October 6, 2026

For graduate students (suggested subject: Graduate student volunteers needed: KEMi Inaugural Symposium, Thursday, October 22)
Dear graduate students,
The Kren Engineering-based Medicine Initiative (KEMi) is looking for graduate student volunteers for its Inaugural Symposium on Thursday, October 22, in The Lyceum (HUB 160). Volunteers will help run the day and take notes at the afternoon faculty roundtables, where faculty from across engineering and medicine will discuss what health and healthcare should look like in 2050.
About KEMi
KEMi is a new initiative at the University of Washington, made possible by a generous gift from George and Martina Kren. It brings together engineering, medicine, AI, sensing and imaging to develop technologies that detect disease early and shift care toward prevention.
The symposium
The morning opens with remarks from Robert J. Jones, President of the University of Washington; The Honorable Suzan DelBene, U.S. Representative, Washington’s 1st Congressional District; Timothy H. Dellit, Dean of the UW School of Medicine and CEO of UW Medicine; Nancy L. Allbritton, Dean of the UW College of Engineering; and David Baker, 2024 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and Director of the Institute for Protein Design. Presentations on KEMi-funded research follow. The afternoon includes a poster session and faculty-led roundtables. Speaker details and the program are on the event page: https://kemi.uw.edu/kemi-inaugural-symposium
What volunteers do
  • Staff the registration and welcome desk and help guests find their way
  • Help with food setup and cleanup
  • Provide technical support during the morning talks
  • Take notes at one of the afternoon faculty roundtables
  • Help with teardown at the end of the day
Roundtable topics
  • Neural Engineering and Rehabilitation
  • Bio-Integrated Sensing
  • Medical Imaging and Systemic Disease Diagnosis and Monitoring
  • Robotics, AI and Emergency Medicine
  • AI and Regenerative Medicine
Shifts
  • Morning session and lunch: check in at 7:30 a.m., finish at 1:30 p.m. (welcome and registration, food setup, technical support during talks)
  • Lunch and afternoon session: check in at 12:30 p.m., finish at 5:00 p.m. (roundtable note-taking, cleanup and teardown)
  • All day: check in at 7:30 a.m., finish at 5:00 p.m. (all of the above)
If you have a class or other commitment during part of a shift, you are still welcome to sign up; the form asks for any times you are unavailable.
What volunteers receive
  • Lunch and a KEMi t-shirt
  • A seat at a faculty roundtable in your area of interest
  • A close look at KEMi’s research and the faculty leading it
  • An opportunity to learn more about KEMi’s student steering committee, which is now forming
How to sign up
Please complete the short form at https://uwashington.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3miTYYNcuUVaQJM by Friday, October 16. We are looking for 10 to 20 volunteers and may close sign-ups earlier if spots fill. Space at the event is limited, so we may not be able to accept every sign-up. We will follow up by Monday, October 19 with shift and roundtable assignments.
Questions can go to uwkemi@uw.edu.
Thank you,
Colin Acton
PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering
Student Ambassador, KEMi