Tri-Valley Celebrates Innovation Honorees, Diwali, and Local Veterans

Across Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton, community institutions gathered this autumn to recognize scientific and educational innovators, celebrate South Asian cultural traditions, and strengthen health and academic pathways for military veterans. Coverage from The Independent on Innovation Tri-Valley, the Spirit of Diwali Festival, and Tri-Valley veteran services illustrates the breadth of civic engagement across the region.

On October 22, Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group convened regional educators, researchers, and business leaders at the Shannon Community Center in Dublin for its 16th annual DreamMakers and RiskTakers Awards, as reported by The Independent. Emceed by Fremont Bank Senior Vice President Mattocks and introduced by Innovation Tri-Valley CEO Katie Marcel, the ceremony honored emerging scholars alongside major institutional research teams. Student award recipients included Tanisha Vaish of Dublin, who engineered the NeuroGlove prototype combining force-sensitive resistors, flex sensors, and vibration motors to aid post-stroke hand rehabilitation; Sanjana Gade of Amador Valley in Pleasanton, who built an automated microplastics filtration system and founded a nonprofit mentoring more than 1,500 learners worldwide; and Aashi Kulkarni of Dublin, who developed the Smart Bin AI waste-sorting system and leads a civic leadership nonprofit across 5 states. From Livermore, robotics competitors Advika and Aarushi Gupta were recognized for earning third place at the RoboCup Junior World Championship in Brazil, while Las Positas College scholars Katelyn Brown and Maria Fernanda Rodriguez received the Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley Leadership Award. Organizational honorees included Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's El Capitan supercomputing deployment team—represented by LLNL Computation Associate Director Bruce Hendrickson and Hewlett Packard Enterprise VP Trish Damkroger—alongside nuclear innovation firm Deep Isolation, autonomous mobility initiative GoMentum Station, and the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District for its wine and viticulture technology facilities.

Three days later, on October 25, the Livermore Public Library Civic Center branch hosted its annual Spirit of Diwali Festival, according to The Independent's cultural report. Organized in partnership with Tamil Manram, the library's volunteer decorators lined the building with marigolds, jasmine garlands, and illuminated diyas while distributing more than 1,000 complimentary boxes of festive Indian sweets donated by Raja Sweets in Castro Valley. Library Services Director Anwan Baker and Tamil Manram volunteer coordinator Gayathri Gopalan welcomed hundreds of residents to an afternoon of classical Bharatanatyam and Kathak dance performances, Dhol Tasha percussion, folk dance, a traditional fashion showcase, henna artistry, and diya-painting workshops.

Ahead of Veterans Day, The Independent examined regional veteran support programs serving former service members across the Tri-Valley. Following the federal government's decision to sell the historic 114-acre Livermore VA campus on Concannon Boulevard, construction is advancing on a new outpatient VA clinic at 795 East Airway Blvd. near Interstate 580 in Livermore, which will offer primary care, behavioral health counseling, laboratory testing, tele-health, physical therapy, radiology, prosthetics, and specialty clinics under the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. At Las Positas College, Veterans First Program Supervisor Todd Steffan—a U.S. Air Force veteran who served from 1986 to 1990—oversees academic counseling, priority registration, book loans, work-study placements, and scholarships for more than 400 veterans and military-affiliated family members each semester. Marine Corps veteran Ryan Ketcham and Navy veteran Evelyn "Evie" Greiner also shared how campus peer networks and local civic groups help transitioning service members build lasting careers in the East Bay.