Kathy Pearson, Ph.D. - Keynote Speaker

Kathy Pearson, Ph.D. is a senior consultant and Director, Executive Education for Decision Strategies International (DSI), a management consulting firm focused on scenario-based strategic planning and decision-making.  Dr. Pearson also serves as an adjunct associate professor in the Operations and Information Management Department at The Wharton School.  She has taught operations management courses in the MBA program and Executive Master’s of Technology Management programs as well as Probability and Statistics, Simulation Modeling, and other courses for the department and the University of Pennsylvania.  In 2006, Dr. Pearson was honored with the "Goes above and beyond the call of duty" award by the 2007 Wharton MBA class. 

Dr. Pearson is heavily involved in Executive Education through DSI at The Wharton School, Duke CE, and the Institute for Management Studies, teaching on a variety of topics such as Critical Thinking, Scenario Planning, Strategic Decision Making, Bridging the Divide Between Strategy and Execution, and Stakeholder Analysis.  As Academic Director for many programs, she is responsible for the design of the academic curriculum, the integration of the material, and the overall educational quality of the program.  Many of her clients are in the health care and financial services fields, but she has also worked with executives from a wide variety of industries, including professional services, the technology field, and the manufacturing sector.  Dr. Pearson has presented to senior leadership audiences across the world and has taught at Cedep at INSEAD in Fountainebleau, France.

Dr. Pearson’s industrial experience includes analytical support for the pharmaceutical industry and other health care systems as well as the Department of Defense.  She has been involved in strategic planning for a number of organizations across industries and specializes in providing decision process and analysis support to mid and senior level leaders.

Dr. Pearson received her B.S. degree in theoretical mathematics from Auburn University, her M.S. degree in Decision Sciences from Georgia State University, and her Ph.D. in industrial engineering (concentration in statistics) from Northwestern University.

Brittany Barnes - Panelist

Brittany Barnes a native of Hoover, AL, graduated from Hoover High School with an Advanced Diploma.   In high school she developed a passion for chemistry while taking advance math and science courses. She enrolled at Auburn University in summer 2006 as a participant in the Summer Bridge Program. Her elected major is Chemistry with a minor in Spanish. Since being at Auburn University, she has been involved in several campus and community activities.

In her freshmen year, she was involved in the Camp War Eagle Program as a Parent Counselor, the University Peer Instructor Program, and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.  Also in that year she was awarded the Leadership Scholarship, recognized on the Dean’s List, and selected as an Outstanding Freshmen.

Her sophomore year, she became a Project Uplift Volunteer mentoring two young girls within the Auburn community. Brittany also worked in the Office of Undergraduate Recruitment as a Tiger STRIPE, and participated as a counselor for the High School Leadership Conference.  During her summer in Auburn, Brittany worked as a counselor in the program that helped start her academic career the Summer Bridge Program.

In her junior year and most active year, Brittany was heavily involved in activities a COSAM Leader and COSAM Peer Instructor.  She participated in the new mentor program called PASS Mentors, where she served as a mentor to an incoming freshman.  That fall she was honored with a scholarship from the Society of Women in Science and Mathematics and also awarded the Undergraduate Research Fellowship.  With the fellowship, she has been doing research in the pharmacy school.  In the spring of her junior year, Brittany was accepted into the Harrison School of Pharmacy at Auburn University.

Going into her senior year, Brittany will begin Pharmacy School in the fall where she will pursue a Doctorate of Pharmacy and a Ph.D in medicinal chemistry.

Erin Edmondson - Panelist

Erin Edmondson received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences in the spring of 2007 from Auburn University.  As an undergraduate in the College of Sciences and Mathematics, Erin joined The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) where she served on the administrative team which chartered the organization and was elected to be the group’s first Service Coordinator.  It was here that she began an after-school science program, LADIES, for middle-school girls and her interest in K-12 education began.  As an officer of AWIS she served as a LIFE in Science mentor for talented high school females in Alabama. As a result of her efforts with LIFE in Science and the AWIS organization, she was awarded a Society for Women in Sciences and Mathematics scholarship.  After graduation, she was accepted into Auburn University’s College of Education Alternative Master’s program and began working for the College of Sciences and Mathematics Outreach (COSAM Outreach).

              As a graduate student and COSAM Outreach employee, Erin assisted in the development of outreach programs including the Getting Under the Surface Program (GUTS) and the Daughters And Mothers Exploring Science (DAMES) mini-conference for middle school girls and their mothers.  She has also developed curriculum and taught in programs such as the Youth Experiences in Science Program (YES), GUTS, and DAMES.  After graduating from the College of Education, Erin continued her work with COSAM Outreach and then accepted a job at Drake Middle School in Auburn, Alabama as a seventh grade life science teacher.

Andrea Hardwick - Panelist

In 2000, Andrea Hardwick earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Auburn University.  Thereafter, she attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry.  During Dr. Hardwick's externships, she specialized in ocular disease at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and, while working in La Jolla, California, she focused on children with special needs using vision therapy.  She earned her Doctor of Optometry degree in 2005. 

Dr. Hardwick devotes time each week providing optometric services to inmates housed at the federal prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama.  She is a member of the Women's Philanthropy Board, Junior League, Clara's Circle, Society of Women in Science and Math and is an honorary member of Alpha Epsilon Delta.

Dr. Hardwick founded Hardwick Vision Center, a full-scope clinic, in the fall of 2007.  Hardwick Vision Center is located in Auburn, Alabama.

Janayah Hudson - Panelist

Janayah Hudson graduated from Auburn University with a BS degree in Biomedical Sciences in 1996.  Her initial plan was to apply to medical school.  She however got married while at Auburn, relocated to South Carolina and earned her nursing degree from the University of South Carolina in 1999.  She is currently pursuing her Master's of Public Health degree from Walden University.  With her MPH she plans to pursue ways to improve the health of children in the foster care system.

Currently she is a RN and the Program Coordinator for the Surgical Technology Program at Aiken Technical College.  Her time at Auburn adequately prepared her for the challenges she faces in her current position and those of obtaining a graduate degree. She is the mother of 4 children ages 13, 11, 6, & 5.  She is an active member of the Auburn Alumni Association as well as a Life member with her husband.