Theme: Here There Be Monsters

Here There be Monsters represents the unknown. More importantly, it epitomizes its exploration.

We go back to the days when the world was only as big as the explorers who set out to discover it. In uncharted sections of ocean, maps would often depict a dragon or a monster denoting the area shrouded in mystery and cursed with evil. It took brave men and women with braver ideas to conquer their fears and plunge into the unknown. This is exactly what we hope to embody at our event.

The monsters can be anything from internal emotions to engineering design. It is our goal to share the ideas that have bravely confronted these hurdles, or will prevent them in the future. Both the audience and the speakers at our event will use these ideas as a means for exploration into uncharted territory, and to challenge the monsters they find there.

Remember, it was not so long ago that others challenged the notion that the earth was flat, the sun revolved around it, and manned flight was nothing more than a dream. Challenge the monsters and explore the unknown at TEDxEmbryRiddlePrescott!

3700 Willow Creek Road
Prescott, Arizona, 86301
United States

Avery H

Security Specialist

Avery is currently studying Global Security & Intelligence. He is in a specialty track for Security Operations Management. He specializes studying leadership styles and their effect on follower‐ship in different high‐stress industries. He has actively studied leadership within the Emergency Services community (specifically medical response), Military leadership, Peer‐to‐peer leadership at academic institutions, leadership in the government security industry, and leadership within state government. He is specifically interested in how one leader can use different leadership styles depending the stress levels of the situation to socially engineer a preferable outcome.

Jon Haass

Cyber Educator and Scientist

Jon Haass is associate professor and department head of the Cyber Intelligence and Security degree program at the newly created College of Security and Intelligence at Embry‐Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. He has published articles on a variety of topics from airport cyber security to the evolution of galaxies. Dr. Haass serves as advisory board member for the Arizona Cyber Threat Response Alliance, a regional information sharing and analysis organization. Previously he has held leadership positions in startup companies OpenTV and Sendmail, early players in on‐line digital data. He finds the growing and accessible information available to be mined on the internet to be fascinating and if effectively used can assist in our understanding of economics, societal change and our place in the evolving cyber physical world. Other passions include skiing, hiking Sedona, writing poetry, studying integral theory and the Science of Mind.

Linda Parker

Digital Learning & Technologies Associate

Linda Parker has a background in electronics and has worked for a number of years in the Communications Industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and is currently finishing her graduate work in Safety Science at Embry‐Riddle Aeronautical University.

Nick Devereux

Astrophysicist

Dr. Nick Devereux is a professionally trained astrophysicist, a university professor and a qualified pilot. His astrophysics research interprets Hubble Space Telescope observations of super-massive black holes in nearby galaxies. As a teacher, Dr. Devereux employs his extensive knowledge of aviation and spaceflight as a tool to illustrate important physics principles, one of which is the concept of artificial gravity. He is now an advocate for the use of artificial gravity in the next generation of spacecraft, in anticipation of future manned missions to Mars and beyond.

Paul Bunnell

Physics Teacher - Prescott, AZ

Paul currently teaches Physics at Prescott High School and Engineering 101 at Embry‐Riddle Aeronautical University. He began college studying mechanical engineering at Case Western Reserve University but discovered his passion was in teaching. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and a Master’s degree in Teaching. His students might reminisce about how a home‐made hovercraft helped them learn Newton’s 3rd law, or how circuits can be modeled with plumbing parts, but in Paul’s view, these are just cool and effective ways to get students to think about the epistemology of science and how to draw valid conclusions from data. Paul is also pursuing a Biology teaching credential, and outside the classroom, he is the creator of a new science fiction time travel concept – the constant rate typeover model.

Seerat Sangha

Mechanical Engineering Student

Seerat (think of "spirit" without the "P") is a fourth year mechanical engineering student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. Despite the average Washington state weather, Seerat enjoys the overcast of grey clouds while enjoying her favorite coffee with her hobbies consisting of watching movies, reading, writing poetry and enjoying the company of her dearest friends. Her family originates from the state of Punjab, India, but Seerat has constantly balanced the culture shock of being born and raised in America while representing her Punjabi culture. As a result, Seerat is an open-minded, social, and extremely diverse individual whose goal is to travel and learn the history of the world while participating in the development of modern technology as an engineer, especially for the aviation world. Seerat enjoys public speaking and admires the power behind ideas changing the world for the better.