TEDxSBU

Speakers

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

• Huanxin Li

  Business Management Major

  Huanxin, who more commonly goes by Zhifu, is a third-year international student from China at Stony Brook University, majoring in Business Management and minoring in Women’s Studies. She is also a feminist video content creator with more than 29,000 followers across Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and WeChat Channels. Zhifu’s work often begins with everyday life, examining ordinary conversations, relationships, habits, and social expectations to uncover gendered assumptions that may otherwise go unnoticed. She turns these observations into videos exploring women’s experiences, feminism, gender expectations, and the influence of social norms. She also shares insights from her own experiences to help others better understand themselves and society. After graduation, she plans to return to China and pursue work supporting the rights and well-being of women, children, and other vulnerable groups.

• Jennifer Bowers

  Lecturer in the Department of Psychology

  Jennifer M. Bowers is a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at SBU. Previously, she worked at the National Cancer Institute as a Cancer Prevention Fellow. She completed her PhD in Social Health Psychology at SBU in 2020 and holds an MPH in Applied Biostatistics & Epidemiology from the Yale School of Public Health.

• Sara Tustin

  Junior with Biology Major/Studio Art Minor

  Sara is a third year undergraduate at Stony Brook University, majoring in Biology with a neuroscience concentration, and minoring in Studio Art. The interdisciplinary nature of her studies is due to her particular motivation for pursuing them; namely, having a lineage of neurodegenerative disease, and being fascinated by intersectionality of neurodegeneration, creativity, genetics, and lifestyle. In the future, she wishes to investigate early pathologic events of neurodegeneration. When she’s not studying and painting, she’s distance trail running, gardening, baking banana bread, and going on side quests.

• Simone Brioni

  Filmmaker and a professor in the Department of English

  Simone Brioni is a filmmaker and a professor in the Department of English at Stony Brook University. He specializes in the literary and cinematic representation and self-representation of migrants, and the legacy and memory of Italian colonialism. On these topics, he has written four documentaries: The Fourth Road (2009; with/about Kaha Mohamed Aden), Aulò (2009; with/about Ribka Sibhatu), Maka (2023; with/about Geneviève Makaping) and Beyond the Frame (2023; with Ubah Cristina Ali Farah). His publications include The Somali Within: Language, Race and Belonging in “Minor” Italian Literature (2015), The Horn of Africa and Italy: Colonial, Postcolonial and Transnational Cultural Encounters (co-edited with Shimelis Bonsa Gulema, 2018), Screening Arab-Italian Encounters: Identity, Mobility and Belonging in Mediterranean Cinema (2027), and the visual art books Crazy Fish Sing (2024) and Shrapnel (2025).

• Sophia Goodkin

  Alumna of Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies at SBU

  Goodkin is a recent graduate of Stony Brook University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies. She is currently a masters student at Teachers College, Columbia University continuing her studies in psychology. As an aspiring clinical psychologist, Goodkin intends to pursue a PhD or PsyD to treat patients from a variety of demographics, with specializations in internalizing disorders like anxiety and depression among children, adolescents, and the LGBTQ+ community. Outside of academics, you can find her exploring New York City, attending concerts and drag shows, or lounging with her kitten named London.

• Timothy Massi

  Stony Brook Crew, Head Coach

  Timothy Massi is a licensed land surveyor, geospatial technology leader, and head coach of Stony Brook Crew. In his professional work, he leads teams that turn complex field data into clearer, more useful decisions. On the water, he coaches college rowers through one of the most demanding forms of teamwork: eight people learning to move as one. His TEDxSBU talk, The Boat Tells the Truth, explores what rowing reveals about leadership, followership, and the difference between being individually right and moving collectively forward.