Theme: Transformation: Exit Your Comfort Zone

Come experience the first ever TEDx event at Mt. San Jacinto College! You will be exposed to a variety of new ideas and experiences. Come open-minded and ready to interact with other guests!

This event is a collaboration between faculty and students, and between the Menifee and San Jacinto campuses. The event will feature seven speakers and three performers. Lunch will be provided, as well as refreshments throughout and a dessert reception afterwards.

Mt. San Jacinto Theater
1499 N State St
San Jacinto, California, 92583
United States

Brandon Wales

PhD Candidate in Statistics at University of California, Riverside

I had received an associate’s degree in mathematics at Riverside Community College in 2009, bachelor’s degree in mathematics at University of California, Riverside (UCR) in 2012, master’s degree in statistics at UCR in 2014, and the hope of completing my dissertation for a doctorate degree at UCR by 2017. My topic connects the ideas of bias and causality to our everyday decision making. My motivation for understanding this idea started out very young. I’ve always found it difficult to fluently participate in social situations even as far back as elementary school. Being that I was fascinated with patterns, I had spent a large amount of time trying to find patterns in social situations and understanding what makes a social situation as dynamic as it does. This lead me to understand how people observe information and how they use that observed information in their everyday decision making including how it relates to social situations

Candace Owens

CEO of Degree180 LLC

Candace Owens is the CEO of Degree180 LLC, a company dedicated to impacting the world through focused editorials. She is also the founder of SocialAutopsy, a start-up aimed at creating a technological solution to Cyber-Bullying. Prior to her entrepreneurial pursuits, Owens attended the University of Rhode Island, majoring in Journalism and took Executive courses thereafter at NYU Stern School of Business. Owens also put in 4 years at a private equity firm in Manhattan, serving as the Vice President to their administration. She is a regular contributor to Degree180.com, and is enthusiastic about implementing strategies today that with positively affect the future of our human conscience tomorrow.

Deanna Kjorlien

President of Green Dog Pest Service

Deanna Kjorlien, President of Green Dog Pest Service, an inspection-only pest control company that uses dogs to help locate bed bugs. The World Detection Dog Organization has certified her as a dog trainer as well as a handler. Kjorlien is also a licensed Field Representative with the California Structural Pest Control. Deanna has a knack for finding dogs at shelters that are normally passed over as family pets due to their intensity and high energy. She then trains those canines to focus those same traits on sniffing out bed bugs. Using dogs to find bed bugs or to confirm that bed bugs have been killed can drastically reduce the amount of pesticides sprayed. This is a small but significant step in helping our environment, not to mention it helps us, “Sleep tight at night.”

Jo Ann Roettgen

Sociology and Communications Student at Cal State Channel Islands

I became a student at MSJC in spring 2007. I started with no goal or direction. I graduated with honors and transferred to California State University Channel Islands and will graduate from Cal State Channel Islands in Fall 2016 with a Bachelor’s in Sociology and a Bachelor’s in Communication. I am preparing to attend graduate school to work on my Master’s so that I can teach at the community college level as well as reentry programs for inmates. As the daughter of a transgender parent, I have asked many questions, but found few answers. I have recently begun to find a network of support and resources for children with Trans parents. It is important to me to help others who have been in a similar situation and to help people be a means of support for children with Trans parents.

Michael MacKinnon

Senior Research Scientist in the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California, Irvine

Michael received a Ph.D. and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Irvine in 2015 and 2013. Additionally, he received a M.S. in Environmental Toxicology from the University of California, Irvine in 2010. He conducts research into the design and integration of advanced energy technologies and systems that can improve efficiencies and reduce harmful impacts on society and the environment. A specific focus of his research includes assessing the air quality impacts of emissions arising from regional energy systems via advanced atmospheric models. His primary expertise lies in technological mitigation strategies applicable to key sources that can most effectively improve atmospheric pollutant concentrations in tandem with greenhouse gas reductions.

Michael Plotkin

Associate Professor of Biology, Mt. San Jacinto College

Michael Plotkin is a botanist who has completed graduate work at UC, Davis with degrees in Environmental Studies and Plant Biology. Beyond research in these fields, he has designed gardens, college curricula, and academic programs. He has published popular articles and textbook chapters in his academic research areas. Just to show that his interest in the environment reaches beyond pure academic research, he once lived outside for an entire summer, surviving off the land.

Pamela Ford

Professor of Anthropology, Mt. San Jacinto College. Department Chair for American Indian Studies & for the San Jacinto Campus Anthropology Department

My sons participated in youth circus and I was deeply involved in that program from 1994 to 2010. I was in charge of ticket sales each year for 9 performances. I served on the board of the Community Circus Arts Corporation which supports the local circus for several years. As a volunteer for the American Youth Circus Organization and for CCAC, I helped to organize 3 Regional Festivals involving several youth circuses in California. I have attended National Festivals of the American Youth Circus Organization in San Francisco and in Normal, Illinois. I was a volunteer at the 2013 Festival in Seattle.