Theme: Transformations

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

154 Summit Street
NJIT -- Jim Wise Theater - Kupfrian Hall
Newark, New Jersey, 07102-1982
United States

Joe Solmonese

Joe Solmonese is a managing director and founding partner of Gavin/Solmonese a corporate consulting group in Washington DC. Joe leads the firm’s Corporate Strategy, Public Affairs and Policy practice, where he advises corporations on organizational effectiveness strategies, and policy development and implementation across a diverse spectrum of topics. Joe also brings his significant experience advising both political campaigns and corporate brand campaigns. Prior to forming Gavin/Solmonese, Joe served for seven years as the president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization. Under Joe’s leadership, HRC was instrumental in passing landmark legislation such as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, as well as the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” HRC, under Joe’s leadership, also played a key role in winning full marriage equality in eight states plus the District of Columbia. Prior to joining the Human Rights Campaign, Joe spent thirteen years at EMILY’s List, one of the nation’s largest political action committees, devoted to electing women to higher office. During his final two years there, Joe served as the organization’s CEO.

Jigar Shah

Jigar Shah is author of Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy. Shah unlocked the multi-billion dollar worldwide solar industry with a business model innovation, the Power Purchase Agreement. This model created SunEdison, the largest solar services company worldwide. Jigar Shah has shown that business model innovation applied to the biggest challenge of our lifetime — climate change — will unlock a $10 trillion dollar new economy. After a successful exit at SunEdison, Jigar served as the first CEO of the Carbon War Room — a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change. Today, as CEO of Jigar Shah Consulting, he works to invest and consult into business model and financial innovation from his offices in NYC.

Dr. Donald Sebastian

Donald H. Sebastian is responsible for the academic research enterprise as well as for developing partnerships with industry, for managing governmental affairs, intellectual property management, commercialization and contract projects across the technology spectrum. Under his leadership, the university sponsored research has grown to over $100 million. He has created a number of statewide entities including the NJ Healthcare Information Technology Extension Center, NJ Homeland Security Technology Systems Center, NJ Nanotechnology Consortium and the NJ Manufacturing Extension Program. Prior to joining NJIT in 1995, Professor Sebastian was a member of the Chemical Engineering faculty at Stevens Institute of Technology where he also as valedictorian of the class of 1974, followed by Masters of Engineering in 1975, and the Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 1977.

Tim Lefens

Tim Lefens is founder and executive director of the non profit Artistic Realization Technologies www.artrealization.org. Tim has designed completely unique technologies making photography, sculpture, music, and painting accessible with perfect creative control for those with quadriplegia. Tim’s story is made more compelling due to his loss of vision not at all slowing down his running A.R.T. and creating highly regarded paintings. A.R.T. was given studio space at Princeton University. The president of PU describes A.R.T. as ‘a revolution’. His book ‘Flying Colors’ Beacon Press was named Today’s Best Nonfiction and is part of numerous university class reading lists. Some awards received by Tim and A.R.T. include the Pollock-Krasner Award for Painting, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership and President’s Awards, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Teaching Award.

Jinisha Patel

Jinisha Patel is a Junior in computer science. Her fascination with computers started when she was eight years old. She is very passionate about improving the gender gap in the world of technology and she actively works with NCWIT in mentoring young girls and speaking at events on why this is important. Jinisha has also been invited to the white house tech inclusion summit and the White House saftey datapalooza. She has interned for Cisco Systems and Bank of America, Merrill Lynch. After she graduates, she wants to work for a company as a project manager and eventually start her own company.

Martina Decker

Emergent materials that are being designed molecule by molecule to embody very specific properties are transforming our day-to-day environments. This presentation will show how these material advancements are influencing our architectures and hold the potential to address critical challenges in the future. Martina Decker is an assistant professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the College of Architecture and Design. She is originally from Munich, Germany, where she received her professional architecture degree from the University of Applied Sciences. Ms. Decker has worked on a wide range of award-winning projects that represent a penchant for interdisciplinary work, including: art installations, consumer products, and buildings. She and her firm Decker Yeadon LLC are known for their pursuit of design innovation through emergent materials, and work directly with various types of smart materials and nanomaterials. They investigate their properties, discover their capabilities, devise applications for them, and fabricate prototypes that demonstrate their potential. In the context of NJIT, Ms. Decker continues her interdisciplinary endeavors and her investigation of emergent materials and technologies in her Material Dynamics Lab.

Robert W. Lucky

Robert Lucky is an engineer known worldwide for his writing and speaking about technology and society. He has led premier research laboratories in telecommunications over the last several decades, first at Bell Labs and then at Telcordia Technologies, where he was corporate vice president, applied research. After retiring from that position he has remained active in professional activities, including advisory boards, studies, and consulting. He is the author of many technical papers and of several books, including Silicon Dreams andLucky Strikes Again. However, most engineers know him best because of the monthly columns he has written for Spectrum Magazine over the last twenty years offering philosophical and sometimes humorous observations on engineering, life, and technology.