TEDx Event Set For Rose-Hulman

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students have organized a TEDx event Saturday in Terre Haute. Featured speakers will focus on photography, fragrance making and “real world” mathematics. September 30, 2013

News Release

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Inspiring students to explore new worlds and change perspective about their career options will be the focus of the first TEDx event at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 5, in the Hatfield Hall Theater and other campus venues.

TEDxRoseHulman, an independent student-organized TED event, hopes to meld technology, entertainment and design into common themes around the motto “Ideas Worth Spreading.”

Inspirational presentations will center on such topics as “Why Engineering is like Playing The Doors on Solo Ukulele,” “The Left-Handed Engineer” and “The Art and Science of Fragrance Creation.”

Learn more about TEDxRoseHulman at www.rose-hulman.edu/tedxrosehulman

“We want students to know that the skills they gain at Rose-Hulman have a wide variety of applications, perhaps even beyond the typical engineering, math and science jobs,” stated co-organizer Claire Stark, a senior chemical engineering major.

Speakers will feature New York City-based brand development expert Celeste Lee, former head of fine fragrance marketing at Givaudan, the world's largest creator of flavors and fragrances. She is now principal at Tenth Muse Consulting, a boutique group working across a broad range of clients and brands, including Celine Dion, Hello Kitty, Guess! Fragrances and Gucci Group.

The speeches can be viewed during the event at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/rhitadmin.portal#.

Commercial photographer Vincent Dixon will discuss “Replacing a Preconceived Idea.” He was a post-graduate science student living in Paris when a series of serendipitous events unearthed a passion for photography that has taken Dixon throughout the world.

During a summer internship with Texas Instruments, junior electrical engineering student Ray Anderson embarked on a journey to meet 20 Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, MacArthur Fellows and other distinguished people. What he learned from these meetings will be the focus of his talk, “Is Albert Einstein Still Alive?”

Thomas Adams, PhD, is a highly creative professor of mechanical engineering at Rose-Hulman. He plays, composes and arranges music for solo guitar, often in tunings too silly for anyone else to use. His talk will showcase how the “A” musical note has a frequency of 440 hertz, how “constrained optimization” is used in engineering and music, and how diet root beer can spark innovation.

Travis Tatlock, a senior electrical engineering major, developed a case study that hopes to inspire people to see things “left out.” Meanwhile, emeritus mathematics professor Herb Bailey, PhD, will talk about the “Application of Mathematics in the 'Real' World and in 'My' World.” He taught at Rose-Hulman for nearly 30 years and now authors the popular “Bailey Challenge” math puzzle in the institute's quarterly alumni magazine.

Each talk will be followed by TED videos featuring other interesting speakers on ideas to bring together people from technology, entertainment and design.

After the TEDxRoseHulman presentations, all attendees are invited to a dessert reception in Moench Hall to exchange ideas. These sessions will be led by student groups interested in entrepreneurship, sustainability, career preparation and global service projects.

“I hope TEDxRoseHulman inspires students to think about what truly inspires them and encourages them to act on it,” said event co-organizer Donnita Robinson, a senior chemical engineering major. “The speakers come from different backgrounds, but have the same message: They're doing what they love. This allows them to get so much more out of life.”

Other students that helped organize this event were Ranjana Chandramouli, a senior chemical engineering major, and Marcel Snijder van Wissenkerke a senior mechanical engineering major.

About Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Founded in 1874, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is dedicated to preparing its students with the world’s best undergraduate science, engineering, and mathematics education in an environment infused with innovation, intellectual rigor, and individualized attention. The college, located in Terre Haute, Indiana, has an enrollment of approximately 2,000 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students. For 15 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has rated Rose-Hulman as the top undergraduate engineering college in the nation whose highest degree is a bachelor’s or master’s. Rose-Hulman has also been recognized by The Princeton Review, which cited six of the institute’s professors within their 2012 Best 300 Professors book, the only institution of higher learning in Indiana to be included. Learn more at www.rose-hulman.edu.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

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.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California almost 30 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of topics. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The TED2014 Conference will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast in neighboring Whistler. TEDGlobal 2014 will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; and TEDBooks, short e-books on powerful ideas. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDNews, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED.

For information about TED's upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration

Source: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology