Theme: Empathy & Malice

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).

Macky Auditorium
285 UCB University Avenue
Boulder, Colorado, 80302
United States

Brenda Alderete

Audio Team Coordinator

Brenda Alderete spent the last seven years forging a unique career in the music business through street team management, event production, and strategic partnership development for national brands. As Audio Team Coordinator for the Creative Accelerator Program at madelife, Brenda utilizes the skills she acquired through her prior work experiences to develop individualized programs to help launch careers for future industry leaders and creatives. Her passion lies at the intersection of music, technology, and education; Brenda believes that a stronger and more vibrant society can be achieved through access to resources and platforms that support individual creative expression.

Brian Coppom

Executive Director

As Executive Director of Colorado’s top growers-only markets in Longmont and Boulder, Coppom directs the nonprofit organization’s mission to promote and expand local agriculture and make fresh products accessible to the Boulder County community. Prior to joining the Boulder County Farmers’ Markets, Coppom worked in telecommunications and technology innovation companies. Having been born in Germany, Coppom thinks best when his desk is tidy.

Christen Lien

Violaist

Christen Lien is a contemporary, classically infused multi-instrumentalist who creates an innovative brand of musical storytelling. She performs original compositions primarily on viola that are a beautiful mixture of musical traditions and innovative acoustic and electronic sounds. Lien incorporates the use of guitar effect processors and looping pedals with her instruments (which also include bass guitar, harmonica, Moog synthesizer, drums and kalimba), creating hybrid, melodic music and haunting, evocative performance art. Lien’s music has been used in the feature films Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth and Occupy Love, live theater, dance performances and international political protests. Notable concert halls, museums and venues where she has brought her original work include the REDCAT of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Legion of Honor Museum, the Detroit Institute of the Arts, House of Blues, the Morrison Planetarium at CalAcademy and numerous universities.

Dave Brain

Assistant Professor

Dave Brain is an assistant professor in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado. As a planetary scientist, he studies the interaction of unmagnetized planets such as Mars and Venus with their space environment. This topic is exciting to him because charged particles and magnetic fields from the Sun are believed to have fundamentally altered these bodies over the past 4+ billion years. By studying processes that occur there today we hope to unravel how these and other planets evolved, and why their atmospheres are so different from our own. He is a Co-Investigator for the MAVEN mission currently orbiting Mars.

Dr. Carly Howett

Senior Research Scientist

Dr. Carly Howett is a Senior Research Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder Colorado. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Oxford in 2005, and has been working on New Horizons since 2012. Since then her main interest has been the calibration and image processing of data from New Horizon’s Ralph instrument – the color “eyes” of the spacecraft. She is also on NASA’s Cassini mission, which has been investigating the Saturn-system since 2004. Outside of work she enjoys all the forms of running, jumping and outdoor-stupidity Colorado has to offer, particularly cycling, skiing, swimming and climbing.

Dr. Lindsay Levkoff Diamond

Director of Education

Lindsay Diamond, Ph.D. is a recovering molecular biologist who, despite turning in her badge and pipette gun, has a passion for making science accessible and approachable. This fervor carries over into her post-research life as the Director of Education at SparkFun Electronics, where her team designs curricula and travels the country providing professional development to educators looking to introduce science, technology and the maker movement to their students.

Dr. Nicole Prause

Sexual Psychophysiologist

Nicole Prause, PhD is a sexual psychophysiologist trained at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. Her research was the first to link brain responses in the laboratory to real-world sexual behaviors, the first functional brain test of “porn addiction”, and the first to use transcranial magnetic brain stimulation to alter sexual responsiveness. Much of her equipment is custom-built, including the first fMRI-safe genital vibrator and 3D-printed phallus models. She is one of the few sexual psychophysiologists still in the USA due to the controversies in conducting the research in this country.

Dr. Vyga Kaufmann

Clinical Psychologist

When Vyga Kaufmann, PhD thinks about a night of quality sleep she envisions Ivan Pavlov comfortably reclined in a freight train gliding down a mountain under a moonlit sky. As a clinical psychologist with 20 years of professional experience in mental health care and a relentless curiosity about how and why we sleep she has applied her expertise to promoting awareness about the ways that seemingly benign behaviors can impact overall quality of sleep. Kaufmann is a founding partner of Summit Behavioral Sleep Medicine, part-time instructor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU Boulder, hiker of Mt. Sanitas, and mother of an energetic and inquisitive 4-year old daughter.

Fractal Tribe

Performance Troupe

Fractal Tribe is a badass and sexy tribe of artists, engineers, and performers who produce consistent performance art that is not to be missed. Their skill in combining theatrics with dance, fire, acrobatics, aerial arts, and music creates more than a show but a full visual, auditory and kinesthetic experience. In addition to creating provocative and inspiring entertainment pieces, Fractal Tribe also enjoys leading workshops, developing community and sustainability projects, and exploring cutting edge performance technologies. Fractal Tribe’s high level mission is to inspire individuals to realize their own intrinsic value and actualize their true potential within their individual communities. By doing they hope to fractalize the model of non-competitive empowerment groups everywhere.

Hikaru Miyakawa

Artist

Born in the line of Japanese Imperial Court appointed artisan, Hikaru is an internationally exhibiting artist. As Leonardo da Vinci, whom Hikaru has followed since he was ten, he is a man of multiple expressions: art, music(opera), acting, writing, dancing, and teaching (Waldorf, etc) to name a few. As a writer and researcher, Hikaru is currently writing the books/articles on several subjects including: Leonardo da Vinci, Old and New Testaments through Hebrew and Aramaic, Parzival/Holy Grail, Subconsciousness/Dream (…among others)

Rick Griffith

Designer

For 21 years Rick Griffith has sought clarity about art and communication through the broad discipline of design. He got his first job in the business with FCB/LKP on New York’s Madison Avenue working for ATT&T, Citibank, and The Berlin Board of Tourism, and since 1995 he has been working on design and branding focused projects across the United States for clients such as Columbia University (NY), The Rob Roy Kelly American WoodType Collection at The University of Texas, Austin, Hanover College, (IA), and Denver International Airport. His projects & commercial works and projects have been cited in several national and international resources including TDC, AIGA 365, Print, Dwell, and Good Magazine. He has works published by Rotovision in the UK, Lawrence King, and Rockport in the US. His work is included in the AIGA National Design Archives, the Denver Art Museum’s Design permanent collection, The Butler Library of Rare Books and Manuscripts at Columbia University, and the Tweed Museum

Scott Carney

Investigative Journalist and Anthropologist

Scott Carney is an award-winning investigative journalist and anthropologist whose stories blend narrative non-fiction with ethnography. He is the author of three books including The Red Market and A Death on Diamond Mountain and is a former contributing editor at Wired. He has also published in Mother Jones, Foreign Policy, Playboy, Details, Discover, Outside and Fast Company. He is a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism and the founder of WordRates.com which a website that helps writers understand the business of journalism. He currently lives in Denver, CO. Find out more at scottcarney.com

Trace Bundy

Guitarist

Trace Bundy must be seen, not just heard. His music is poetry in motion, using harmonics, looping, multiple capos, and his unique banter and stage presence to deliver an unforgettable live concert experience. Listening to his intricate arrangements is one thing, but seeing the fan-dubbed “Acoustic Ninja” play live confounds even the most accomplished music lovers as to how one person can do all that with just two hands and ten fingers.