TEDxFIU announces speakers for 2013

This year’s TEDxFIU speakers will take the audience to an underwater sea laboratory, a remote village of Papua New Guinea and a newly imagined America with world-class public transportation. With “Reimagine Possible” as this year’s theme, the event will feature 10 talks – including two musical performances – that will make you reexamine your thoughts, question your identity and motivate you to do more for others.

With more than 100 applicants vying to speak at this year’s event, the competition to secure a spot was fierce. The selected students, faculty and alumni will challenge and inspire you by exploring topics like biological and chemical weapons, the re-domestication of wild plants and the fusion of classical violin and hip hop.

The chosen speakers are:

• Musician/composer Kev Marcus from Black Violin
• Shark expert Mike Heithaus and marine ecologist James Fourqurean
• Biowarfare expert Dr. Aileen Marty
• “British Indiana Jones” Tudor Parfitt
• Social entrepreneur and EyeTalker co-creator Maria Pia Celestino
• Student self-help leader Alexa Chavarry
• Taiko drummer Aneysi Fernandez
• FIU Artist-in-Residence Xavier Cortada and physicist Pete Markowitz
• Explosives researcher Kelley Peters
• Biologist and crop pioneer Eric Bishop-von Wettberg

To read more about these TEDxFIU speakers, click here.

Although this year’s live event is sold out, FIU will host a live simulcast event at the Miami Beach Urban Studios, 420 Lincoln Road on South Beach. The screens inside the Graham Center will also be streaming the event, and we will announce other viewing locations as they become available. Simulcast events will be free and open to the public. In addition, TEDxFIU 2013 will be streamed live online at TEDxFIU.com.

TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, was created in order to share ideas, increase understanding and participate in a global conversation. We are excited to be part of this important dialogue. This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED. To learn more about the TED organization, please visit ted.com as well as our TEDxFIU website, tedxfiu.com.

If you have any questions, please contact TEDxFIU organizers Eduardo Merille at emerille@fiu.edu or Deborah O’Neil at oneild@fiu.edu.