To Share Their Groundbreaking Work with the TED Community
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04 Welcome 08 About the TED Fellows Program 12 Gallery 30 Thank you 32 TED2017 Fellows 76 TED2017 Senior Fellows Contents 03 welcome elcome to TED2017 in Vancouver – and to the exciting, innovative world of the TED Fellows. We are thrilled for you to meet our brand-new class of 15 Fellows, who Whave traveled from Chile, Uganda, Ecuador, China, Singapore, Kenya, India and the United States – including the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation – to share their groundbreaking work with the TED community. This group of remarkable individuals includes an Ecuadorian neurobiologist working to uncover the neural circuits that connect the gut and the brain, an Afrofuturist filmmaker from Kenya who tells modern stories about Africa, a Chinese entrepreneur and venture capitalist tackling global food system challenges, an Indian investigative journalist exploring democracy around the world, and more. We invite you to meet each Fellow in the following pages and to introduce yourself to all of them during the course of the conference. 04 Welcome The TED Fellows form a global network of 415 visionaries from 91 countries who collaborate across disciplines to create positive change around the world Welcome 07 How it works The results ABOUT Every year, through a rigorous application TED Fellows report increased clarity the TED Fellows program process, TED selects a group of rising of mission and improved self-confidence. stars to be TED Fellows. We choose Access to the TED community enables Fellows based on remarkable achievement, Fellows to connect with global leaders an innovative approach to solving the who become business partners, world’s tough problems and strength of collaborators, funders and mentors. character. Fellows are invited to attend With the program’s support, TED Fellows a TED conference, where they meet, have received millions of dollars in funding, exchange ideas and connect with the been awarded prestigious prizes, started larger TED community. They also give speaking professionally and been published their own TED talk – an unprecedented widely. Fellows join a vibrant community, opportunity to disseminate their sparking spontaneous cross-disciplinary, groundbreaking ideas to the world. globe-spanning collaborations that have resulted in numerous new companies, art The program projects and nonprofits. Most significantly, Once selected, Fellows receive the program has helped the Fellows to transformational support. Fellows expand and intensify the impact of their participate in a professional coaching remarkable work, often preserving some and mentoring program. They work with of the most important places on the planet a public relations expert dedicated to and enhancing conditions for people sharing their latest projects with the world. around the world. TED Fellows operate a private online network, resulting in collective problem How you can get involved solving, cross-disciplinary collaborations The TED Fellows program is made and resource sharing. Fellows have possible by our supporters – extraordinary ongoing access to all of the TED media individuals and families who are passionate platforms, as well as to the TED Fellows about the world-changing work the TED program staff. They organize regional Fellows do every day. Our supporters play meetups and retreats, building on the an active role at the TED conference and initial spark developed at TED conferences, Fellows Retreats, mentor Fellows in their and attend official Fellows Retreats, which projects and careers and help the program gather all existing Fellows for an explosion grow in scope and ambition. You can of conversation and ideas. All TED Fellows contribute by donating to the program, have the opportunity to apply for a Senior sponsoring the program with corporate Fellowship and grow their leadership underwriting, mentoring a Fellow, telling in the Fellows community. an excellent candidate about the TED Fellows program or by contributing in-kind goods and services. Contact the TED Fellows program at [email protected] To learn more about the TED Fellows program, visit ted.com/fellows 08 Welcome Thank you TED Fellows staff The Fellows program is extremely grateful for the support of the Bezos Tom Rielly, Director Family, the Harnisch Foundation and the [email protected] Dhanam Foundation. We would also like to thank Jonathan D Lewis and Mark C Shoham Arad, Deputy Director Zitelli, Toby D Lewis, Melony and Adam [email protected] Lewis, the Arcus Foundation, Bohemian Foundation, XQ: The Super School Project, Samantha Kelly, Program Manager Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin, [email protected] the Motwani Jadeja Family Foundation, Crystal English Sacca and Chris Sacca, Patrick D’Arcy, Editorial Manager Kathleen Donohue and David Sze, [email protected] Chandra Jessee, Steve Jurvetson, Gerry Ohrstrom, Matt Cutts, Sharon Lyle and Lily Whitsit, Community Manager Mark Mutschink, Jody and Tom Darden, [email protected] Ann and Roger McNamee, as well as other supporters for their sustained Diana Al-Mahmood, Coordinator involvement in the Fellows program. [email protected] Welcome 11 A still from Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu’s Pumzi, an award-winning sci-fi short about a dystopian future where water is so scarce that Earth is uninhabitable – and a young woman whose secret could save humankind. 12 Gallery A giant clam in the wild. These can grow A collection of custom, personal timekeepers to weigh more than 660 pounds and have outside LACMA — part of E Roon Kang’s an average lifespan of 100 years. Singaporean collaborative project In Search of Personalized marine biologist Mei Lin Neo studies these Time, which aimed to recalibrate time based endangered species in an effort to protect on personal perceptions. (Photo: E Roon Kang them from going extinct. (Photo: Mei Lin Neo) and Taeyoon Choi) Gallery 15 East African soul /jazz vocalist and songwriter Somi performs at TED2016. (Photo: Ryan Lash/TED) Paleobiologist Lauren Sallan studies changes in fish diversity after mass extinction. This 340-million-year-old sea was dominated by shell-crushing relatives of the shark. (Illustration: Bob Nicholls) 16 Gallery Astrobiologist Armando Azua-Bustos studies the Atacama Desert, pictured here. The desert’s extreme aridity, high salinity and high UV radiation levels make it the closest analog to Mars on Earth. (Photo: Clair Popkin) Gallery 19 In his lab, biohacker Andrew Pelling has grown “living” ears made from apples and human cells, proving that it’s possible to create replacement body parts from plant-derived materials. (Photo: Bonnie Findlay) 20 Gallery Rwandan journalists interview a police spokesperson in the country’s capital, Kigali, on April 3, 2012. In his 2016 book Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship, Anjan Sundaram chronicles journalists who bravely confront the repressive regime of President Paul Kagame. (Photo: Graham Holliday) Gallery 23 Orchestral student musicians performing as part Marine biologist Kristen Marhaver studies of Play On, Philly! a social-development program Caribbean reef corals (pictured here) to founded by Stanford Thompson that engages understand how they reproduce, as well underserved Philadelphia youth in ensemble as how we might help young corals build the music-making. (Photo: Steven Krull) reefs of the future. (Photo: Kristen Marhaver) 24 Gallery Glaciologist Michele Koppes travels Computational biologist Laura Boykin works with local to some of the coldest places on Earth farmers and scientists in Africa to study the effects (such as Alaska, pictured here) to measure of Bemisia tabaci whiteflies (pictured here) and the how ice and landscapes are changing in viruses they transmit, which devastate East Africa’s response to warming climate and oceans, staple cassava crops. (Photo: Monica Kehoe) as well as how these changes affect natural hazards and water resources. (Photo: Michele Koppes) Gallery 27 The eye of an elephant spotted crossing the Boteti River in Botswana. This photograph was taken during the Okavango Wilderness Project, a 2,500-kilometer expedition led by conservation biologist Steve Boyes from the source of the Okavango River in the Angolan highlands to its end in the Kalahari Desert. (Photo: James Kydd) 28 Gallery Bezos Family Dhanam Jonathan D Lewis & Mark C Foundation Zitelli, Toby D Lewis, Melony A BIG & Adam Lewis THANK Motwani Jadeja Crystal English Sacca Lynda Weinman Family Foundation & Chris Sacca & Bruce Heavin Matt Cutts Steve Jurvetson Robert Pasin Jody & Tom Sharon Lyle & Kathleen Donohue YOU Darden Mark Mutschink & David Sze Chandra Jessee Gerry Ohrstrom Ann & Roger McNamee Colleen Keegan Renee Freedman Alanna Shaikh Special thanks to: Harvey Armstrong, Gina Barnett, the Bezos Scholars, Patricia Cox, Dania de la Vega, Mark Dwight, Karen Eng, Mike Femia, Matt Fisher, Nicole Hanson, Bret Hartman, Erik Hersman, Leonie Hoerster, Elaine Hui, Giuseppe Iasevoli, Jedidah Isler, Molly Kaufman, Ben Kellogg, Ryan Lash, David Lavin, Sarah Nicholson, Mark O’Donnell, Jonathon O’Leary, Emeka Okafor, Sheila Orfano, Sarah Parcak, Aparna Rao, Jenny Raymond, Juliana Rotich, Safwat Saleem, Sarah Sandman, Roger Schmid, Alanna Shaikh, Valerie Sloane, Greg Sommers, Rodrigo Vasquez, 30 Thanks Helen Walters, Jennifer Wolfe, Megan Wyatt, Paul Yandura and Joe Zimlich. TED2017 FELLOWS 32 Fellows 2017 Karim Abouelnaga Education entrepreneuR USA At the age of 18, New York City native to have a series of nonprofits and Karim Abouelnaga noticed that his mentors who changed my life trajectory,” peers in the public school system Karim says. “I wanted to pay it