Theme: GET OUTside

The theme is GET OUTside and the event will present a day full of entertainment, ideas and stories that push you to “GET OUTside” physically to appreciate the benefits of being connected outdoors as well as metaphorically to get out of your current mindsets, comfort zones, us versus them mentality and stereotypes.

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
8270 Alumni Drive
College Park, Maryland, 20742
United States

Chris Lai

Chris is the Founder and CEO of MassVR, a virtual reality company that converges at the intersection of eSports and real sports. As a father of three young boys, he is passionate about combating childhood obesity through his pathbreaking work in creating an immersive and physically active gaming experience.

Christophe Jelinski

Christophe is a mentalist, actor, speaker, and DC’s “2018 Magician of the Year” along with being the host of the “Magic Mind” podcast.

Daniela Orozco-Jimenez

Maggie & Daniela are inventors, STEM advocates and college students studying at Life Pacific College and Stanford University respectively. They are passionate about empowering teenagers to reach the impossible. In high school, as part of an all-girls engineering team, they helped invent a solution to address homelessness in their community and bring dignity to displaced people globally.

Danny Bittman

Danny Bittman, a virtual reality artist, film maker, and developer creating the fastest workflow to translate the human imagination into digital information. Using VR creation tools like Tilt Brush and Blocks, I have created immersive designs for Marvel, Google, Hyundai, Nvidia, and more.

Dr. Cassandra Crifasi

Dr. Crifasi is an Assistant Professor and Researcher at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy & Research while also being a long-time gun owner. She has published a multitude of peer-reviewed papers in top journals and her work has been featured in major outlets including the Washington Post, US News & World Report, NPR, and the Baltimore Sun.

Edward Krafcik

Edward Krafcik is an urban designer and landscape architect who currently leads City Partnerships and Urban Design at Soofa, an MIT Media Lab start-up working with Prince George's County, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia etc. His vision is to implement surprising yet simple technologies to design smart parks and public spaces for diverse communities.

J. Wyndal Gordon

J. Wyndal Gordon, Esq. "The Warrior Lawyer®!" was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Maryland where he has been a resident all of his life. Mr. Gordon attended Friendly H.S. in Fort Washington, Maryland and graduated from H.D. Woodson H.S. in Washington, D.C. in 1987. Mr. Gordon is a respected trial attorney who represents individuals and small businesses in litigation matters throughout the State of Maryland and D.C. federal courts.

Leslie Herod

Representative Herod is the first African-American, LGBT candidate elected to the state legislature while capturing the highest votes for any candidate in a contested race. In a lifetime of repeatedly breaking the mold, she reveals how her personal story drives her to advocate for criminal justice reform and be a voice for those unheard in our society.

Maggie Mejia

Maggie & Daniela are inventors, STEM advocates and college students studying at Life Pacific College and Stanford University respectively. They are passionate about empowering teenagers to reach the impossible. In high school, as part of an all-girls engineering team, they helped invent a solution to address homelessness in their community and bring dignity to displaced people globally.

Mignon Clyburn

Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn is currently serving her second term at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Following her appointment, Clyburn also served as first Acting Chairwoman of the FCC. Commissioner Clyburn has been committed to closing the “digital divide.” Specifically, she has lead the developments for Lifeline Modernization, which assists low income consumers defray the cost of broadband service, championed for diversity of media ownership, initiated Inmate Calling Services reforms, and fought to preserve a free and open internet.

Nico Larco

Nico is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at University of Oregon and Director of the Urbanism Next Research Initiative. He pulls back the curtain to preview how autonomous vehicles will shape the future planning of our parks, cities and life as we know it.

Peter Ouko

In his role the Founder of the Youth Safety Awareness Initiative (Crime Si Poa), Ouko today champions access to justice for inmates and the indolent in society while using social enterprise to advocate for a crime free world. His goal: to demystify justice and have a crime free world underpinned by the rule of the law.

Shelby Dziwulski

Shelby grew up in the comfort of the Baltimore suburbs and is a proud University of Maryland alumna. Her unique career story, where she went from being a majority to being among ‘the only’, will reshape your thinking about the impact of unequal opportunities on our daily lives.

Timnit Gebru

Timnit works at Microsoft, New York in the Fairness Accountability Transparency and Ethics (FATE) Group where her team works on the complex social implications of AI, machine learning, data science, large-scale experimentation, and increasing automation. She previously worked at Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab where she received her PhD, and is Co-Founder of Black in AI, an organization that aims to foster collaborations and discuss initiatives to increase the presence of Black people in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Tony Weaver

Tony Weaver Jr. is the Founder of Weird Enough Productions, a media company focused on combating stereotypes. He is the recipient of the Echoing Green Fellowship, Camelback Ventures Fellowship and was awarded Forbes 30 under 30 for his pathbreaking work envisioning and creating superheroes who reflect the real world.