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).

Boston Opera House
539 Washington Street
Boston, Massachusetts, 02111
United States

Adam Melonas

Culinary Innovator

Adam Melonas is the CEO and founder of Chew, a food innovation lab that redefines what’s possible in the world of packaged food. Chew partners with companies of all sizes to create game-changing products that are not only delicious, but also radically more nutritious than anything else on the market, profitable, sustainable, and scalable. Adam is a veteran of the culinary world where he’s pushed the limits of experimental and progressive cuisine with restaurants in five countries.

Brian Olson

Redistricting Advocate

Brian Olson is currently a software engineer at PatientsLikeMe. Since learning to program at age 9, he has worked on software of all kinds at many levels from embedded microcontrollers to server farms. He’s worked at startups, major companies, and independently. Brian has worked on redistricting software for over a decade, resulting in an efficient system that can solve for compact, impartial, non-gerrymandered districts on a home computer. This work has been cited in the Washington Post and scholarly journals. The software is Free and Open Source allowing anyone to verify its function or tinker with it to make it better. Brian earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jon Feinman

Community Catalyst

As founder and executive director of InnerCity Weightlifting (ICW), Jon is focused on aligning the vision, strategy, culture, and growth of ICW to increase economic mobility and social inclusion for young people at the highest-risk for violence; all while shifting perceptions, so that the factors that lead to segregated pockets of violence fade away changing the course for future generations. Building upon his experience with AmeriCorps and as a personal trainer, Jon received his MBA from Babson College in 2010 where he launched ICW.

Kevin Esvelt

Evolutionary Engineer

Kevin Esvelt is an assistant professor of MIT and leader of the Sculpting Evolution group at the MIT Media Lab. His research team specializes in designing tools to reshape populations and ecosystems. An evolutionary engineer, Esvelt received his PhD from Harvard University in 2010 for inventing a synthetic microbial ecosystem for rapidly evolving useful biomolecules. As a Fellow of the Wyss Institute of Harvard, he helped pioneer the development of a powerful new method of genome engineering based on CRISPR/Cas9, an enzymatic scalpel that can be programmed to cut DNA at any desired sequence.

Luminarium Dance

Dance Company

Luminarium is an award-winning modern and contemporary dance company that is regularly hailed for its unique combination of dance and light. It was born as a new outlet for performing arts. It is a think tank, a museum, a gallery for contemporary dance and for contemporary ideas. Luminarium is a space to merge dance with art, projection, video, film, lighting design, and music.

Masary Studios

Performance Artists

Masary Studios is a team of artists awakening built environments through live performance of music and projection mapping, unlocking the sonic possibilities of an urban landscape. Activated through animation in collaboration with the composers, percussionists and the structure, MS develops site-specific public art that is at once a performance, a reconsideration of architecture, and a visual spectacle.

Rebecca Saxe

Cognitive Neuroscientist

Rebecca Saxe is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, and an associate member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. Saxe was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, before studying Psychology, Philosophy, and Physiology at Oxford University in Oxford, UK. She did her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT, and then was a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows. Her research addresses the human brain’s astonishing capacity for complex abstract thought. She is especially known for her work on “Theory of Mind”, people’s ability to think about the thoughts, beliefs, plans, hopes, and emotions of other people. Central questions in this research include: how does an adult’s brain construct thoughts about thoughts? How do these capacities develop in infancy and childhood? How is this aspect of brain development affected by the environment, and by disease?

Susan Schneider

Cognitive Philosopher

Susan Schneider is an associate professor of philosophy and cognitive science at the University of Connecticut and a member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics at Yale University. Dr. Schneider writes about matters involving the nature of the self, which she examines from the vantage point of issues in philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Her work wrestles with vexed issues such as the nature of the mind, whether AI can be conscious, preparing for artificial general intelligence (AGI), superintelligent AI, and futuristic brain enhancements, such as brain chips and uploading.