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).

Buskirk-Chumley Theater
114 E Kirkwood Ave
Bloomington, Indiana, 47408
United States

Dr. Andreas Bueckle

Virtual Reality Researcher + Innovator

Andreas Bueckle is a Research Scientist in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington. His interest lies in how we can use data visualization to improve performance and satisfaction for training and coaching in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other immersive techniques in an increasingly data-driven world. Born and raised in Germany, he holds a B.A. in Media Studies from Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, an M.A. in Communications from Berlin University of the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Information Science from Indiana University. After working as a video journalist, videographer, and video editor on projects in Germany, France, India, and the US, he switched to a more technical education and got his Ph.D. in Information Science, working with Dr. Katy Börner at Indiana University Bloomington. Aside from doing research, Andreas is an avid sailor and the Head Coach of the Sailing Club at Indiana University.

Dr. Jon Racek

Architect + Professor of Design

Jon Racek is a multidisciplinary designer and faculty member at Indiana University whose scope of expertise includes architecture, interiors, furniture, landscapes, and playgrounds. Jon is the founder of Play360, a nonprofit that trains organizations in the developing world to build their own learning resources, including playgrounds and classroom resources. Jon also directs Printshop, a project to create a network of distributed manufacturing centers in Rwanda centered around 3D printing. Before joining the faculty, Professor Racek was an architect, furniture designer, and entrepreneur. His work has been exhibited all over the world and featured in publications such as the New York Times and TIME Magazine. In 2012, Building Design and Construction Magazine named him one of “40 Under 40” in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Jon recently received a Fulbright Scholarship and will be traveling to Sri Lanka in Spring 2022!

Dr. Katie Dieter

Black Studies Scholar + Artist

Dr. Katie Dieter is the associate director of African and African American Studies at Stanford University. Prior to this role, she was a senior lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and was adjunct faculty at the University of the West Indies, Mona, both located in Kingston, Jamaica. With a Ph.D. and M.A. in African American and African Diaspora Studies, a M.A. in Gender Studies, and a bachelor’s degree in African and African American Studies and Studio Art , Katie’s research focuses on the ways the visual and performing arts can be used as methods of knowledge production and resistance. Katie is also an artist and includes intersectional themes in her artwork. In a recent chapter included in Fire Under My Feet: History, Race, and Agency in African Diaspora Dance, she analyzes choreography of Indiana University’s African American Dance Company using a creative auto-ethnographic approach to reimagine dance through her own paintings.

Heather Brizzi

Heather Brizzi is a Cleveland, OH native who has been leading in information technology for over two decades. Throughout her career, Heather has been a transformational leader focused on technology-related operations in the support, services, and the project portfolio space. She leverages her strengths in developing and coaching others to develop strong, capable teams that excel in service and solutions enabled by technology. Heather has a passion for connecting people to purpose and hopes to assist them in pursuing their best life by understanding their skills, how they can use them, and developing plans to realize those dreams. She has been a leadership panelist, moderator, and speaker inspiring others throughout her career in tech.

Max Mowitz

Trans Activist + Educator

Max Mowitz is Program Director at One Iowa, Iowa’s LGBTQ advocacy organization, overseeing organizational programming, direct service, and community education via LGBTQ training. Max has been active in advocacy work since coming out in high school, focusing on comprehensive LGBTQ education to the broader community as a part of queer liberation. Max is part of the Planned Parenthood Speakers Bureau and serves as a board member for the Iowa Abortion Access Fund, Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund, and Planned Parenthood. Max is pursuing their full-spectrum doula certification and is practicing as a gender-affirming doula, serving Trans and Nonbinary individuals in their gender-affirming experiences as a support system as they navigate healthcare systems, social gender-affirmation, and mental health. Max is passionate about justice and the liberation of all marginalized peoples. Max is a harpist, guitarist, powerlifter, drag enthusiast, abolitionist, and a spouse to Austin and partner to June.

Navkiran Natt

Media Researcher + Student-Youth Activist

Navkiran Natt is a student-youth activist and film/media researcher who works between Panjab and Delhi. She is trained as a dentist and later completed her Masters in Film Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi. She works on transnational Panjabi migration and its reflections in Panjabi popular culture and media. She did a podcast series on the Green Revolution's health implications in Panjab with the Goethe Institut, New Delhi. Currently, she is co-editor of Trolley Times, a newsletter that started from India's ongoing farmers' movement.

Quincy Owens

Quincy Owens is an Indianapolis based sculpture artist and painter. He has work on display in public spaces in Indianapolis and his work has been displayed across the US as well as in other countries. He grew up in a region of Indiana where flat rural land transitions sharply to rolling hills. This transition from one dynamic to another has inspired his work ever since and the majority of his major works originates from the concept of shifting, corresponding, and contradicting systems. Having worked as both a teacher and as a freelance artist, as well as being a husband and Father of five, Owens places the creativity/ curiosity he has experienced in his own life into his vibrant works of art. With the end goal of his artwork being honesty, Owens has been recognized in art competitions as well as by the Indianapolis art community. He works with the Harrison center of Indianapolis to share his work and share a playful perspective on life.