John Ryals, Ph.D. is President and Chief Executive Officer of Metabolon, a biotechnology firm headquartered in RTP that focuses on a systems biology approach to understanding the metabolic signatures of biological and clinical samples and serves the biotech and pharma industries. Prior to founding Metabolon, Ryals was chief executive officer, president and founder of Paradigm Genetics, Inc., a publicly traded agricultural biotechnology company focused on industrializing the process of gene function discovery. Dr. Ryals has 30 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, including senior research positions at Novartis and Ciba-Geigy. He currently serves on the board of directors at AgBiome, a provider of early-stage R&D for agriculture, and the advisory board of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University. He earned a B.A. in biology and chemistry from the University of North Texas and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in molecular biology from the University of Texas at Dallas.

William N. Starling is Managing Director of Synergy Life Science Partners, LP, a $143 million Venture Capital Partnership and Chief Executive Officer of Synecor, LLC, (Synecor) a business generator of new Life Science companies based in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina.

Improving math preparation of engineering students using online modules