Black Rock Forest 2026 Benefit Luncheon

Dmitriy Aronov, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist at Columbia University, where he is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He leads a lab, which explores how the brain forms and organizes memories, with a particular focus on food-caching birds—remarkable species that store thousands of seeds and retrieve them months later with striking precision.

Dr. Aronov earned his B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Columbia before completing his Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he investigated how young songbirds learn to “babble” on their way to mastering song. He conducted postdoctoral research at Princeton University prior to returning to Columbia to establish a pioneering research program on the neural basis of memory in birds—work that has opened an entirely new avenue in systems neuroscience.

A recipient of numerous honors, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Dr. Aronov’s research bridges mathematics, biology, and behavior to illuminate how brains encode experience.

Ellen V. Futter is President of the Markle Foundation, which recently launched the AI for Disasters + Emergencies Initiative (AIDE), advancing the responsible use of artificial intelligence to help communities prepare for and respond to natural disasters. 

She is President Emerita of the American Museum of Natural History, where she served for nearly 30 years as the first woman to lead a major New York City cultural institution, guiding a period of significant institutional growth and modernization. Previously, she was President of Barnard College for thirteen years and, at the time of her inauguration, the youngest president of a major American college. 

Ms. Futter also served as Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York—the first woman to hold that position—and began her career practicing corporate law at Milbank. A graduate of Barnard, she earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School and has received numerous honors for her leadership and public service.