Theme: Through Collaboration, Impact.

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).

DeBaun Performing Arts Center
24 5th Street
Hoboken, New Jersey, 07030
United States

Alex Wellerstein, Ph.D.

TEDx speaker; Assistant Professor and David and GG Farber Fellow in the Program on Science and Technology Studies in the College of Arts and Letters at Stevens Institute of Technology

Alex Wellerstein received a PhD from the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University in 2010, and a BA in History from the UC Berkeley, in 2002, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Managing the Atom Project and International Security Program at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2010-2011. Dr. Alex is currently completing his book on the history of nuclear secrecy in the United States, from the Manhattan Project through the War on Terror, under contract with the University of Chicago Press. He is the author of Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, the creator of the online NUKEMAP nuclear weapons effects simulator, and contributor to The New Yorker's Elements Blog, and has been published in the Washington Post, Harper's Magazine, Science and Nature. His work has also been featured on a variety of media outlets, including The Daily Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He is co-PI on the Reinventing Civil Defense Project, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Elizabeth Fassman-Beck, Ph.D.

TEDx speaker; Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology

Dr. Elizabeth Fassman-Beck is a civil engineer specializing in urban stormwater management using green infrastructure. Her work linking the design to hydrologic and water quality performance of technologies such as living (green) roofs, bioretention/rain gardens, permeable pavements, and floating treatment wetlands is published in leading engineering journals. Elizabeth won the 2014 Wesley W. Horner Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for technical research on living roofs, co-authored the 2015 technical reference Living Roofs in Integrated Urban Water Systems, and has created technical specifications for regulatory agencies in Auckland (New Zealand) and North Carolina.

Jan Cannizzo, Ph.D.

TEDx speaker; Teaching Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Stevens Institute of Technology

Jan Cannizzo has been a faculty member in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Stevens since 2014. Jan is passionate about dispelling the common misconception that math is inherently dry or inaccessible, merely a hurdle to overcome en route to pursuing other goals. He is a co-organizer and the master of ceremonies of the annual Reimagining Calculus Education conference. Together with colleagues, he helps run the Stevens Math Olympiad and Math Circle initiatives, outreach programs that aim to get schoolchildren in local schools excited about mathematics. In addition to teaching precalculus through multivariable calculus, he has been instrumental in the development of the Stevens Calculus System, an innovative approach to freshman calculus education. Jan received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Vadim Kaimanovich. In 2017, he received the Harvey N. Davis Distinguished Professor award for excellence in teaching.

Melissa Shuman Zarin, Ph.D.

TEDx speaker; Assistant Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Stevens Institute of Technology

Dr. Melissa Shuman Zarin earned her B.A. in Psychology and Drama from Kenyon College, her MA/Ed.M. in Psychological Counseling from Teachers College Columbia University, and her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Fordham University. Currently, she supervises the CAPS Peer Education program and is faculty advisor to the new Active Minds Chapter at Stevens. She is a co-developer of the SPEAK-Up bystander program and a regular facilitator of the training. Further, she provides mental health workshops to student groups, Greek life, resident advisors and peer mentors on variety of mental health topics. In addition to her outreach work at Stevens, she provides individual counseling to students and supervises pre-doctoral and post-doctoral interns who train in the center. In June 2017, Dr. Zarin was the first recipient of the New Jersey College Counseling Association Professional Recognition Award.