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).

National Hispanic Cultural Center
1701 4th St SW
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87102
United States

Andrew Taggart

Practical philosopher, entrepreneur, Ph.D.

Andrew Taggart is a practical philosopher. He asks and seeks to answer the most basic questions of human existence with others around the world. In this capacity, he speaks over Skype with executives and entrepreneurs throughout the U.S. and Europe about the nature of a good life. He is also the founder of Askole, which helps C-level executives and startup teams examine what they're taking for granted. Now more than ever, technologists need to think hard about bigger cultural, ethical, and political questions. A former resident of New York City, he now lives in Albuquerque with his wife Alexandra.

Angel Mondragon

CEO, cryptoadvisor

Angel Mondragon believes that blockchain technology can do so much more than just that. As the CEO of a blockchain full service bank, and as a senior crypto advisor for a publicly traded company, Mondragon’s passion for the sciences and his innate curiosity have led him to pioneer in the crypto industry and educate other crypto entrepreneurs and developers. He sees blockchain technology, a form of collaboration that emphasizes decentralization and transparency in shared data, can and is revitalizing industries that have stagnated.

Arman Rashidi

Researcher, engineer, high technology

Arman Rashidi is a research assistant at the Center for High Technology Materials, and a PhD candidate in the UNM Optical Science & Engineering Program. He has also written several scientific articles and presented at several national conferences about his research, which has led to improvements in LED technology. But if none of that sheds light on how exciting his work can be, then his current research on developing high-speed blue LEDs for future visible-light communication and lighting systems may shed that light. Imagine—a light bulb that can transmit and connect you to the internet!

Chantelle Wagner

Farmer, accountant, mother

Chantelle Wager earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master’s in Accounting from the University of New Mexico, then becoming a Certified Public Accountant. But after a decade of working in finance, she realized that her calling was not with finance but with the livelihood that her family has had for over a century: farming in Corrales, where she grew up. She had to get back outside, grow her own food and return to nature. So that is exactly what she did. And upon returning home she opened Big Jim Kid’s Farm to share this message with society.

David Rakel

Doctor, author, integrative medicine

David Rakel launched his career in health in Idaho, where he worked in rural private medical practice for five years. After this, he completed a two-year residential fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona Health Services Center. At the University of Wisconsin he founded and directed the Integrative Medicine Program, and served as a tenured professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the School of Medicine and Public Health. Today, Rakel is the Chair of the UNM School of Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, as well as the author of The Compassionate Connection. Rakel is passionate about integrative medicine, an approach that focuses on all of the patient’s physical, mental, social, and mental needs, and sees a future in which artificial intelligence allows physicians to spend more time providing compassionate care.

Devont'e Watson

Economist, peace activist

Watson is a graduate from UNM studying international relations and economics, emphasis on national security studies and business management, and holds a strategic analysis certificate. He is the founder of Watson & Associates International, LLC, a firm specializing in economic development and research, and has served as a youth advisor to New Mexican and federal political figures such as Richard Berry, Susana Martinez, Michelle Lujan Grisham and U.S. Surgeon General Benjamin.

Dr Jeff Nichol

Veterinarian, behaviorist, columnist

Jeff Nichol, DVM, is a residency trained veterinary behavior specialist, as well as the author of three books, a published researcher in scientific journals and textbooks, and the weekly Pet Care columnist for the Albuquerque Journal. After years of general medicine and surgery, he has specialized in diagnosing and treating neurological disorders that manifest as behavioral symptoms in animals. He believes that even more than genetics, life experiences, or maturity, pets and their people can benefit the most from gentle leadership taught by current learning theory.

Jill Geltmaker

Financial strategist, family & employment advocate

Jill Geltmaker is a former business owner and now Vice President at Prosperity Works. She focuses on reducing barriers that make it difficult for limited-income households to acquire assets such as a home, an education, or a business that will help them enter the economic mainstream. She helps create partnerships and organizational development strategies with financial institutions, business leaders, utility companies, policymakers, families, students, and individuals to promote economic prosperity for all New Mexicans.

Kaatje Gotcha

Comedian, writer, survivor

Kaatje Gotcha, comedienne, writer, and stuntwoman-turned-Physician Assistant, found salvation in comedy and writing after being diagnosed with Adhesive Arachnoiditis, one of the most painful conditions known to humankind. Two decades prior to her 2015 diagnosis, a disease which has left her bed-bound 22 hours a day, she suffered a spinal cord injury while skydiving. Instead of giving up in the face of seemingly insurmountable tragedy, Kaatje Gotcha seized life. Her indomitable spirit and singular courage have led her to pursue a new career in storytelling through writing and stage performance.

Matthew Fricke

Professor, swarm researcher, robotics

Matthew Fricke is an Assistant Research Professor in the UNM Department of Computer Sciences. But even more excitingly, he also collaborates with Kennedy Space Center as the technical lead of the UNM-NASA Swarmathon project. His research focuses on solving problems using swarms, whether they be a few robots working together, a super computer with thousands of processors, an ant colony a hundred thousand strong, or the millions of immune cells. Could a swarm of robots be our extraterrestrial ambassadors? Perhaps, so Fricke says.

Pilar Sanjuan

Professor, researcher, psychologist

Since graduate school, Pilar Sanjuan has been curious about the relationship between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the use of mind-altering substances. As an Assistant Professor of Research at the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions and at the UNM Department of Psychology, Sanjuan is conducting research funded by the National Institute of Health, in which she uses neuroimaging and mobile assessment technologies to study various demographic groups such as veterans and pregnant women seeking treatment for opiate addiction. She believes that PTSD, stress, and substance abuse share the same provenance in many people: variations in how the individual regulates emotions. But how can this intersection help us better diagnose, treat and support these groups?

Robert Arrieta

First Responder, paramedic, community creator

In addition to being a first responder for the past 17 years, a paramedic for the past 10, and a fellow member of the PTSD community for the past 8, two years ago he founded Skullsforhope, an awareness business that advocates for people living with PTSD and their families. Arrieta wants to raise awareness that PTSD can impact anyone regardless of their walk of life, that they can journey through their experience with PTSD at their own pace, and that a community exists to support and uplift them.

Roberta Marquez

Child Advocate/educator

After earning her Master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law, she became passionate about helping children overcoming the negative effects of trauma, and realized that adults in all disciplines can better support these children in their journey. To this end, as an Assistant Professor at Western New Mexico University, Marquez has developed a multi-disciplinary Trauma Informed Practice (TIP) course, where she teaches hundreds of professionals across the nation how to apply TIPs to all their interactions with children and young adults overcoming trauma.