TEDxPenn looks to expand student involvement

When College sophomore Miranda Wang presented at the TEDGlobal conference in Long Beach, Calif. earlier this year, she gave a talk about groundbreaking bacterial research she conducted while in high school.

Her research was about a type of soil bacteria that has the ability to naturally degrade a dangerous plastic compound that could otherwise adversely affect a person’s health.

“Right now, the ocean is a soup of plastic debris,” Wang told the Technology, Entertainment and Design Global audience in February. But the bacterium that was discovered has the potential to solve, through nature, the problem presented by a plastic-reliant society, she added.

Second-annual TEDxPenn explores issues of ‘imagining reality’

Now, Wang and second year Graduate School of Education student Claire Zhang are helping to bring speakers from the Philadelphia area to convey this spirit of innovation to an audience of 100 through TEDxPenn.

Both Wang and Zhang, the latter of whom has helped organize three TEDx events prior to TEDxPenn, said that they expect this year’s event to be even better than in years past.

“TEDxPenn 2010 and 2011 chose generous themes syncing up with TED values,” Zhang, this year’s TEDxPenn curator, said . But this year’s conference will be “a combination of TED spirit and Penn culture,” she added.

Sound off

This year, TEDxPenn is “creating the sound” — in line with Penn’s academic theme year, the Year of Sound.

“‘Creating the Sound’ is something we need to focus on in the Penn community,” Zhang, who helped organize the first TEDxUniversity event in all of China, said. “The sound we are using is a metaphor … it represents the voices of all fields.”

One of the programs that TEDxPenn created in line with this year’s theme is the anonymously-run Facebook page “Voices of Penn.”

Voices of Penn captures individuals’ stories

According to one of the page’s creators, its goal is to “focus on storytelling to highlight some of the individual voices that make [Penn’s] community so unique.”

“We consider the idea of creating the sound as bringing out the sound of unheard members of the Penn community,” Wang said.

She added that “Voices of Penn” might be a project TEDxPenn will continue after the Nov. 2 conference though this year’s new program — TEDxPennAction.

Applying to TEDxPenn

However, TEDxPenn’s current licensing agreement with TED only allows for 100 attendees — thus, not everyone who wants to attend can go. Students who wish to attend the conference must fill out an application.

“The applications have already far exceeded the amount that we can accommodate,” Wang said, urging others to register as soon as possible, since the final deadline is Oct. 26. Those who are unable to attend can view the talks online after the event.

Wharton professors deliver TEDTalks-style lectures

“This year we are trying to select the most active group of students who can follow up with the TEDxPennAction group,” Zhang said.

However, while the number of attendees is limited to 100 this year since Zhang holds the licensing agreement with TED, Director of Contracts for TEDxPenn Vincent Hilldrup noted that number could change if the agreement was in Wang’s name.

If Wang holds the TEDxPenn licensing agreement next year, Hilldrup said, since she already attended a TED Global event, the license would allow for a much greater number of attendees — at least 500 — at next year’s conference.

Greater Involvement

This year’s conference marks the first that will feature student speakers, and has also extended its reach further out to graduate students. Although no graduate students were members of the board last year, at least five members of this year’s board, including Zhang, are graduate or postgraduate students.

The conference is introducing TEDxPennAction, new this year, to extend the TEDxPenn experience beyond the one-day conference.

TEDxPenn ‘exceeded expectations’

“The general idea is that during the conference, people of similar interests … will discuss their ideas,” Wang said. “They will [then] identify a local project to take on” for the rest of the year.

For example, she noted that former Vice Dean of Wharton Undergraduate Programs Georgette Phillips would be speaking about bridging the gap between faculty and students.

“People might be interested by that talk and want to get involved in bettering the education of West Philadelphia,” Wang said. TEDxPenn, she added, is “our way of keeping up the energy of TEDxPenn throughout the year.”

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