Neal Katyal

Neal Kumar Katyal currently serves as Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. Professor Katyal was the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center and the lead counsel for the Guantanamo Bay detainees in the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay "violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions." While serving at the Justice Department, he has argued numerous Supreme Court cases, including his resoundingly successful defense of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the landmark case, Northwest Austin v. Holder.

Professor Katyal graduated from Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, where he studied under Professors Akhil Amar and Bruce Ackerman, with whom he published many articles in both law review and political opinion journals. After graduating, he clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, before clerking for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Professor Katyal served as National Security Adviser in the U.S. Justice Department between 1997 and1999, and was commissioned by President Clinton to write a report on the need for more legal pro bono work. He also served as Vice-President Al Gore's co-counsel in Bush v. Gore of 2000, and represented the deans of most major private law schools in Grutter v. Bollinger, the University of Michigan affirmative-action case which was decided by the Supreme Court in 2003.

He was named Lawyer of the Year by Lawyers USA for 2006, Runner Up for Lawyer of the Year by National Law Journal, one of the top 50 Litigators in the nation by the American Lawyer Magazine, one of the 30 best living Supreme Court advocates by Washingtonian Magazine, one of the 90 Greatest Lawyers over the Last 30 Years by Legal Times, and was awarded the 2004 Pro Bono Award by the National Law Journal.

Ro Khanna

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Domestic Operations for the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service

Ro Khanna was appointed by President Obama to serve as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Domestic Operations of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, International Trade Administration at the United States Department of Commerce. The U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service is the key export promotion agency of the federal government with a worldwide network of employees and a mission of assisting businesses in exporting their goods and services worldwide.

In this capacity, Mr. Khanna is responsible for overseeing the domestic operations of 109 U.S. Export Assistance Centers operating in 48 states. In addition, Mr. Khanna is responsible for a number of trade promotion programs, the Trade Information Center, and the development and execution of marketing and communications strategies. Mr. Khanna will also be involved with planning and executing a number of critical trade missions for the Department.

Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Mr. Khanna was counsel at O’Melveny & Myers where he practiced intellectual property and complex business litigation. He was named a Northern California Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in 2009.

Mr. Khanna also served as Chair of the Indo American Council at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee where he helped Speaker Pelosi shape the innovation and clean tech agenda for the Democratic Party. For this work, he was awarded the Trailblazer Award by the San Francisco Democratic Party in 2008. Mr. Khanna was an active member of Environmental Entrepreneurs, served on the Board of Sustainable San Mateo County and the Human Investment Project, and was a mentor to the Irvington High School We the People 2009 team. He is a Phi Beta graduate of the University of Chicago in Economics, and a graduate of Yale Law School.

Sam Arora

Sam Arora is a leading candidate for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates from Montgomery County. Arora is an advocate, social justice activist, and small businessman who has been involved in public service and organizing for over ten years. His experience in government includes positions in the U.S. Senate and clerkships with the Attorney General of Maryland and the United States Attorney’s Office. Arora worked as an aide to then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton during her senatorial re-election and presidential campaign and has worked on numerous national, statewide, local and issue campaigns and has advised non-profit organizations and institutes on strategic communications.

Arora currently is among the youngest elected members of the American Bar Association House of Delegates, the policy-making body for the 400,000-attorney organization. Arora currently is a vice president of The Arora Group, a family-owned small business in Gaithersburg, which provides health care services to American troops, veterans, and military families across the country.

Arora’s dedication to public service and the law led him to pursue a J.D. at Georgetown Law, where he was elected by his peers to lead the largest student bar association in the nation. Prior to that, Arora graduated, cum laude, with a degree in political science from Columbia University, where he is an annual guest teacher to a class on presidential campaigning.

Shilpa Davé

Shilpa Davé, an assistant professor of American studies, holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Michigan. Her areas of specialization include ethnic studies, cultural studies, Asian-American studies, literature, women's studies, popular culture and race and immigration.

Davé is the co-editor of "East Main Street: Asian American Popular Culture" (2005). She has had her work published in several venues, including Amerasia, Catamaran, the Journal of Asian American Studies, Literary Interpretation Theory and Contemporary Literature. She is currently working on a book project that explores political and cultural citizenship in contemporary south Asian-American literature and popular culture.