Speakers:
All Years
2009
Charles Derber
Sociologist and Author
A professor of sociology at Boston College, a prolific writer and activist for social justice who writes idea-driven non-fiction books focused on globalization, capitalism, war, global warming, and social change.
Ronald Dixon
Physician
Director of the Virtual Practice Pilot at Massachusetts General Hospital and an expert in alternative methods of health care delivery.
Peter Galison
Science Historian and Filmmaker
Harvard professor of the history of science and physics, author and filmmaker, whose work intersects the humanities and physical sciences, and who is currently working on a documentary about the attempt to mark and isolate nuclear wastelands for the future.
Lisa Genova
Author and Neuroscientist
Neuroscientist turned author whose best-selling novel, Still Alice, portrays the enduring humanity of Alzheimer's patients. The book is also a testament to Genova's perseverance in overcoming repeated obstacles among mainstream publishers that ultimately led her to self-publish her work.
Helen Greiner
Robotics Innovator
Co-Founder and former President/Chairman of iRobot Corporation, a company that makes home robots (Roomba Vacuuming Robot) and military robots (PackBot Tactical Robot). Helen is currently CEO of The Droid Works, Inc., a new start-up company working in the UAV (flying robots) space.
Deb Roy
Cognitive Science Pioneer
Director of the MIT Media Labs Cognitive Machines group and founding director of the Center for Future Banking, Roy studies how children learn language, and designs machines that learn to communicate in human-like ways. To enable this work, he has pioneered new data-driven methods for analyzing and modeling human linguistic and social behavior that are now being applied to a wide range of domains from retail behavior to autism.
2008
Susan Athey
Economic Theorist
Harvard Professor of Economics and the first woman to win the prestigious American Economic Association’s John Bates Clark medal, awarded to the most accomplished American economist under age 40, for her contributions to industrial organization, econometrics, microeconomic theory and auctions.
Joseph Ayers
Biomimetic Roboticist
Professor of Biology and former Director of Northeastern’s Marine Science Center best known for his RoboLobster, whose recent research using technology to mimic biological organisms and processes may someday help rehabilitate people with traumatic brain injuries.
Robin Bowman
Photojournalist
A photojournalist devoted to documenting social and political issues at home and abroad, whose 2007 book, “It’s Complicated: The American Teenager” chronicles her 5 year journey across America to explore the shape of this generation and the country that formed them.
David Edwards
Art/Science Innovator
Founder of Le Laboratoire, an artscience center in Paris dedicated to experimental collaboration between artists and scientists, author and Harvard Professor of Biomedical Engineering interested in developing new cultural and educational environments for innovation.
Noah Feldman
Constitutional Law Scholar
Harvard Law professor, author and lecturer who specializes in constitutional studies with particular emphasis on the relationship between law and religion, constitutional design and history of legal theory, whose book, “The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State” was published in April 2008.
Paul Goodnight
African Cultural Artist
A world renowned painter, known for his colorful realism that captures the extraordinary in the lives of ordinary people around the world, whose recent commissions include a triathlon triptych for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Sheila Kennedy
Architect & Inventor
Principal of Kennedy & Violich Architecture, an inter-disciplinary practice that explores relationships between architecture, technology and emerging public needs. Kennedy creates design concepts and building projects that accelerate the implementation of energy harvesting nano-materials in architecture, textiles and building materials.
Vikram Sheel Kumar
Healthcare Technology Entrepreneur
Co-Founder of Dimagi, a healthcare informatics consultancy, and a pioneer in the field of community-based chronic disease management, who focuses on creating technologies specially customized for the conditions encountered in the developing world.
John Lester
Online Academic Evangelist
Boston Operations Director for Linden Lab, creator of the online world, Second Life, where he leads the company’s efforts supporting use of Second Life as a platform for education and academic research, focusing on strategies for success.
John Maeda
Designer, Creative Innovator and Academic
President of the Rhode Island School of Design, and a world-renowned designer, visual artist, computer scientist and author known for his philosophy of humanizing technology.
Dava Newman
21st Century Space Suit Designer
MIT Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems, whose BioSuit™ advanced spacesuit research was named by “Time” Magazine as one of the Best Inventions of 2007, and was part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2008 “Superheroes” exhibit.
David Rattner
Trailblazing Surgeon
David Rattner believes an innovative natural orifice approach to surgery is imminent. Chief of General and GI Surgery at MGH, Dr. Rattner serves as co-chair of the national organization, NOSCAR, a research consortium of world-renowned surgeons and endoscopists who are working together on perfecting surgical approaches that will hasten recovery and be less painful for the patient.
Daniel Schrag
Geochemist
Harvard Professor and Geochemist who studies climate changes over the Earth's history, currently working with economists and engineers on technological approaches to mitigating future climate change.
Sara Seager
Astrophysicist
MIT Associate Professor of Planetary Science and Physics is known for her research on exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than the sun. Her research focuses on the search for Earth-like planets and signs of life on them.
Paul Watanabe
Political Science & Race and Immigration Specialist
Director of the University of Mass Boston Institute for Asian American Studies and Professor of political, cultural, and socioeconomic implications of the nation’s growing diversity shaped largely by immigration.
Martin Wattenberg
New Media Artist
An IBM mathematician whose work focuses on information visualization and its application to collaborative computing, journalism, bioinformatics and art.
2007
Emmanuel Akyeampong
Professor of History and African Studies
Loeb Harvard College Professor and Former Chair of the African Studies Committee, a leading social historian of Africa and President of the African Public Broadcasting Foundation, working to create a renaissance on the continent through outreach and education.
Kecia Ali
Professor of Religion
Author and Boston University Professor whose work focuses on Islamic religious texts, especially jurisprudence, and women in both classical and contemporary Muslim discourses.
Jay Allison
Broadcast Journalist
Independent radio and television documentary maker, known to NPR listeners as the curator of the series, This I Believe.
Jonathan Bachrach
New Media Artist
Research scientist at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory who has developed a number of arts applications, including “String Beings”, a 2007 collaboration with Martha Mason’s Snappy Dance Theater, musician Lucia Lin and Composer Michael Rodbach.
Joan Brugge
Cell Biologist
Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School and research scientist working to identify and understand the mechanisms involved in cancer development.
Erik Demaine
Mathematician
The MIT Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Professor in Computer Science, and one of the founders of "origami mathematics' which has applications such as folding telescopes and understanding how proteins fold.
Michael Gandolfi
Composer, Music Professor
Internationally-renowned composer and teacher of composition whose latest work, "The Garden of Cosmic Speculation" - a seventy-minute orchestral composition inspired by Charles Jencks' Scotland landscape of earthworks and installations – represents for the composer a magnificent joining of physics and architecture.
Edward Glaeser
Urban and Social Economist
Harvard Professor of Economics, whose work has focused on international disparities in social welfare systems and the role of cities as centers of idea transmission.
David Kang
Specialist on East Asia
Professor at Dartmouth, Author, and an expert on the history and politics of China and North Korea.
Nancy Kanwisher
Cognitive Neuroscientist
A professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and an investigator at The McGovern Institute for Brain Research, who studies the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying human visual perception and cognition.
Martha Mason
Artistic Director and Choreographer
Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Snappy Dance Theater, a collaborative national and international touring dance company based in Boston. Mason’s innovative choreographic, performance and teaching career has spanned more than twenty years.
Ioannis Miaoulis
Science and Technology Educator
President and Director of the Museum of Science who is an innovative educator with a passion for both science and engineering.
Bisola Ojikutu
Infectious Disease Physician and Healthcare Advocate
Director of the Office of International Programs within the Division of AIDS at Harvard Medical School and Infectious Disease Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital who has dedicated her career to rectifying disparities in healthcare access for HIV-infected patients both domestically and abroad.
Panos Panay
Internet Entrepreneur
CEO and Founder of Sonicbids, a website that enables bands and music promoters to easily connect with each other. Sonicbids' current membership consists of 110,000 bands and 8,000 promoters from over 100 countries.
Nader Tehrani
Architect and Urban Designer
Internationally recognized Co-Principal of design firm Office dA and Professor of Architecture at MIT, whose work ranges from one-of-a-kind furniture to urban spaces.
John Warner
A Founder of Green Chemistry
President and Chief Technology Officer for The Warner-Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry and a pioneer in the use of innovative materials to reduce waste, pollution and energy consumption.
2005
Stefane Barbeau and Duane Smith
Industrial Designers
Product designers who founded Vessel,an innovative design and distribution company that combines quality, unique design and simple solutions to re-invent everyday products.
Alan Berger
Landscape Architect
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and founding director of its Project for Reclamation Excellence (P-REX); author of the award winning Reclaiming the American West.
Alexis Borisy
Biopharmaceutical Engineer
A chemist who has helped to grow a variety of pharmaceutical and biotech companies, he is the founder and CEO of CombinatoRx, focused on developing new medicines built from synergistic combinations of approved drugs.
Robin Chase
Transportation Entrepreneur
Founder and former CEO of Zipcar who is currently investigating ways in which wireless technology can be used in the transportation industry to reduce dependency on fossil fuel.
Steven Dawson
Physician, Technologist
An expert in medical simulation technologies, his team is attempting to create a complete synthetic human that can simulate responses to injuries and medical procedures, making "the practice of medicine" safer for patients.
Daniel Dennett
Philosopher
Philosopher, cognitive scientist and author who has helped to shape the debate on the moral issues around evolution, free will, and mind-body connections.
Barnaby Evans
Artist
Well known for his celebrated sculpture, WaterFire, his vision and versatility enable him to combine myriad influences into works that defy traditional definitions of art.
Mark Fishman
Physician Scientist
Renowned clinician and scientist known for his work in genetic and molecular cardiology, particularly embryonic heart development, and is currently leading all worldwide discovery research activities of Novartis.
Roland Fryer, Jr.
Economist
Economic and social theorist who brings rigorous analysis to his consideration of the African-American experience.
Neil Gershenfeld
Physicist
Director of The Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT, his development of "fabrication laboratories" brings design technology to ordinary people.
Marc Hauser
Psychologist
By studying monkeys and apes, as well as infants and adults, Hauser's work has unlocked some of the mysteries of language evolution, conceptual representation, social cooperation, communication, and morality.
Deborah Henson-Conant
Composer, Electronic Harpist
She builds new worlds from sound and stories and is revolutionizing the way the world sees this ancient instrument with her cross-genre jazz-pop-comedy-folk-Flamenco-Celtic music.
Hugh Herr
Mechanical Engineer
An accomplished rock climber, despite amputations below both knees, he uses his experience to develop enhanced rehabilitation technologies and robotic mechanisms to address a wide range of needs.
Paula Johnson
Cardiologist
Nationally recognized for her leadership in women's health, focusing on policy, research and clinical care and how that tripartite mission can offer better access and quality of care for all women.
Melinda Lopez
Playwright
Award-winning playwright who uses her Cuban-American heritage as a backdrop for dramas that address timeless and universal questions of humanity.
Tod Murphy
Farmer, Entrepreneur
Tod Murphy, organic farmer and businessman who is building the Farmer's Diner in Barre, VT, discusses his plans to make it a national model for economically viable and environmentally sound restaurants that support local family farms.
Robert Pozen
Finance & Retirement Expert
Best known for his business leadership, public service, and proposals to fix Social Security, his wide-ranging intellectual interests also include an exploration of autism.
Lisa Randall
Physicist
Professor of Physics at Harvard University, her research focuses on string theory and the idea that there are multiple dimensions in space.
Amy Smith
inventor
A MacArthur Fellow and mechanical engineer who creates elegantly simple life- enhancing solutions and labor-saving technologies for the developing world.
Charles Vacanti
Tissue Engineer
A renowned anesthesiologist and pioneer in the field of tissue engineering who has discovered ways of re-building body parts from a single batch of cells.
Eric Von Hippel
Innovation Expert
Head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at MIT's Sloan School, he is renowned for his work on the nature and economics of distributed and open innovation.
Conor James Walsh
Mechanical Engineer
A Ph.D. Candidate at MIT, he and his team developed an innovative robotic device that will improve needle biopsy procedures, decreasing the risk of complications.
Barry Zuckerman
Pediatrician
Prominent physician and advocate who challenges the way we think about health care by emphasizing prevention and developing programs to promote school readiness and to ensure that families' basic needs are met.
2004
Mahzarin Banaji
Psychologist
How our unconscious prejudices and attitudes conflict with conscious beliefs and individual responsibility is the focus of this noted Harvard psychologist’s research.
Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio
Architects, Designers
Merging visual arts, architecture, and the performing arts has gained this husband and wife team high-profile commissions like the new Institute for Contemporary Art on Fan Pier.
Angela Belcher
Nanotechnologist
MIT professor combines genetics, biology, engineering, and computer science to manipulate virus genes into building blocks for microscopic transistors, connectors, and computer chips.
Kim Blair
Sports Technologist
Aerospace engineer, founding director of the Center for Sports Innovation, and member of Team Psycho, an elite triathlon club who uses technology to improve athletic products and performance.
Barry Bluestone
Economist
The presidential consultant and Northeastern University political economist is also a founding member of the Economic Policy Institute, the first organization to focus on the economic conditions of low- and middle-income American families.
Susan Briggs
Trauma Surgeon
An internationally renowned MGH trauma surgeon who specializes in emergency response to large-scale disasters anywhere in the world.
Rodney Brooks
Robotics Specialist
Author of "Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us," and featured in an Errol Morris documentary, the A.I. expert is working on ways for robots to actually "think" rather than just perform programmed tasks.
James Collins
Biomedical Engineer
BU professor and MacArthur Fellow, he combines physics and biology to transform cells into microscopic computers that could someday help solve health problems.
Juan Enriquez
Author, Life Science Expert
The futurist, entrepreneur, and best-selling author of a ground-breaking book on how genomics and other forces are changing life, work, health and wealth.
Arthur Ganson
Sculptor
Self-described as a cross between a mechanical engineer and a choreographer, Ganson is a kinetic sculptor who creates ingenious mechanical sculptures.
Osvaldo Golijov
Composer, Music Professor
A two-time Grammy nominee and MacArthur Genius Award winner, he creates contemporary classical works drawn from his Jewish heritage and Argentine homeland.
Leonard Guarente
Molecular Biologist
Calorie restriction and natural substances in red wine are part of this MIT molecular biologist's work on how to add decades to expected lifespans.
Dean Kamen
Inventor, Entrepreneur
Renowned inventor of breakthrough medical and technology inventions like the Segway ™ Human Transporter (HT) and Independence ™ iBOT ™ 3000 Mobility System, and more recently, the "Slingshot", a mini-utility designed to provide affordable water and power to the developing world.
Tracy Kidder
Author
The Pulitzer Prize winner's books offer insightful observations into the human experience. His subjects have included building a house, life in a small town, and a crusading local doctor who is transforming healthcare in Haiti.
Mark Klempner
Physician
A leader of Boston University's effort to build a bio-defense lab, and an expert in infectious diseases such as Lyme and Anthrax.
Raymond Kurzweil
Inventor, Entrepreneur
The National Inventors Hall of Fame member and inventor of a reading machine for the blind is a pioneer in speech technology, synthesized music, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality.
Eric Lander
Geneticist, Molecular Biologist
A principal leader of the Human Genome Project and a driving force behind today's revolution in genomics. He is Director of the Broad Institute, recently created to apply genome research to medicine.
Robert Langer
Biomedical Engineer
One of the most prolific inventors in medicine (nearly 500 patents); leads groundbreaking research in organ and tissue replacement, growth hormones, and drug delivery technology.
Tod Machover
Musician, Composer, Inventor
The MIT Media Lab professor who seeks to change the way people listen to music by mixing acoustic and electronic sound, symphony orchestras and interactive computers, and rock and operatic arias.
Douglas Melton
Embryologist
A molecular biologist specializing in embryology and pancreatic stem cell research, he created 17 stem cell lines and made them available to hundreds of medical researchers.
Julie Moir Messervy
Landscape Designer
A creator of magical, healing, and inspirational gardens, this internationally known landscape designer collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma on the acclaimed Toronto Music Garden inspired by Bach.
Pedro Noguera
Educator
Urban sociologist and one of America's most important voices on education reform and diversity; committed to improving how schools respond to social and economic forces in urban environments.
Nawal Nour
Obstetrician
MacArthur Fellow who founded the nation's first clinic to address the lifelong medical risks and emotional needs of female African immigrants who have been genitally circumcised.
John Palfrey
Attorney & Internet Privacy Specialist
Legal expert on the Internet and democracy specializing in intellectual and technology law as it relates to electronic commerce, privacy issues and governance.
Steven Pinker
Cognitive Scientist
A professor of psychology at Harvard and author of many critically acclaimed books on language, mind, and human nature.
Stephen Prothero
Religious Practices Specialist
An American religion historian known for his entertaining and well-researched look at religious and cultural practices in the U.S., from cremation to Jesus as a national icon.
Ilan Stavans
Latino Culture Expert, Author
PBS host and award-winning author documents the use of "Spanglish," the Spanish-English language equivalent of Ebonics, in his new book.
Sarah Sze
Artist
Sze fills spaces and delights senses. The renowned artist and MacArthur Fellow transforms ordinary objects into gravity-defying works in horizontal and tower-like formations.
Julie Taymor
Film, Theatre, & Opera Director
Acclaimed film, theater and opera director of such international hits as "The Lion King", with nine productions worldwide and "Frida," winner of two Academy Awards.
Bruce Walker
Physician and AIDS Researcher
Leading immunologist helping to develop inexpensive testing devices and life-saving, innovative HIV therapies crucial to poor regions of the world.
Gloria White-Hammond
Minister, Social Activist
Inner-city pediatric and adolescent specialist whose writing and mentorship program has won national acclaim. Also helped liberate over 9,000 Sudanese slaves as part of a ministerial coalition.
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