“Your someday is today.” These words energize Danny Yamashiro and describe why this Ivy League graduate, MIT chaplain, brain trauma survivor, talk show host, author, and speaker has dedicated his li...

“Your someday is today.” These words energize Danny Yamashiro and describe why this Ivy League graduate, MIT chaplain, brain trauma survivor, talk show host, author, and speaker has dedicated his life to serving some of humanity’s greatest needs. Danny is also motivated by the spiritual, social, and intellectual influences on world leaders and is focused on helping facilitate healthy engagement in the halls of learning through events like the Cambridge Roundtable on Science & Religion, a program funded by the John Templeton Foundation that is coordinated by Rev. Dave Thom, the Faculty Chaplain at MIT. Growing up in Hawaii, Danny heard his father tell of bombs exploding and seeing smoke rise over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Danny’s neighborhood sat between two historic military outposts: Tripler Army Medical Center and Fort Shafter. He studied theology for his bachelor’s degree, earned two master’s degrees – one from a seminary, the other concentrating in government from Harvard, and a doctorate that included studies at Oxford and research at ten presidential library archives. An ordained minister, Danny is the founder and president of a faith based non-profit organization. He has experienced life in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, North America, the Pacific Islands, and South America. He lives with his wife Jamie in Brookline, Massachusetts. They have three adult children.

Among the chaplains of MIT, many of whom are affiliated with faculty, professors are Dave Thom’s main focus. A co-founder of the first Faculty Roundtable in 2002 among The Five Colleges in the Amherst...

Among the chaplains of MIT, many of whom are affiliated with faculty, professors are Dave Thom’s main focus. A co-founder of the first Faculty Roundtable in 2002 among The Five Colleges in the Amherst MA area, and co-chair of the Cambridge Roundtable, Dave partners with Rev. Dr. Danny Yamashiro and Affiliated Chaplains Bill Hager and Rev. Dr. Nathan Barczi. Dave is also the Project Director for a John Templeton Foundation funded project of 12 teams of colleagues from Boston to Chicago to Duke and the eight Ivies who are professionals at convening Faculty Roundtables to explore science, faith, and philosophy.