Rostam Zafari ('14) will join the line-up of speakers at the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce's Confluence conference Feb. 19-20, 2015, at the Historic DeSoto Theatre in downtown Rome. Zafari's REDS (Rapid Ebola Detection Strips) project made news earlier this year as mortality rates from the deadly virus continued to escalate in Africa.
The Emory University pre-med student will present alongside classmate and business partner Brian Goldstone on their work creating a cost-effective and efficient way to detect the presence of the Ebola virus, particularly in remote areas of the world.
Confluence, originally the Spectrum of Technology (SpecTech) Symposium, was developed by the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce in 2000 as a gathering of innovators, creators and fellow learners from within the region and beyond, connecting delegates with new ideas and inspiration.
Zafari and Goldstone will be counted among other esteemed guest speakers that include Kaynam Hedayat of WiTricity and Alexandr Opalka of Motion Savvy, who were both honored by Time magazine's list of Top 25 Innovators for 2014.
In early October, Darlington journalism students had the opportunity to interview the alum via Skype to check in on the details and progress of REDS when state media outlets first broke the story.
To read the Dec. 9 Rome News-Tribune article about the conference's roster of speakers, click here.
To find out more about Confluence, click here.
To watch a video of the senior speech Zafari presented to classmates last April, click here.
Click here to view a video of the Confluence presentation.
