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).

TEDxTufts
www.TEDxTufts.com
Medford, Massachusetts, 02155
United States

Aparna Polavarapu

Aparna Polavarapu is a law professor at the University of South Carolina as well as the Executive Director and Founder of the South Carolina Restorative Justice Initiative (SCRJI). She has significant scholarly expertise in the field of legal pluralism, with a particular research focus on non-state justice systems and how they work together with formal, state-centered systems. As the Executive Director of SCRJI, she oversees the development of restorative justice education and programming and works with organizations seeking to develop and implement their own restorative practices.

Bruce Boghosian

Bruce Boghosian, PhD is a Professor of Mathematics at Tufts University, where he also co-directs the Data Analytics program and holds secondary appointments in Computer Science and Physics. He was elected to Fellowship in the American Physical Society in 2000, to foreign membership in the Armenian National Academy of Sciences in 2008, named a Distinguished Scholar of Tufts University in 2010, a Fellow of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life in 2018, and a Fellow of the Tufts Data Intensive Studies Center in 2019. He served as chair of Mathematics at Tufts University from 2006 to 2010, and as President of the American University of Armenia from 2010 to 2014. He has held visiting positions at, inter alia, the Université de Paris-Sud in Orsay, the École Normale Supérieure de Paris, Peking University, and University College London. He is a member of the editorial boards of, inter alia, the Journal of Computational Science, and Physica A. His principal research interests are applied dynamical systems and probability theory, statistical mechanics, kinetic theory, fluid dynamics and turbulence, mathematical models of wealth distribution and inequality, quantum Monte Carlo, and quantum computation. He also maintains a strong interest in issues of international education, having served as the Vice President of the Association of American International Colleges and Universities (2013-2014), and as chair of Tufts University’s Subcommittee on Foreign Programs (2017-2018).

Claire Liu

Claire Liu (she/her/hers) is a senior at Tufts double majoring in Child Study & Human Development and Classics, with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She’s excited to talk about diversity in children’s media and how it can build empathy, especially as we are in the midst of a racial reckoning. Currently, Claire works at GBH for the children’s department where she assists with the production of shows Arthur, Molly of Denali (the first nationally distributed children’s series with an Indigenous heroine!), and Pinkalicious and Peterrific. Her senior thesis and GBH project dives into how producers of children’s television go about intentionally and respectfully represent BIPOC groups through their shows and peripherals.

Don Schechter

Don Schechter is the Owner of Charles River Media Group, LLC, a Part-Time Professor of the Practice in the Film and Media Studies Program at Tufts University, and Creator of Ascendants. At Charles River Media Group, Don oversees all projects and has worked as a director, producer, and editor for television, film, and corporate endeavors. Ascendants is a multi-platform science fiction project that includes both a series of short films (The Ascendants Anthology) and novels. Don is currently a Part-Time Professor of the Practice at Tufts University from which he holds a Master’s Degree (Music Composition and Theory) and a Bachelor’s Degree (Media Arts and Technologies, Music.) He has taught classes including “Making Movies,” “Producing Films for Social Change,” and “The History of Documentary: From Nanook the Real World.” He currently teaches “Fundamentals of Film and Media Production” and “From Script to Screen.”

Jeff Stibel

Jeff Stibel is a founding partner of Bryant Stibel and serves on the boards of the Consortium for Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Tufts University and the Natural History Museum. He has served on the boards of a number of non-profit, private, and public companies. Stibel was previously President & CEO of Web.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW) and The Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corporation, and later served as D&B’s (NYSE: DNB) Vice Chairman. Stibel is a USA Today columnist and author of The New York Times bestseller “Breakpoint” and “Wired for Thought.” Stibel received his undergraduate degree in psychology, philosophy, and cognitive science from Tufts University, and his graduate degree from Brown University, where he was the recipient of a Brain and Behavior Fellowship while studying for a PhD. Stibel also spent time as a visiting fellow at MIT and received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University.

Joel Frenzer

Utilizing his background in animation and performance, Joel Frenzer has developed a body of work that encompasses independent short films, puppetry, character voice acting, novelty song writing, looped animated vignettes, event MC-ing, and comedy podcasting. His work has been featured in international festivals such as South By Southwest, the Ottawa International Animation Fest, and the Annecy International Animation Festival. Joel is a fulltime Professor of the Practice in Media Arts at SMFA at Tufts. He is currently working on a touring lecture series for Nonnie, Raccoon, and Bear, and a new web series about mental and environmental health.

Justin Will

Justin is a Navy veteran and small business entrepreneur who relocated to Vermont in March with his wife Elise, and their newborn baby, Isabelle. Justin has degrees from Albion College, the University of Trieste and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His professional interests are far-ranging and often international, but this year he has been focusing on rural economic development in Vermont, as well as growing his coffee business, Inspired Coffee Merchants.

Kudrat Chaudhary

Kudrat Dutta Chaudhary is an International Lawyer currently working in the field of Gender based violence asylum claims in San Francisco. She is an alumni of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and is the author of her debut novel, ‘Laiza: Sometimes the end is only a Beginning’ which deals with the surge in human trafficking of Nepali women from Nepal to India after the Nepal Earthquake of 2015. Kudrat also currently serves as the Community Engagement Lead for San Francisco’s Women’s March and is an Executive member of the Young Professionals Committee of Human Rights Watch, Bay Area.

Nick Rabb

Nick Rabb is a PhD student at Tufts University pursuing a dual-degree in computer science and cognitive science. He is originally from Rochester, NY, where he received a BS in Computer Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. His most recent research has investigated how beliefs spread through populations, especially pertaining to COVID-19 mis/disinformation. Outside of academic life, Nick organizes with the Sunrise Movement's Boston hub and Massachusetts Peace Action's peace & climate working group. He often writes and speaks about the climate crisis and its intersections with other prominent social issues.

Supriya Sanjay

Supriya Sanjay graduated from Tufts in 2019, where she earned a double major in Computer Science and Cognitive Brain Science. In her senior year at Tufts, she co-chaired the Tufts’ Second Annual Women in Tech Conference and served as a Teaching Fellow for Data Structure and Algorithms. Supriya pursued an honors thesis that investigated gender bias in STEM on an international scale, with funding from the Tufts Institute of Global Leadership. Supriya was also a proud member and music director of Tufts' freshest all-gender A Capella group, Tufts sQ! Supriya currently is a Software Development Engineer II at Amazon Robotics, where she works on a large-scale machine learning system.