TED Global 2011 Fellows Booklet

Dear TEDizens,
We are excited to welcome the TEDGlobal 2011 Fellows to Edinburgh, TED’s new international home!

In these pages you will meet the seventh class of TED Fellows–the 20 outstanding artists, innovators,
makers, scientists, and entrepreneurs that comprise the new fellowship class. We guarantee you’ll find their
stories fascinating and hope that you spend time individually connecting with them over the course of the week.

We also welcome back the 2010 and 2011 Senior Fellows, who have been continuing their extraordinary
work around the world while a part of the TED community for two additional years. Flip through these pages
for their updates.

Please extend a warm TED welcome to the Fellows and Senior Fellows–look for Fellowship tags on their
badges. You’ll be glad you did.

On behalf of all the Fellows and the TED Fellows team, we look forward to spending time together
in Scotland’s beautiful capital city.

Tom Rielly
Fellows Director
tom@ted.com

P.S. Applications for the TED2012 Fellowship are now open. Please help us spread the word!

TED Fellows - TEDGlobal 2011 2

Launched at TED2009, the TED Fellows program brings outstanding
individuals who have shown unusual accomplishment, exceptional courage,
and moral imagination into the TED community in order to amplify the
impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

How it works TED Senior Fellows
Each year, 20 Fellows attend the TED Conference in Of the 40 Fellows selected each year, 10 individuals
Long Beach, California, and 20 attend TEDGlobal in are invited to participate in the extended Senior Fel-
Edinburgh, Scotland, as full conference participants, lowship program, which begins the year after their
with all expenses paid. They enjoy an exclusive Fel- initial Fellowship. Read more on page 46.
lows pre-conference where they meet, share ideas,
receive communication, fundraising, and design How you can get involved
training, and encounter a few surprises. They also You can help the TED Fellows in six ways:
have the opportunity to give a talk before or during 1. mentoring a Fellow
TED, and potentially to see their talks posted on 2. teaching at a Fellows event
TED.com. Throughout the rest of the year, they tell 3. nominating an excellent candidate
their ongoing stories on the TED Fellows Blog and 4. donating to support the program
YouTube channel, and receive personal coaching 5. corporate underwriting
and mentoring. Coming soon: more extensive Fel- 6. contributing in-kind goods and services
lows profiles on TED.com so you can find out more!
To learn more about the TED Fellows program,
The program focuses on individuals from six target visit: www.ted.com/fellows
regions: Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern contact: fellows@ted.com
Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, though follow: @TEDFellow
people from the rest of the world are also repre-
sented and welcome to apply. Fellows are drawn
from the many disciplines that reflect the diversity
of TED’s members: technology, entertainment, de-
sign, the sciences, the humanities, the arts, NGOs,
businesses and more. Though we target innovators
aged 21 to 40, anyone over 18 is welcome to apply.


The Bezos Family
We would like to thank the Bezos Family for their
visionary founding support of the TED Fellows program.

Renee Freedman

Chandra Jessee

Pam Alexander

Christiana Wyly

Beth & Steve Varon

Steve Demos

Ann & John Doerr

Scott Wolf

Dhanam Foundation* Robert Angus
(Shriram Family)

* The Dhanam Foundation has offered a
Max Ventilla
matching grant for donations of $50,000
and above. For more information, or to Lynda Wyman & Bruce Heavin
participate in the matching grant, please
contact Logan McClure at logan@ted.com. Karla & Steve Jurveston


Gerry Ohrstrom

Trish Kubal

Special thanks to:
Reuben Abraham, David Albertson, Harvey Armstrong, Erich Broksas, Michael
Duarte, Nancy Duarte, Karen Eng, Alana Herro, Billy Johnson, Colleen Keegan,
Benjamin Kellogg, Sandy Leong, Mark O’Donnell, Emeka Okafor, Margaret
Sullivan, Matthew Trost, Megan Wyatt, and Diana Yousef

Finally, we would like to thank the TED2009, TEDGlobal 2009, TEDIndia, TED2010,
TEDGlobal 2010, and TED2011 Fellows. Not only have they been remarkable
classes, but they have also provided invaluable feedback that continues to shape
the program. To learn more about the current Fellows, visit www.ted.com/fellows.


Manuel Aguilar
Energy entrepreneur QuETSOL

GuATEMALA


MEET
MANuEL Q&A

Manuel is cofounder and direc- What are you currently working on?
tor of technology of QuETSOL, I’m working to eradicate some of the
unnecessary barriers of access to infor-
a renewable-energy company
mation technology for the more than
that provides Guatemala’s
4 billion people currently excluded from
neediest citizens access to this phenomenal progress. I’m focusing
energy services using renewable
Manuel on universalizing access to electricity, a
and appropriate technologies. necessary precursor to the highest-impact
Aguilar Born and raised in Guatemala development tools. Our technological
City, Manuel graduated from solutions aim to maximize sustainability–
Harvard in 2006, earning ecological, technical, and economic.
Get in Touch
Phone
both master’s and bachelor’s
What do you do for fun?
+502.400.888.19 degrees in astrophysics and
I find life to be a continuously engrossing,
+502.570.444.21 physics. In mid-2008, while
+502.223.000.73 fun experience. When not “working” (the
working in finance, he founded ultimate fun), I seek knowledge through
a global-macro hedge fund, any means possible, from prolonged con-
Thresher Global, in Greenwich, templation to intense visceral experiences
Email
tono@quetsol.com
Connecticut. Manuel’s ultimate and everything in between. My current
aim is to facilitate access to hobbies are self-sufficiency and traveling.
computer technology that will I love long road trips.
permit QuETSOL customers
Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
to leapfrog into the emerging
self that few people know.
Web global knowledge economy–
quetsol.com From a young age I was keen on counting
while simultaneously minimiz- things and keeping “records.” Naturally,
ing their ecological impact. the most interesting records involved my
“feats of strength.” I vividly remember
one: “How long can I lie in between the
bed and the mattress?” While establishing
a solid record and just lying there sand-
wiched, waiting, I had the first inklings, at
age 4, that one need never get bored.


Femi Akinde
Mobile commerce innovator SlimTrader

NIGERIA | uNITED STATES


MEET
FEMI Q&A

In 2009, Femi left his position as What are you currently working on?
senior finance manager at Micro- I am currently working on closing a
number of SlimTrader agreements with
soft to found the m-commerce
partners and clients.
firm SlimTrader, which owns and
operates MoBiashara: the first What do you do for fun?
platform in Africa that allows
Femi When I am not working, I am with my
consumers to shop and make 6-year-old daughter. We have lots of fun
Akinde purchases from businesses going on outings together.
with their mobile devices using
text messages and mobile Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
Get in Touch self that few people know.
Phone
money. This is especially valu-
I can sleep sitting up, a valuable skill as I
+1.425.522.2755 able given the slow and erratic
travel a lot. I once slept through an entire
internet access on the conti-
Chicago-to-Ireland flight while sitting
nent, which leaves residents upright in my seat.
with the sole option of traveling
and waiting in line to conduct
Email
fa@slimtrader.com
potentially simple transactions.
under Femi’s leadership, Slim-
Trader has begun operating in
four African countries and has
had a string of early successes.
Web Clients range from agribusi-
slimtrader.com
nesses selling fertilizer to farmers
mobiashara.com
to transportation companies
selling tickets to commuters.


Suleiman Bakhit
Comic creator + social media entrepreneur Aranim Media Factory
Aranim Games

JORDAN


MEET
SuLEIMAN Q&A

During his undergraduate years What are you currently working on?
at the university of Minnesota, I am currently working on creating the first
generation of Arab heroes, such as the
four students attacked Sulei-
first Arab female action hero (Section 9),
man on campus one night soon
an Arab James Bond (Element Zero), and
after the events of September the first Arab graphic sci-fi novel (Saladin
11, 2001. Instead of returning to
Suleiman 2100). I’m also developing Arabic social
Jordan, Suleiman began to visit games that aim to empower youth and to
Bakhit young children in elementary fight the culture of extremism. I’ll be pub-
schools, simply to talk to them lishing the first Arab social farming game
about Arab culture, in hopes of on Facebook in July 2011.
Get in Touch
Phone
changing perceptions. When
+962.7.999.999.00 asked one day what the Arab
Movies, skydiving, motorcycling, world
+962.777.00.9999 equivalent of Superman looked
travel, being inspired by others. I’m a
like, he was overwhelmed with sucker for ethnic food (consuming and
the realization that superheroes cooking) and watching TED videos.
did not really exist in the Arab
Email
suleiman@aranim.com
world. Armed with nothing more Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
than his imagination and a pen- self that few people know.
cil, he began to draw, and in I wasn’t one of those kids with a sketch-
2006, founded comics media book drawing furiously. When I was 10,
my parents hired a private arts tutor to
company Aranim, which in
teach me. After a week, she returned
Web 2010 sold more than 1.2 million
aranim.com all her fees, saying I did not have an
comic books–making it the artistic bone in my body, and that I
biggest comic-book producer should quit. Now, many years later, I find
in the region. myself a bestselling comic-book author,
social games producer, and an aspiring
filmmaker.


Yana Buhrer Tavanier
Mental health activist Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
Sofia Pride Foundation
Bulgarian Activist Alliance

BuLGARIA


MEET
YANA Q&A

Yana is a human rights activist What are you currently working on?
and an award-winning journal- I am currently campaigning for deinsti-
tutionalization of children with mental
ist based in Sofia, Bulgaria. In
disabilities, and for the development of
the past two years, she has
alternative, community-based services.
worked undercover, investigat- The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee investi-
ing institutions for adults with
Yana gated all 25 social homes for children with
intellectual and mental health mental disabilities in Bulgaria. We uncov-
Buhrer Tavanier disabilities in Croatia, Mace- ered evidence of 238 deaths occurring
donia, Bulgaria, Romania, and between 2000 and 2010, most avoidable,
Serbia, uncovering evidence of many caused by neglect. At the time of
Get in Touch the inspections, 103 children were suffer-
Phone
human rights abuses, inhuman
ing from malnutrition.
+359.887.668.089 and degrading treatment, and
+359.896.843.370 appalling neglect. Currently,
Yana is the campaign manager I try to spend more time with the ones
of the Bulgarian Helsinki Com- I love. I travel the world, chasing bands
mittee, the country’s most influ- and artists. In the little black notebook I
Email
yanabt@gmail.com
ential human rights group. She carry around all the time, I scribble ideas
has led numerous campaigns, for art projects that would help create
most recently for the rights social change.
of children with disabilities in
institutions and against police
Web brutality. As part of the Sofia
dumpinggroundsforpeople.wordpress.com Recently, my mother told me she doesn’t
Pride Foundation, Yana cam- mind gay people, as long as they don’t
flickr.com/photos/41740685@N04/sets/
bghelsinki.org paigns for LGBT rights, and is “parade their sexuality.” In 15 minutes, I
actively involved in organizing tried to explain how Prides in the Balkans
the annual Pride march, which are not exactly celebrations; they are a
in 2011 will take place for the part of the fight for equal rights. Then
fourth time in Bulgaria. she asked me when the Pride would be.
“June 18,” I answered. “Why?” “Because
I’ll be coming,” she said. “And I’ll even
be bringing a banner along.” In my work I
have achieved some important things, but
this felt like the sweetest victory ever.


Monika Bulaj
Photo documentarian

POLAND | ITALY


MEET
MONIKA Q&A

Monika is a Polish-born pho- What are you currently working on?
tographer of nomads and travel I’m writing about Afghanistan and North
Africa, and preparing Auras, a book about
writer based in Trieste, Italy.
the borders of the monotheism, and one
She explores the peripheries
about Afghanistan, Nur. I am also preparing
of monotheism in Asia, Africa, for several exhibitions.
and Eastern Europe - the ritu-
Monika
als, pilgrimages, possession What do you do for fun?
Bulaj rites, and dances of migrants, I practice a personal mixture of yoga,
farmers, and outcasts in out- tango, and Chinese wushu martial arts.
skirts and deserts, frontiers For love and money I work in street theatre
Get in Touch as an actress-director and acrobat-dancer
Phone
and ghettos. The goal of her
on stilts. We have the Bora wind in Trieste,
+39.335.803.9278 Central Asia Project, focusing
and my sons and I love to windsurf. Before
+39.040.309.212 on Afghanistan, is to show the
sleeping I look at the works of Tarkovsky,
hidden world of the Sufi and Kurosawa, Fellini, Herzog, Caravag-
the nomadic tribes and minori- gio, Anders Petersen, Ortiz-Echagüe,
ties embracing pre-Islamic Koudelka–this mixture produces quite
Email
m.bulaj@gmail.com
traditions–both despised by interesting dreams.
the Wahhabite Taliban. Monika,
who studied Polish philology at Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
Warsaw university, has authored self that few people know.
My third journey, at 19, took place dur-
six books, mounted about 50
ing winter along Poland’s eastern border,
Web solo exhibitions, and won the
monikabulaj.com across fields and woods. Witches blew
Bruce Chatwin Special Award spells in my face, Orthodox nuns plied
for Photography, the Absolute me with borsch. I met a poet. He knew
Eye. She currently freelances Marx’s Capital by heart, and made groom-
for GEO, National Geographic ing equipment for cows while awaiting the
(Italy), La Repubblica, Courrier arrival of the Messiah. He welcomed me
International, Gazeta Wyborcza in the forest like an angel sent from his
and others. prophet Elijah. Everything I did later was the
consequence of that experience.


Bilge Demirkoz
Particle physicist + educator Middle East Technical university
CERN

TuRKEY | SWITZERLAND


MEET
BILGE Q&A

Bilge wants to inspire the next What are you currently working on?
generation of scientists and I decided to return to Turkey in February,
after it applied to become a member state
make the public more aware of
of CERN. Therefore, my first priority is start-
the amazing universe we live
ing up my research group here at METu
in. A particle physicist work- and contributing to Turkish-CERN scientific
ing on the ATLAS experiment
Bilge collaboration. It requires one-on-one atten-
at the Large Hadron Collider tion with my graduate and undergraduate
Demirkoz at CERN, she graduated from students. It is an amazingly exciting time.
MIT with a major in physics
and minors in mathematics What do you do for fun?
Get in Touch I love music: I play piano, sing, and am
Phone
and music. She continued her
learning to play the accordion. The lan-
+90.535.341.7708 graduate studies at MIT, working
guage of science, especially of physics, is
+90.312.210.5067 on the Alpha Magnetic Spec-
+41.78.839.7052 mathematics. While we cannot expect the
trometer experiment, which is public to learn the language of mathemat-
now searching for antimatter ics at the level of cutting-edge science,
and a dark matter signature in I think it would be possible to convey
Email
demirkoz@cern.ch
space. She attended the 2008 the beauty inherent in the equations of
Meeting of Nobel Laureates at nature–particularly of particle physics–in
Lindau and initiated the contact music or other art forms.
between the meeting organiz-
ers and Turkey. As a result,
Web five young Turkish researchers
demirkoz.web.cern.ch/demirkoz/ I carried the Olympic Flame on July 6,
attend the meetings every year. 2004, in Üsküdar, Istanbul, on its way to
Bilge now holds a faculty posi- Athens. Before this experience, I used to
tion at Middle East Technical think such symbolism might be unneces-
university (METu) in Ankara. sary in the modern world. Aren’t we all so
connected now, with phones and wireless
internet access? Why would we need a
symbolic flame carried around the world?
I could not have been more wrong.


Julie Freeman
Tech artist Translating Nature

uNITED KINGDOM


MEET
JuLIE Q&A

Julie’s work spans visual, What are you currently working on?
audio, and digital art forms, My current work explores how we can
engage with networking activity in a
and explores how we perceive
physical and immediate way. It will involve
the relationship between tech-
the creation of many small kinetic objects
nology, science, and nature. that will (hopefully) exhibit emergent con-
She is passionate about under-
Julie nected behavior visually and sonically. The
standing the less-obvious project will look at social networking data
Freeman elements of our world, and patterns to see what makes certain data
about how art can incorpo- more contagious than other data. Can
rate science and technology to these patterns create music?
Get in Touch
Phone
inform our perspective of these
+44.7.866.609.912 unseen layers. Often working
I’m a uK silver medalist (2011) in cold-
collaboratively, she experiments
water swimming. I love the buzz I get
with transforming complex when I plunge into icy water–my brain
processes and datasets into becomes sharp, my humor is elevated,
sound compositions, objects, my skin glows. I rarely compete; mostly I
Email
julie@translatingnature.org
and animations. For the past swim in the uK’s beautiful lakes and rivers
15 years, Julie has focused on and along the coast. I am part of the Out-
questioning the use of elec- door Swimming Society–a movement
tronic technologies to “translate to get more people outdoors and into the
water.
nature.” Her pioneering artwork
Web The Lake tracked electroni-
translatingnature.org Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
cally tagged fish and translated self that few people know.
their movement into a real-time It wasn’t until I was about 11 that my fam-
audio-visual experience. Based ily realized I needed eyeglasses. One day,
in the uK, Julie is currently one of my parents pointed out a funny
artist-in-residence at Cranfield billboard and I pulled a crazy distorted
university’s Microsystems and face to squint at it. I believe my love of
Nanotechnology Centre. imagining how invisible systems work was
shaped by how I honed my listening skills
and other senses to make up for my lack
of vision as a kid.


Jose Gomez-Marquez
Medical device designer Innovations in International Health @ MIT
D-Lab @ MIT
LDTC + Labs

HONDuRAS | uNITED STATES


MEET
JOSE Q&A

Jose creates innovative medical What are you currently working on?
solutions for those who most I have two favorite projects. One is MEDIK
(Medical Education Design and Invention
need healthcare. An instruc-
Kits), which lets non-engineers design
tor at MIT’s D-Lab: Health,
and prototype their own medical technol-
a course in designing global ogies–like a Lego set, but in the end you
health technologies, he is also
Jose have a medical device. I’m also working
program director for the Inno- on a new method to mash up biochemi-
Gomez-Marquez vations in International Health cal diagnostics with mobile phones. The
initiative at MIT. Among IIH’s project has brought together infectious-
projects is the Aerovax Drug disease experts, biochemists, mobile
Get in Touch phone programmers, and some rapid
Phone
Delivery System, a device
prototyping tools to create a better way
+1.617.674.7516 for mass delivery of inhalable
of monitoring epidemics.
drugs and vaccines to remote
populations. His invention port- What do you do for fun?
folio also includes SafePilot, I love exploring cities, especially when I
a navigation aid for the blind, have to travel abroad and get to hop from
Email
jfgm@mit.edu
and, most recently, the X out coffee shop to coffee shop. I travel with a
TB program, which aims to French press because some countries offer
increase TB therapy adherence instant coffee as standard, which should
in developing countries using be banned. I follow international affairs like
other people follow sports, so I end up
novel diagnostics and mobile
reading a lot of magazines such as Foreign
Web technology. Jose serves on
iih.mit.edu Policy, the international sections of online
the European union’s Science newspapers, and books on the topic.
littledevicesthatcould.blogspot.com
Against Poverty Taskforce and
has participated as an expert Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
advisor in the President’s self that few people know.
Council of Advisors on Science I was born premature because of an
and Technology. ultrasound error, and doctors were so
pessimistic that my family signed a death
certificate and bought me a coffin. I could
fit in a shoebox. Miracle surgery saved my
life, but I was at high risk of brain damage.
My mother never gave up hope and nursed
me back to health.


Lars Jan
Transmedia director Early Morning Opera

uNITED STATES


MEET
LARS Q&A

Lars is a genre-bending director, What are you currently working on?
designer, writer, and media artist, I’m working on three projects: ABACuS
embodies the evolution of contemporary
and founding artistic director of
persuasion in the forms of presentations
Early Morning Opera, a multi-
and mega-church media design. A SuI-
disciplinary art lab based in Los CIDE BOMBING BY INVITATION ONLY
Angeles creating works about
Lars embraces the iconic fear of the day,
“America right now.” Lars stud- refracted through the lenses of celebrity,
Jan ied Bunraku-style puppetry protest, advertising, the art market, and
outside Kyoto for a year and memorials. HOLOSCENES transforms
taught physical performance the “popular attraction” into a pivot for
Get in Touch public conversation on global climate
Phone
at Kabul university’s fledg-
cataclysm and the spiritual legacy of our
+1.212.203.6505 ling theatre department. As
responses to systems theoretically beyond
a Princeton Atelier Fellow, he
our control.
recorded elder women in rural
ukraine singing in a vanishing What do you do for fun?
polyphonic style. His subjects I drive around the Western united States,
Email
lars@earlymorningopera.com
have included Laika the Soviet taking pictures, and play fetch with my
space dog, a suicide bomber, golden retriever, who usually doesn’t drop
land art, TED talks, a downed the ball. I make massive kebab feasts
fighter pilot, and the impossibil- for many friends, followed by kebab-
fueled dance parties. Backpack through
ity of outsiders ever knowing
mountainous places, ideally harboring hot
Web the relationship that two people
earlymorningopera.com springs. Exchange bits of dark humor.
have together. His work has been Admire my girlfriend’s impressive pun-
supported by the Sherwood ning ability. Take in all the art I can. Travel.
Award, The MacDowell Colony, Collaborate.
and commissions from EMPAC
and the Whitney Museum. Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
Hiking in Tajikistan with my friend Mac
Funk, I got tagged by a rockslide. He
lowered me onto a glacier with a rope. As
he slid down himself, he caused a stony
cascade. While I ran away, one chunk
of granite knocked me over, puncturing
a hole above my left ankle the size of a
light bulb socket. Mac put pressure on
the wound for about four hours until the
bleeding stopped. I downed two Snickers
bars–twice our daily ration and the best
meal of my life.


Christine Lee
Bio-archeologist Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoanthropology

uNITED STATES | CHINA


MEET
CHRISTINE Q&A

Christine’s research as a bio- What are you currently working on?
archaeologist combines the I am currently researching human skel-
etons from archaeological excavations
fields of physical anthropology
along the border of the first Chinese
and archaeology. Working in
Empire (206 BCE–220 CE). I hope to
China and Mongolia for the detect whether the movement of people
past seven years, she uses
Christine along the Silk Road and Great Wall spread
the bones and teeth of ancient new diseases into or out of East Asia.
Lee human skeletons–populations
ancestral to modern-day Mon- What do you do for fun?
golians, Tibetans, and uyghurs I love taking road trips. I’ve woken up to
Get in Touch Mongolian nomads riding through the
Phone
– to answer questions about
morning fog. Tibetan children have shown
+86.13718127 their life history, patterns of dis-
me their prized pig while sharing Popsi-
ease, population migration and
cles in a remote mountaintop village. I’ve
interaction, and medical and also been introduced to the Tibetan Mastiffs
cultural practices. She hopes used to guard a Chinese archaeological
that this work will introduce site. All these experiences came from
Email
christinelee70@gmail.com
these ancient people, little- stopping at random places on the road
known outside Asia, to a new and introducing myself to the people I saw.
audience.
I’ve always been told I don’t have a typically
Chinese face. Visiting my father’s ances-
tral homeland along the Silk Road during
my research, I saw that though his family
left this area hundreds of years ago, I still
look like the people in this place where, for
thousands of years, Mongolian, Tibetan,
and Chinese populations have lived next to
each other. I’m living proof of the complex
nature of Chinese population history.


Jae Rhim Lee
Scientific artist Infinity Burial Project
MIT Program in Art, Culture & Technology

SOuTH KOREA | uNITED STATES


MEET
JAE RHIM Q&A

Jae Rhim is a visual artist and What are you currently working on?
designer who works at the As part of the Infinity Burial Project,
I’m developing a new alternative burial
intersection of art, DIY science,
method I call “corpse decompiculture.”
and design. She conducts
I’m training an edible mushroom to digest
research and makes environ- my discarded hair, skin, nails, and blood.
mentally conscious recycling
Jae Rhim This mushroom will be incorporated into
systems, wearables, and burial suits, decomposition kits, and post-
Lee furniture that challenge the mortem makeup.
socially constructed boundar-
ies between mind/body/self/ What do you do for fun?
Get in Touch I love urban exploration via bicycle. I’m
Phone
society and the built and natural
currently attempting to live mostly car-free
+1.617.710.4188 environments. The Infinity Burial
in Los Angeles using my bike as a main
Project, her latest work, pro-
form of transportation. I also enjoy com-
poses an alternative for the posting, concocting new Popsicle flavors,
postmortem body that features and making fermented foods–kefir,
the training of a unique strain of sauerkraut, and kimchi, among others.
Email
jrlee@mit.edu
an edible mushroom to decom-
pose and remediate toxins in Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
human tissue, the development self that few people know.
of a decomposition “kit,” and a I’ve taken 15 personality tests and voca-
tional inventories, read 20 self-help books,
membership society devoted to
and consulted four career counselors and
Web the promotion of death accep-
jaerhimlee.com two therapists to find a vocation perfectly
tance and the cultivation of matched to my interests and abilities. I’ve
infinityburialproject.com
decomposing organisms. learned that I strongly resemble a Navy
general, I may have an aptitude for window
dressing, I am an “idealist” and a “healer,”
and I am ill-suited for academia, investment
banking, medicine, social work, nonprofit
management, psychology, documentary
photography, the military, tutoring, adminis-
tration, research, retail, and telemarketing.


Jon Lowenstein
Documentary photographer NOOR IMAGES and FOuNDATION
The Dart Society

uNITED STATES


MEET
JON Q&A

Jon specializes in long-term, What are you currently working on?
in-depth projects that confront I am working to complete two long-term
documentary book projects about dias-
the realms of power, poverty,
pora communities in both the united
and violence. He strives for
States and Latin America. I am also
unsparing clarity, and believes focused on building the NOOR Docu-
images make a critical contri-
Jon mentary Foundation uSA, which will help
bution by revealing the subjects disseminate documentary projects of
Lowenstein of history that lack voice. At the significance throughout the world. NOOR
core of his work, by his own is creating a variety of programs and part-
admission, is a lighted love of nerships with educational institutions to
Get in Touch ensure that the work reaches the widest
Phone
people. An equally intractable
audience possible.
+1.773.220.0275 believer in the art of photography,
he asks those who consider
photography inessential to pic- I wish I could say I can leap tall buildings
ture a world with no pictures. in a single bound, but the reality is I’m a
His international assignments pretty simple person. In my spare time,
Email
jon@jonlowenstein.com
have included covering elec- which seems to be dwindling these days,
tions in Afghanistan to the I enjoy swimming in Lake Michigan out-
aftermath of the 2010 Haiti side my back door, playing basketball,
earthquake to social violence in and hanging out with friends. I am a true
Boston Celtics basketball fan through and
Guatemala. His recent project
through. I also love having barbecues in
Web explores the impact of cerebral
jonlowenstein.com the summer.
malaria in ugandan children.
noorimages.com
shadowlivesusa.org He is a member and owner of Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
the NOOR Images cooperative self that few people know.
and Foundation. When I was about 14, I slept outside the
Old Boston Garden on Causeway Street
several times, waiting to buy regular sea-
son and playoff tickets. The most amusing
part about the experience was that I slept
next to my close friend’s grandmother,
Rose Klein, who was 73 at the time and
also an avid Celtics fan.


Sonaar Luthra
Water testing innovator Water Canary Inc.

uNITED STATES


MEET
SONAAR Q&A

Sonaar is CEO and cofounder What are you currently working on?
of Water Canary, which seeks I’m developing and sourcing our next pro-
totype to lay the foundation for a global
to transform the fight against
open-sensor network. I’m also learning
waterborne illness and water-
about and participating in the communi-
related emergencies with real- ties that will be crucial to Water Canary’s
time water-quality information.
Sonaar success, while securing the resources
Water Canary is developing a and partners our organization needs.
Luthra simple open-source device that
quickly and cheaply determines What do you do for fun?
when water can’t be trusted I’m a bit academic, I’m obsessed with
Get in Touch William Blake, I spend too much money
Phone
so that action can be taken to
on obscure vinyl, and I love 8-bit culture.
+1.507.398.7252 secure clean supplies, prevent-
I also write, paint, search for food that
ing the spread of pollution and
strikes a perfect balance between salty
disease. Sonaar is fascinated and sweet, and try to beat my girlfriend’s
by the ways inexpensive net- top score on Angry Birds.
worked hardware can be used
Email
sonaar@watercanary.com
as a tool for promoting social Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
change, and how it might help self that few people know.
empower people across the Before entering NYu’s Interactive Tele-
world with information. communications Program, I had never
written a line of code and hadn’t picked
up a soldering iron since I was 12 years
Web
watercanary.com old. I used to call myself a writer, but like
to think that these days I’m creating
science nonfiction.


Nathalie Miebach
Weather artist

uNITED STATES


MEET
NATHALIE Q&A

Nathalie translates scientific What are you currently working on?
data into sculptures. Her main My most recent work explores the inter-
section of meteorology, visual art, and
method of data translation is
music through a unique collaborative
that of basket weaving, which
compositional process involving weather
functions as a simple, tactile data, woven sculptures, graphic/inde-
grid through which to inter-
Nathalie terminate musical scores, and musical
pret data into 3D space. In performance. I build musical scores out of
Miebach the last six years, she began meteorological and oceanic data, which
focusing on meteorology and are then further translated into sculptures
oceanography, and has since that function both as weather almanacs
Get in Touch and 3D musical scores. The 3D and 2D
Phone
incorporated musical scores
scores are then used in collaborative
+1.617.997.8930 and performances and sculp-
performances with musicians.
tural installations as further
extensions of data translation. What do you do for fun?
Central to Nathalie’s work is A question articulated through science
her desire to explore the role begins with a different premise–confined
Email
n_miebach@hotmail.com
that visual and musical aes- by its own language, expectations, and
thetics play in the translation rules–from the same question addressed
and understanding of complex within the context of art. Play helps me
scientific systems, such as circumvent these boundaries. I love to
play with toys–Lego, molecular models,
weather. Born to German and
and board games–as a form of mental
Web French parents, she now lives
nathaliemiebach.com aerobics and to experience that state of
and works in Boston. play in which inconsistencies and contra-
dictions can build a strangely convincing
sense of logic.

It began in 2000, when I was attend-
ing astronomy classes at Harvard and
studying basket-weaving privately. While
learning about deep space, all I ever saw
were flat images projected on the wall.
Frustrated, I translated astronomical data
through basket-weaving to achieve a tac-
tile, physical sense of astronomy. My “final
paper” was my first woven sculptural
translation of the Hertzsprung-Russell dia-
gram, looking at the evolutionary stages
of stars.


Serge Mouangue
Cross cultural designer Wafrica
Nissan

CAMEROON | JAPAN


MEET
SERGE Q&A

Born in Cameroon and based What are you currently working on?
in Tokyo, Serge travels the While leading creative exploratory activity
at Nissan, I am continuing to develop the
world developing innova-
Wafrica concept, widening its scope to
tive design, weaving together
include art, design, and architecture. I am
the differences inherent in a also working on a breakthrough mobility
wide range of cultural values
Serge solution.
and identities. After studying
Mouangue applied art, architecture, and What do you do for fun?
design in Paris, Serge’s career I love improvising abstract music on my
took him from designing foot- piano. I like recording sound while work-
Get in Touch ing in a way that describes or discovers
Phone
wear in China to concept cars
the music of the place. I love listening to
+81.80.3001.7922 for Nissan in Japan. In 2008,
people’s travel stories, particularly those
+81.80.3001.7922 he launched Wafrica, a design
+81.3.6804.9282 about migration. I recommend The Arrival
collaboration with a traditional by Shaun Tan. I also take great pleasure
Japanese kimono-maker that inventing tales for my kids in the dark
combines the traditions, materi- before bed, and being a clown. I meditate
Email
yoserge@hotmail.com
als, and craftsmanship of Africa heavily–a good way to travel cheaply.
and Japan to create visually
arresting garments that speak Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
to the similarities and differences self that few people know.
When I was 12, living in the outskirts of
between the two cultures.
Paris, a teacher asked me what I wanted
Web
wafrica.jp to be. I said, naïvely, “A professional
egodesign.ca/en/article.php?article_id=34 drawer.” Everybody burst out laughing at
me, when I had never been so sincere.
At 15 I ran away from home to join the
Applied Art School. My dad wanted me to
be an engineer.


Alex Odundo
Agricultural machinist Sifa Machinery Enterprises
Kisumu Polytechnic

KENYA


MEET
ALEX Q&A

Alex creates simple tools for What are you currently working on?
rural economic development I am still at work on sisal projects, particu-
larly development of the Sisal Decorticator
in Africa. The Kenyan inven-
and sisal twining machines for small-scale
tor has already developed the
Kenyan farmers.
Sisal Decorticator and the Sisal
Twiner–machines that make
Alex What do you do for fun?
fiber and rope from the sisal I love listening to music, playing and watch-
Odundo plant–uses by small-scale ing football, watching movies, helping the
farmers in semi-arid lands poor, and coming up with new ideas.
to add value to the fiber. His
Get in Touch Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
Phone
greatest desire is to see the
+254.7247196 disadvantaged uplifted, and
I am the only inventor who has succeeded
+254.7356482 he seeks solutions that affect
in building sisal-processing machines
whole communities–a quest in Kenya, despite several attempts by
that drives his passion to suc- research institutions and universities. I have
ceed. His future projects include been honored to receive several awards
Email
alex.odundo@gmail.com
designing a machine to clear and to have the opportunity to train people
water hyacinth in Kenya, intro- in Rwanda on these machines.
ducing a community solar-power
unit for rural electricity, and
developing a farming method
Web aimed at mitigating food short-
sifamachinery.wordpress.com
ages in parts of Africa.


Somi
Singer + cultural activist New Africa Live

uGANDA | RWANDA | uNITED STATES


MEET
SOMI Q&A

Originally from uganda and What are you currently working on?
Rwanda, vocalist and song- Right now, I’m preparing for the August
2011 release of my first live concert
writer Somi grew up between
album, but I am also writing new music
Illinois and Zambia, but currently
for my next studio album, which I hope
resides in New York City. Her will be released next spring. I’m also try-
latest album, If The Rains Come
Somi ing to further develop the programming
First, features the legendary and curatorial efforts of New Africa Live
Hugh Masekela and debuted at and ultimately produce a premier modern
#2 on the Billboard World Music African arts festival that would happen
Chart. Adored for her original annually in New York City.
Get in Touch
Phone
blend of modern jazz, classic
+1.917.687.8774 soul, and East African folk,
Somi has collaborated with or
I love to go out to see and hear creative
performed alongside the likes of work of any discipline whenever I have
Bobby McFerrin, Baaba Maal, the opportunity to do so. I also read a lot
John Legend, Cassandra Wil- of fiction, but have an affinity for female
Email
somi@somimusic.com
son, Mos Def, Paul Simon, and authors from the developing world, or
Jennifer Hudson. Somi is also who write about the immigrant experi-
the founder of New Africa Live, a ence. I also love to discover and create
nonprofit organization dedicated inspired vegetarian recipes!

to celebrating the very best of
Web contemporary African artists
somimusic.com self that few people know.
working in the performance, I didn’t decide to pursue music profes-
newafricalive.org
visual, and literary arts. sionally until after I had finished college.
Before that, I’d planned to either become
a pediatrician or a medical anthropolo-
gist. Consequently, I did not take my first
private voice lesson until I was 23.


Genevieve von Petzinger
Cave art researcher Department of Anthropology, university of Victoria

CANADA


MEET
GENEVIEVE Q&A

Genevieve studies European What are you currently working on?
Ice Age rock art at the univer- I’ve noticed that certain geometric signs
tend to appear together. Preliminary
sity of Victoria in Canada. Her
tests at French and Spanish sites show
previous research included
the same pairings repeating over a wide
creating the first full typology geographic area. To understand these
of abstract rock art–30 distinct
Genevieve patterns, I am now studying a unique
signs have been identified to 15,000-year-old deer-tooth necklace from
von Petzinger date–and building the largest a French burial site. The teeth have geo-
database of geometric imag- metric markings: some are single signs,
ery in the world: 146 sites with but others are combinations of two or
Get in Touch more–the same configurations I see on
Phone
more than 5,000 separate
cave walls.
+1.778.440.1005 images. She found that many
of the signs remained in use
for over 20,000 years and I love reading science-fiction and fantasy
appeared across a broad geo- books, learning languages (I speak five to
graphic region. This continuity varying degrees), playing tennis, wilder-
Email
gvonpetz@gmail.com
suggests the signs were mean- ness hiking, traveling far enough from
ingful to their creators and were home to get culture shock, taking poorly
being used purposefully–possi- planned road trips (don’t ever try driving
bly a very early form of graphic through Paris without a map!), and watch-
ing mixed martial arts fights–my guilty
communication.
pleasure.
Web Genevieve’s current work
bradshawfoundation.com/geometric_signs/
index.php
includes expanding her data- Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
base to incorporate all other Ice self that few people know.
Age rock art sites in Europe, I’m a bit of a closet gearhead. I’ve helped
and exploring the cognitive and my husband build two high-performance
symbolic capabilities of our dis- engines from the “bare block” up, and at
tant ancestors. one point, we even had a pretty chrome
engine sitting in our living room during
the assembly process! Ironically, I don’t
like driving fast, but I do like to know how
things work, and it’s a nice break to do
something so hands-on.


Lucianne Walkowicz
Stellar astronomer university of California, Berkeley
Princeton university

uNITED STATES


MEET
LuCIANNE Q&A

Lucianne studies the inscru- What are you currently working on?
table faces of stars for clues I use ultra-precise measurements of star-
light from NASA’s Kepler mission to study
to the inner workings of their
starspots and flares. These phenomena,
hearts. She got her taste for
caused by the stars’ magnetic fields, are
astronomy as an undergradu- associated with high-energy radiation that
ate at Johns Hopkins, testing
Lucianne impacts orbiting planets and sets the stage
detectors for the Hubble Space for biology. If we could focus our efforts
Walkowicz Telescope’s new camera. to detect life on only one other planetary
She also learned to love red system outside our own, which would we
dwarfs, the topic of her PhD choose? The answer lies in the stars.
Get in Touch
Phone
dissertation at the university of
+1.206.291.8174 Washington. Nowadays, she
I paint and draw comics–I’ve just com-
works on NASA’s Kepler mis-
pleted a series of paintings of re-imagined
sion, studying starspots and tattoo themes. I’m also working on a chil-
the tempestuous tantrums dren’s book about the 1894 San Francisco
of stellar flares to understand Midwinter Fair. I’m an avid runner of mara-
Email
l.m.walkowicz@gmail.com
stellar magnetic fields. She is thons, do yoga, and rock climb when time
particularly interested in how allows. I also cook a lot (running makes me
high-energy radiation from hungry), and I especially like cooking for
stars influences the habitability friends. I’ve also been known to bring the
house down at karaoke.
of planets around alien suns.
Web Lucianne also leads the Large
astro.berkeley.edu/~lucianne Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
Synoptic Survey Telescope, a self that few people know.
strangepeoplecomics.com
morethanhumanafterall.blogspot.com new project that will scan the My first job was an internship at
sky every night for 10 years to uSAnimation, a digital ink-and-paint
create a cosmic movie of our post-production animation company. We
universe. did everything from M&Ms commercials
to animated sequences for Plaza Sesamo
(the Spanish-language Sesame Street–
where Big Bird is, mysteriously, pink). My
crowning achievement from that summer?
A screen credit for painting an episode of
Ren & Stimpy, one of my favorite cartoons
of all time!


Jodie Wu
Appropriate technologist Global Cycle Solutions
AISE Initiative

uNITED STATES | TANZANIA


MEET
JODIE Q&A

Jodie is an MIT engineer turned What are you currently working on?
entrepreneur. She founded I am currently working with manufacturers
to bring our second generation of prod-
Global Cycle Solutions and is
ucts to market, including fully branded
cofounder of the AISE initiative
machines made from top-grade metals,
to accelerate innovation and hand-driven maize shellers, and a new
social entrepreneurship in Tan-
Jodie bicycle-powered cell-phone charger
zania. She and her team of 11 equipped with a built-in phone holder. I
Wu full-time Tanzanian employees am also guiding an aggressive outreach,
at GCS build and sell simple training, and education program with our
bicycle-related products that field partners, and finalizing plans to move
Get in Touch our workshop from my garage to the
Phone
create opportunities in rural
AISE collaboration center.
+255.759.335.543 communities, helping farmers
+1.678.609.4288 climb out of poverty. Jodie has
+255.688.912.559 What do you do for fun?
developed a platform whereby I play with the neighborhood children,
various technologies can be catch up on reading, and head to the
“plugged” onto a bicycle. For fields to play ultimate Frisbee or kick a
Email
jodiezwu@gmail.com
farmers, her bicycle-powered soccer ball around. When I have lots of
maize-sheller is five times faster spare time, I enjoy teaching myself to play
than traditional methods, mak- guitar, baking cakes in my homemade
ing the chore of shelling an oven (inverted pot on a pot with rocks on
the bottom), and studying Swahili gram-
easy and enjoyable task. A
mar to clean up my “dirty” Swahili.
Web strong believer in co-creation
globalcyclesolutions.com
and creative capacity-building, Tell a surprising anecdote about your-
youtube.com/globalcyclesolutions
she is teaming up with a local self that few people know.
Tanzanian NGO to construct I asked my professor whether I should
AISE’s first collaboration center take my full scholarship to graduate
by the end of this year. school or start Global Cycle Solutions.
He told me his grad-school stories, con-
vincing me to go. Then he asked, “What
did your parents do?” I told him, a little
embarrassed: “They ran a Chinese res-
taurant.” He said, “Great! Your parents
were entrepreneurs. You should start
Global Cycle Solutions.” So I did. I was
never more proud of my parents, true
entrepreneurs.


Senior Fellows
The 2010 and 2011 TED Senior Fellows join us again for TEDGlobal 2011.
While you may have met a few before, take a moment to read through the
following pages, familiarize yourself with the most recent class, and update
yourself on what the 2010 Senior Fellows are currently up to.

About the program TEDGlobal 2011
Each year, 10 Fellows are selected for the TED At TEDGlobal 2011 we have two classes of Senior
Senior Fellows program, an extended two-year Fellows joining us–the inaugural 2010 Senior
fellowship. Over the course of the fellowship, the Fellows (18) and the recently selected 2011 Senior
Senior Fellows work on projects within their indi- Fellows (12).
vidual disciplines.
To learn more about the TED Senior Fellows program
Benefits to the Senior Fellows include attending four visit: www.ted.com/fellows
additional TED conferences (TED and TEDGlobal), contact: fellows@ted.com
participating in four Senior Fellows pre-conferences, follow: @TEDFellow
the opportunity to deliver a full-length talk on the
TED university or main TED stage, and the potential
for that talk to be posted on TED.com. The Senior
Fellows’ responsibilities include mentoring the newer
Fellows, holding TEDx events in their communities,
posting on the TED Fellows blog, and year-round
participation in the TED community.


2011 TED seNior Fellows

Awab Alvi
Dentist + political activist PAKISTAN
Email Web Twitter
drawab@gmail.com teeth.com.pk/blog @drawab
alvidental.com

AWAB iS…

Tackling corruption in Pakistan by harnessing the collective energy of its citizens to
report bribes paid to their public servants.



Esra’a Al Shafei
Human rights activist BAHRAIN
Email Web Twitter
director@mideastyouth.com mideastyouth.com @mideastyouth
crowdvoice.org
mideastunes.com

ESRA’A iS…

The creator of a site that crowdsources and organizes information about protests,
and a product that allows activists to easily build an online presence for their cause.



Candy Chang
Designer + urban planner uNITED STATES
Email Web Twitter
candy@candychang.com candychang.com @candychang
civiccenter.cc

CAnDy iS…

Creating a new tool that gathers ideas for neighborhoods, and a global public art
project that invites people to share their dreams in public spaces.



Saeed Taji Farouky
Filmmaker uNITED KINGDOM | PALESTINE
Email Web Twitter
saeed@touristwithatypewriter.com touristwithatypewriter.com @saeedtaji
taji.co.uk @touristfilms

SAEED iS…

Filming, training, hustling, editing, hiding, negotiating, the agony and the ecstasy,
premiere summer 2012...and breathing.



Jessica Green
Engineer + biodiversity scientist uNITED STATES
Email Web
jlgreen@uoregon.edu biology.uoregon.edu/people/green/

JESSiCA iS…

Working on The Tiny Shiny, an illustrated educational book that conveys basic
microbiological concepts using imagery from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.



Robert Gupta
Violinist uNITED STATES
Email Twitter
robertvgupta@gmail.com @guptaviolin87

ROBERT iS…

Launching a non profit to continue bringing musical outreach concerts to homeless
and mentally ill in LA and has just recorded his solo debut album.



Cesar Minoru Harada
inventor + environmentalist uNITED STATES | FRANCE
Email Web Twitter
contact@cesarharada.com protei.org @cesarharada
cesarharada.com
opensailing.net

CESAR iS…

In Rotterdam building Protei: an unmanned sailing articulated drone to clean up oil
spills. Open Hardware Ocean Robot will launch in Sept. 2011.



Mitchell Joachim
Architect + futurist uNITED STATES
Email Web Twitter
mj@terreform.org terreform.org @MitchellJoachim
archinode.com
mitchelljoachim.com

MiTCHELL iS…

Perfecting the use of living materials in architecture with fungi.



Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Filmmaker + historian PAKISTAN | CANADA
Email Web Twitter
sharmeen@sharmeenobaidfilms.com sharmeenobaidfilms.com @sharmeenochinoy
citizensarchive.org

SHARMEEn iS…

Mobilizing thousands of people to work on a social-awareness campaign about the
impact of violence on society in Pakistan.


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TED Global 2011 Fellows Booklet

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TED Global 2011 Fellows Booklet