TEDxUMN: Mapping Our Potential

Looking at the world around us, it's obvious that we as individuals, organizations, societies, and a world community are capable of incredible accomplishments. But what we've done so far is just a drop in the bucket compared to what we might achieve in the future. To where might our potential ultimately lead? We invite you to join TEDxUMN on April 27th as our speakers discuss the depths of our potential at every scale and across a variety of subject matter. The event will consist of three sessions of speakers discussing what it means to map our potential from different perspectives, and will be followed by a reception featuring UMN artists, heavy appetizers, and the kind of incredible conversation TEDx events are known for.  Speaker lineup 

Barry Kudrowitz:Barry Kudrowitz is an assistant professor and director of product design at the University of Minnesota. He received his PhD from the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), studying humor, creativity, and idea generation. Kudrowitz co-designed a Nerf toy, an elevator simulator that is in operation at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., and a ketchup-dispensing robot that was featured on the Martha Stewart Show. He currently studies how creativity is perceived, assessed, taught, and practiced.

Paul Schrater: Curious? How to use intrinsic motivation to learnDr. Schrater is a leading figure in computational cognitive science, who studies the computational basis of learning, motivation, perception and action. Through a combination of mathematical modeling, computer simulation, behavioral experiments and neural/physiological measures, he seeks to uncover the structure of motivation and learning: how do curiosity and mastery drive learning, predicting the future and planning, the origins of our decision biases, handling uncertainty in perception. His goal is to understand human behavior in computational terms and use this understanding to build systems that mimic human learning and motivation, and systems that better interface with human capabilities and limitations. Dr. Schrater is an interdisciplinary researcher, with appointments in Psychology and Computer Science, with his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania.

Andrew Odlyzko: Cryptocurrencies: From the past to the futureAndrew Odlyzko has had a long career in research and research management at Bell Labs, AT&T Labs, and most recently at the University of Minnesota, where he built an interdisciplinary research center, and is now a Professor in the School of Mathematics. He has written over 150 technical papers in computational complexity, cryptography, number theory, combinatorics, coding theory, analysis, probability theory, and related fields. In recent years he has also been working in electronic commerce, economics of data networks,and economic history, especially on diffusion of technological innovation. More information, including papers and presentation decks, is available on his web site.

Nathan Kuncel: Do Standardized Tests Matter?Nathan Kuncel is the Marvin D. Dunnette Distinguished Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at the University of Minnesota where he also earned his doctorate. Nathan's research focuses broadly on how individual characteristics (intelligence, personality,interests) influence subsequent academic, work, and life success. His research has been discussed in the news including CNN, NPR, Chicago Tribute, and the Times of London. He received the Cattell Award from the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology, the Anastasi Award from the American Psychological Association, and is a Fellow of SIOP. Nathan is an enthusiastic triathlete which barely lets him keep up with his kids.

David Redish: The Mind within the Brain: How we make decisions and how those decisions go wrongDr. David Redish is a Distinguished McKnight Professor of neuroscience at the University of Minnesota. He was trained in computational, theoretical, and experimental neuroscience and has contributed to our understanding of decision-making and cognition. Dr. Redish received a dual-degree BA in the writing seminars (poetry, plays) and computer science from The Johns Hopkins University, and his PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University. He did postdoctoral work in neuroscience at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Dr. Redish’s research seeks to understand how our different learning, memory, and decision-making systems interact to produce behavior. Dr. Redish has published dozens of articles in scientific journals, as well as two books, most recently The Mind within the Brain: How we make decisions and how those decisions go wrong.

Mary Jo Kreitzer: Whole Life WellbeingMary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN, the founder and director of the Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota, has more than 40 years of leadership and expertise in healthcare. Dr. Kreitzer earned her doctoral degree in public health focused on health services research, policy and administration, and her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in nursing. She is also a tenured professor in the School of Nursing, and co-director of the doctorate in nursing practice (DNP) specialty in integrative health and healing, a joint program between the School and the Center. An internationally recognized pioneer and innovator in the field of integrative health and wellbeing, Kreitzer has spoken about integrative health to the US Senate and the Institute of Medicine, has authored over 100 publications, and is the co-editor of Integrative Nursingpublished in 2014 by Oxford Press.Taiyon ColemanTaiyon Coleman holds a MFA in Poetry and a PhD in Literature from the University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities.  Taiyon’s creative work has appeared in Ethos, Knotgrass, Sketch, Cave Canem Anthologies, DrumVoices Revue, Sauti Mpya, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Maverick Magazine #9, Gathering Ground, The Ringing Ear, Riding Shotgun: Women Writing about Their Mothers and is forthcoming in The Unobstructed Eye: One Hundred Years of African American Writing in Minnesotas edited by novelist Alexs Pate. Currently, Taiyon Coleman is a Lecturer in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities. Ananya Chatterjea: Provoking Hope, Dancing beyond potentialAnanya is a professor of Dance and Director of the Ananya Dance Theatre. Ananya Chatterjea is a choreographer and scholar who envisions her work in dance as a “call to action” with particular focus on women artists of color. She is the Artistic Director of Ananya Dance Theatre, and Professor in the Department of Theater Arts and Dance, University of Minnesota. She is the proud recipient of a 2012 McKnight Choreography Fellowship and a 2011 Guggenheim Choreography Fellowship. Her most recent work, Mohona, premiered to standing ovations as part of the O’Shaughnessey Theater’s Women of Substance series, and was remarked on as “fluid as water…demands attention, action, and the abandonment of complacency” (Star Tribune, 9/22/13).Christophe Lenglet:Assistant Professor at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research and Human Connectome Project Investigator.