TEDxCoA

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Eliezer Zimring

  In a world where people are complex and interpersonal dynamics are even more complex, creating collective change can feel daunting and impossible. Knowing and accepting ourselves is a fundamental step to creating collecting grace, acceptance, and co-existence. Elie will describe theories for collective change related to changing only one person––ourselves.

• Frances LeDuke

  What do we believe our purpose is as scientists? What gives our work meaning? What level of detriment begins to occur when science, engineering, math, and physics are pursued at the expense of humanity, rather than for its benefit? When we lose the very thing that gives our work meaning - science becomes a weapon, a means to income, control, or personal success. Without humanity; science is incomplete. For it is humanity (the human condition, emotions, rights, artistry, philosophy, music, life) that contributes to the existence and purpose of science.

• Karma Tshering

  Karma talks about his journey from a remote village in Bhutan, where he studied by the light of kerosene lamps until his community gained electricity in 2013, to his experiences as a Human Ecology student at the College of the Atlantic in Maine. Growing up in Bhutan, he was introduced early on to the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), a visionary development framework that measures progress not by GDP but by the holistic well-being of people and the environment. With its four pillars—sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of culture, conservation of the environment, and good governance— Karma will speak not only of how GNH has shaped Bhutan’s identity but also how it has inspired him deeply.

• Rūdolfs 'Rūdy' Lukaševičs

  More and more people have been feeling the impact of electricity disruptions in the United States of America and around the globe. There is no one solution for energy resilience, but I believe that microgrids will play a vital role in it. Microgrids have massive potential in securing electricity availability even during devastating natural disasters.

• Ryn Snyder

  How does gender affect sexual desire and pleasure? Ryn Snyder, a student at College of the Atlantic, explains that biological men and women have the same capacity for pleasure, they simply take different paths to get there. Ryn utilizes biological truths to destigmatize female sexuality - after all, sexual desire is valid, natural, and deserves to be embraced as such by all genders.