates(!), eventually settled on astrophysics. But, when she arrived at Vanderbilt, the allure of graphene seduced her to leave the very big for the very small. Dr. Cinker shares stories about Bill Gates, talking with U.S. Senators on Capitol Hill, and Tom...Somebody.

Dr. Cinker leveraged her doctoral degree into a magical ride around the periphery of science. From industry to policy and research to advocacy, Dr. Cinker's career has taken her from the Halls of Academia to the Halls of Power. Where will yours take you?