Stephen Rice

Concerned citizen, Consultant, Designer, Educator/Teacher, Engineer, Environmentalist, Global soul, Inventor, Life mentor, Parent, Single, World traveler

I did degrees at Berkeley, earning a PhD in Mechanical Engineering with minors in psychology, mathematics and education. Along the way, I worked as a design engineer with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and my first academic job was with the University of Connecticut. Highlights from the UConn days include developing a research program in tribology; co-creating the Automation, Robotics and Manufacturing Laboratory (ARMLAB); and founding UConn's Minority Engineering Program. Next up was the University of Central Florida (UCF) where I served as Department Chair, Associate Dean and Associate VP. Then to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) where I served as Chief Research Officer (CRO). In this role, I created UNLV's Research Foundation, led the initial development of the Harry Reid Science and Technology Park, set up the university's Research Council, initiated programs to support research and creative activity, and oversaw establishment of new Centers and Institutes with focus areas in the arts, humanities, sciences and professional colleges. Under my watch, funding for UNLV's research and creative activity more than tripled, and after a final administrative appointment to establish UNLV's Office for Technology Transfer, I returned to a teaching role in 2008, as Professor of Healthcare Informatics. This was enormously interesting but short lived, as the new School of Informatics was 'eliminated' in 2011 due to budget shortfalls. So, I returned to teaching in subjects related to my core training, but much influenced (and enhanced) by my meanderings into disparate fields, and TED. In 2018, I became Professor Emeritus, and currently I'm active in mentoring, learning, writing, and enjoying my friends, who are based in many places around the world.

My family & friends. Reversing climate change. Fixing the US Congress by electing Members committed to bi-partisan solutions. Increasing international cooperation. Astronomical discovery.

Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) is a still emerging discipline, but estimates are that 75% of systems developed to date FAIL for socio-technical reasons (mostly, socio !). A sad but well known example was the ObamaCare website ! We simply don't do well in involving users in the conceptualization and design phases for informatics solutions, and we do a poor job of training and anticipating workflow changes. BUT we DO know how to change this, and we must apply what we know to overcome organizational pressures and workplace hieracrchies that result in bad design and under-performing systems.

Cultural Informatics, Design and Innovation, Healthcare Informatics, Research Administration, University of the South Pacific, circa 1978-79

I didn't discover TED until I returned to a teaching role at my university, when a colleague forwarded a link to a TED talk. I then learned of the 2010 TED Global in Oxford, attended, and it was so stunning, I came back in 2011, 2012 and 2013 in Edinburgh, in 2014 in Rio, and in 2017 in Arusha. TED conferences are the most amazing I've ever attended, but the 'conference label' doesn't begin to capture all that it is. I've now met a host of wonderful TEDsters, and many have become friends; and some who have changed my life.

Solving other peoples' problems, listening, and change.