TEDxCambridge consists of a premier annual event at the Boston Opera House and an intimate salon series at WBUR CitySpace that collectively celebrate the remarkable innovation, creativity, and inspiration found within the region and beyond. We produce one of the largest independently organized TED events in the world featuring 2,500 guests, six distinguished speakers, and two artistic performances.

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

Anthony Jack

Diversity Scholar

Anthony Abraham Jack is a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and Assistant Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He holds the Shutzer Assistant Professorship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. His research documents overlooked diversity among lower-income undergraduates: the doubly disadvantaged – those who enter college from local, typically distressed public high schools – and the privileged poor – those who do so from boarding, day, and preparatory high schools. His scholarship has appeared in the Du Bois Review, Sociological Forum, and Sociology of Education, and has earned awards from the American Sociological Association, Eastern Sociological Society, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Ashley Whillans

Behavioral Scientist

Ashley Whillans is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit, teaching the Negotiations course to MBA students. She studies how people navigate trade-offs between time and money. Her ongoing research investigates whether (and how) intangible incentives, such as experiential and time-saving rewards, affect employee motivation and well-being. In 2015 and 2018, she was named a Rising Star of Behavioral Science by the International Behavioral Exchange and the Behavioral Science and Policy Association. In 2016, she co-founded the Department of Behavioral Science in the Policy, Innovation, and Engagement Division of the British Columbia Public Service.

Dorsa Amir

Evolutionary Anthropologist

Dorsa Amir is an evolutionary anthropologist interested in how differing cultural and ecological environments shape the developing mind. She is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Psychology at Boston College and received her PhD in Anthropology from Yale University. Her research adopts a cross-cultural and developmental perspective to explore the role of the local environment in adaptively shaping behavior and preferences. She is currently investigating cross-cultural variation in the development of risk & time preferences, early life socioeconomic effects on behavior, and the role of scarcity in cognitive development.

Erin Kelly

Moral Philosopher

Erin Kelly is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. Her research interests are in moral and political philosophy and the philosophy of law, with a focus on questions about justice, the nature of moral reasoning, moral responsibility and desert, and theories of punishment. She earned a B.A. in philosophy from Stanford University and a PhD from Harvard University. Her current work focuses on how matters of social justice should bear on our thinking about individual responsibility and our assessment of criminal justice institutions. She is the author of The Limits of Blame: Rethinking Punishment and Responsibility, which criticizes the role of blame in popular theories of criminal justice. She has a non-academic interest in music, film, the outdoors, and two teenage daughters.

Rafael Campo

Poetic Healer

Rafael Campo teaches and practices medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He also serves as Poetry Section Editor for JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. Author of nine acclaimed books, he is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Poetry Series award, and a Lambda Literary Award for his poetry. His work has appeared in several periodicals including The American Poetry Review, The Nation, The New Republic, and The New York Times Magazine. He has lectured widely, at such distinguished venues as the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress, and the 92nd Street Y in New York.

Ruby Rose Fox

Performer

Ruby Rose Fox is a cultural messenger of our turbulent modern times. Part actress, director, and writer, Fox has never shied away from inventive ways to approach her art. Her music is as sonically compelling as it is subversive, packed with lyrics that reflect and challenge our current political state, from #metoo, to the mass-shooting crisis. Fox will release her sophomore album Salt, in summer of 2019, which is a cinematic piece of experimental pop that features dense soundscapes built to accompany Fox’s wall-shattering vocals. The sonically-rich record is enhanced with ASMR recordings that produce a next-level experience when listened to with headphones.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Leadership Psychologist

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is an international authority in psychological profiling, talent management, leadership development, and people analytics. He is the Chief Talent Scientist at ManpowerGroup, co-founder of Deeper Signals and Metaprofiling, and Professor of Business Psychology at both University College London, and Columbia University. He has previously held academic positions at New York University and the London School of Economics, and lectured at Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, London Business School, Johns Hopkins, IMD, and INSEAD, as well as being the CEO at Hogan Assessment Systems. Tomas has published 9 books and over 130 scientific papers making him one of the most prolific social scientists of his generation.

Will Dailey

Performer

Will Dailey is an acclaimed independent recording artist, performer, and artist advocate. His music has a rich vintage vibe with a firm appreciation of AM rock, pop, and big hooks. Dailey is a three-time winner of the Boston Music Award for Best Singer/Songwriter and also won Artist of the Year in 2014 and Best Male Vocalist in 2015 and 2016. He has shared the stage with Eddie Vedder, Willie Nelson, Roger McGuinn, G Love, Steve Earle, and Tanya Donelly. Dailey has played at Farm Aid four times alongside Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, and John Mellencamp. His new album, Golden Walker, was released summer of 2018 and hit #1 on Billboards Northeast Heatseekers.