MILWAUKEE – Michael R. Lovell, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), will talk about innovation at Milwaukee’s first TEDx event. The event focuses on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Music), a blended-disciplinary approach to tackling social, economic and environmental challenges..
Lovell and five other UWM faculty members are among the 14 speakers at the May 9 event, called TEDxHarambee. The program, held from noon-4 p.m. in the Harambee neighborhood, is accessible online at https://new.livestream.com/tedx/events/2050736.
TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events based on the national TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) lecture series. In TEDxHarambee, sponsored by Made in Milwaukee, Brady Corporation and the Milwaukee School of Engineering, speakers aim to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.
STEAM builds on the work of a growing number of scientists, engineers and technologists who understand the value in meeting people and communities where they are and engaging them through the arts. The STEAM model is a lens through which a variety of issues can be viewed.
Other UWM speakers include:
Jasmine Alinder and Robert S. Smith, both associate professors of history, will discuss the biological and emotional impact of historical images, including photographs of violence and war. They also will talk about the individual and cultural factors that can “sensitize” some people who experience these images.
In addition to exploration through neuroimaging, the pair will show how the humanities can put the data into a broader historical context.
Nathaniel Stern and Ilya Avdeev co-teach a class which brings together designers, architects and various types of engineers in interdisciplinary student teams, which solve design, engineering and health care problems posed by local industry partners. Along with Brian Thompson of the UWM Research Foundation, they are also co-founders of the UWM Student Startup Challenge. This competition takes raw student ideas and turns the best ones into working prototypes, business models and finally a homegrown startup company – all in the course of one year.
Mark Keane, UWM professor of architecture, and Linda Nelson Keane, professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, are co-founders of STUDIO 1032. The pair will talk about informal e-learning opportunities that awaken curiosity and a passion for learning by integrating the hard sciences with art and design wrapped in eco-literacy. They will describe how this combination allows students to mediate diverse information across natural and artificial systems.
For more information, visit www.tedx-milwaukee.com.
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(CONTACT: Tom Luljak, 414-229-5024 or 414-750-4783, tluljak@uwm.edu)