Theme: Edge of Extinction

This event is TEDxUofIChicago's annual speaker conference. "Edge of Extinction" focuses on revealing ideas, practices, beliefs, and populations that are under threat of becoming history including things we wish to preserve or return to the public's attention, things on the brink of failure/disappearance that have been rescued, or things that we are proud to have or almost have driven out of our society.

JST Event Center
718 W Rochford Street
Chicago, Illinois, 60607
United States

Ali Shilatifard

Biochemist/ Molecular Biologist

Ali Shilatifard is a biochemist/molecular biologist that works as Robert Francis Furchgott Professor and Chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular genetics and the director of the Simpson Query Center for Epigenetics at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is known for his past role as senior editor at Science and currently as acting editor for Science Advances. As a researcher, his lab investigates chromosomal translocation’s role in childhood leukemia and has pinpointed the Super Elongation Complex as being essential to this pathogenesis.

Dan Devone

Television Broadcaster, Entrepreneur, Speaker

Dan Devone is 5 time Emmy Award winning Television Sportscaster, during a career that spanned 25 years in New York, Seattle and San Francisco. Dan is a San Francisco native of Hawaiian/Italian decent. His mother is from Hawaii and his father was an Italian from New Jersey. He has always commanded the stage/center of attention, from an early age at family functions-- it was a natural transition to speak on camera and before live audiences! He is an entrepreneur, having helped start X2Biosystems-technology for head impact monitoring, He also works at Skillz in San Francisco, the fastest growing company in the world with revenue of $54 million in 2018, according to INC magazine. He is an avid surfer, and volunteer year round as a coach at the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco.

David Houle

Futurist, Thinker, Speaker

David Houle is a futurist, thinker and speaker. Houle spent 20+ years in media and entertainment working at NBC, CBS and as part of the senior executive team that launched MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1 and CNN Headline News. Houle has won a number of awards including two Emmys, the George Foster Peabody award, and the Heartland award for “Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream”. He was also nominated for an Academy Award. Houle consistently ranks as one of the top futurist keynote speakers on the major search engines and in the world today. He was named a Vistage Speaker of the Year for 2008. In the last eleven years, he has delivered 900+ keynotes and presentations on 6 continents and 16 countries. He is often called “the CEOs’ Futurist” having spoken to or advised 4,000+ CEOs and business owners in the past 10 years. He authors the futurist blog www.evolutionshift.com with the tag line “A Future Look at Today" and publishes the free Shift Age Newsletter, available at www.davidhoule.com/newsletter.

Dawn Reiss

Multimedia Journalist

Dawn Reiss is an award-winning multimedia journalist who has written for over 40 major media outlets including TIME and Chicago Tribune. Dawn serves as president and board member of Chicago Headline Club (the largest Society of Professional Journalists in the United States), writes as an adjunct professor at DePaul University, works at the editor of two national monthly magazines, and is the recipient of major fellowships including the Northwestern Social Justice News Nexus and Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business Journalism Reynolds Week Fellow. She had traveled the world to pursue groundbreaking stories and has interviewed sensational icons including Maya Angelou and Justin Bieber.

Tanji Harper

Dancer

Tanji Harper is a dancer trained by Chicago institutions, LA, and New York. She has danced with R. Kelly , Sparkle, Do or Die, Avant, and Busta Rhymes. After touring, she became the artistic director of the Happiness Club, a piloting dance programs for Chicago Public School teens. She also has created Blu Rhythm Chicago and the Collective. She uses dance, hip hop, and positivity to influence the choices our young creatives in Chicago are faced with, uplifting the community, and pushing urban artistry

Tonika Johnson

Visual Artist/ Photographer

Tonika Johnson is a visual artist/photographer based in Englewood. She obtained a BA in Journalism & Photography from Columbia College Chicago and a MBA from National Louis University. From there, she co-founded and continues to work as a Program Manager for Resident Association of Greater Englewood (RAGE). She is known for her advocacy against the negative media coverage of poverty and crime of Englewood through her photography and exhibitions which have been featured at Rootwork Gallery in Pilsen, Chicago Cultural Center, Loyola University Museum of Art, and the Harold Washington Library Center. Her photo essay “Life Beyond The Headlines” was featured by Chicago Reader. Most recently, she worked on Folded Map which is a multi-media project that emphasizes residential segregation in Chicago that helped to bring different communities together.