The University announced the speaker lineup for its sixth annual TEDxLSU event during the recent Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week on Nov. 15.
The theme for the 2018 event is “Refract,” and it will be held on March 3. Registration is open for the event. Featured among the speakers is local businessman
Richard Lipsey, who will be interviewed by political
scientist and College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Stacia Haynie.
“I am honored to be a part of TEDxLSU this year, and especially excited to interview Richard Lipsey for the program,” Haynie said. “Mr. Lipsey is a business giant not only in Louisiana, but globally. Mr. Lipsey’s story is a fascinating one that you won’t want to miss.”
Lipsey served in the U.S. Army and was present at the autopsy of John F. Kennedy following his assassination, Haynie said. He serves on the Louisiana Board of Regents as its chair, as well.
Other speakers and performers on the lineup include biological anthropologist and “lover of teeth” Juliet Brophy; infectious disease researcher and “mosquito whisperer” Rebecca Christofferson; and media innovator and “civic hacker” Rebekah Monson, according to the press release.
University pathobiological sciences assistant professor Christofferson received a $1.2 million grant to study the Zika and chikungunya viruses from the National Institutes of Health, according to a press release from the School of Veterinary Medicine. University assistant professor Brophy studies the dental characteristics of early humans.
The theme of the event, “Refract”, focuses on how one engages with their senses and how that engagement can change things for the better, according to the TEDxLSU website.
The TEDxLSU event is not politically or financially motivated, nor is it organized for personal gain, according to the release. The participants agree to do so because they believe in the power of ideas to ignite progress.
TED is a non-profit organization dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.” Two annual conferences challenge speakers to give “the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less.” TEDx events are officially licensed, locally produced events like TED conferences.
