For our fourth and largest event yet, we have curated a lineup that will cover stories, ideas, and performances that not only highlight the tales of individuals, but also our collective story as humans.

Much gratitude is owed to our fantastic partners who support our mission of Ideas Worth Spreading. Today’s event could not have been possible without the toil and ambition of our team of 38 talented and dedicated peers, and three caring and supportive faculty advisors.

Thank you for joining us today as we explore different facets of what it means to be a part of the ever-growing story of humanity.

Welcome to an afternoon of learning, community-building, and innovation. Welcome to TEDxOhioStateUniversity 2015: The Human Narrative.

1871 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio, 43210
United States

Andrea Grottoli

Andrea Grottoli is a Professor in the School of Earth Sciences and the Head of the Division of Climate, Water and the Environment at the Ohio State University. She teaches undergraduate and graduate students in the classroom, the laboratory, and in the field. Her research focuses on the impact of global change on coral reefs. Her current research in Hawaii aims to identify traits or populations of corals that are more likely to adapt to global change, and how such findings could be used to better inform coral reef conservation efforts. As part of her research she has lived in a submersible habitat on the seafloor, traveled to the deep seafloor in a manned submersible, and has dived using SCUBA hundreds of times all over the world.

Anna Voelker

Anna Voelker is a student at Ohio State studying astronomy and astrophysics. She is a member of Never Let Your Pen Dry, a poetry slam team at OSU.

Charles Noble

Charles Noble is a Program Manager for the Boys & Men of Color Initiative at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University, a leading national research institute. In this position, Charles serves as the Director of More Than My Brother’s Keeper, a pilot program designed to address some of the pervasive social issues on the Southside of Columbus, Ohio. In addition to his position at the Kirwan Institute, Charles consults on a negotiations course at the Moritz College of Law, and facilitates workshops to public health coalitions on various aspects of infant mortality. In 2013, Charles produced the Institute’s first feature-length film, Letter from Birmingham Jail, and was also on the cover of Who’s Who in Black Columbus, and was featured as an Interesting Personality. Charles sits on the Board of Student Conduct at The Ohio State University, and is on the national board of trustees for the Jack and Jill of America Foundation.

Cheryl London

Dr. London graduated from Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine in 1990, worked in private practice for 2 years in Maine, and then subsequently completed a residency in Medical Oncology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She then entered a Ph.D. program in Immunology at Harvard University and after graduating in 1999, was an Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at UC Davis until 2005. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Biosciences at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. London is the Director of the Clinical Trials Office at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Director of Translational Therapeutics at the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and she holds the Thekla R. and Donald B. Shackelford Professorship in Canine Medicine. Her research interests center primarily around targeted therapeutics and translational/comparative oncology.

Damian Beauchamp

Damian Beauchamp graduated from Kent State University magna cum laude with a BS in chemistry. He then joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University in 2012 under the direction of Dr. Yiying Wu as a PhD student. His focus and passion are based on the discovery, development, and commercialization of sustainable/renewable energy solutions. In 2013 Damian received honorable mention from the NSF Graduate Fellowship committee and co-founded Kair Battery/Energy Systems LLC. Kair was developed to provide highly energy efficient and dense, cost-effective, and non-toxic energy storage systems to the electric vehicle and grid storage markets. Damian led Kair to success taking 1st at the OSU Business Plan Competition, winning the $100k DOE Clean Energy Prize form the Rice Business Plan Competition, and competed in Washington D.C. at the DOE Clean Energy Business Plan Competition.

David Ewoldsen

David Ewoldsen is a professor in the School of Communication and the Department of Psychology at the Ohio State University. He currently serves at the associate director of Undergraduate Studies for the School of Communication. He received a joint Ph.D. from Indiana University in Psychology and Speech Communication in 1990. David co-founded the journal Media Psychology in 1999, which quickly to become one of the top communication journals during his editorship. He also founded a second journal entitled Communication Methods & Measures in 2006, which has filled a unique niche within the discipline. David’s research interests include the study of cooperative video game play, persuasion, racism, narrative and entertainment, and comprehension processes. David enjoys looking communication issues from a unique vantage point. He has published in the top journals in both communication and psychology and has edited three books.

Elijah Aaron

Elija Aaron Palnik is a faculty member in the Dance Department at Ohio State who also tours across the country performing as a one-man-band.

Emmanuel Dzotsi

Originally from London, England, Emmanuel Dzotsi is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying Political Science and Communications at The Ohio State University. Emmanuel is a member of TBDBITL, and has written for several publications, most notably The Algerian, an Ohio State international relations magazine published by The Collegiate Council on World Affairs. An avid film fanatic, Emmanuel first fell in love with film at an early age. In 2014, Emmanuel produced his first film, entitled Steal Away, a full-length feature. Steal Away lead to the creation of Petrichor, an online art-curation website that receives submissions based around a different theme each month, and includes everything from short films, to a monthly podcast , of which Emmanuel is a regular host.

Ida Abdalkhani

Ohio State alumna Ida Abdalkhani was a Global Brand Manager of Olay Body Care at Procter & Gamble at their world headquarters in Cincinnati, OH. There she led the brand's global whitespace expansion strategy to generate an incremental $65 Million in sales in 3 years. Afterwards she became a certified laughter yoga instructor, and now is is the Founder & President of Ability to Engage, LLC-- a consultancy that specializes in the development and co-creation of brand equities, architectures, and consumer segmentation as well as marketing strategies. Ida also develops and facilitates idea workshops, innovation sessions, and team effectiveness workshops.

John Beacom

John Beacom is an internationally-known researcher in physics and astronomy, a popular teacher of introductory courses, and a leader in making scientific advances accessible to non-scientists. He is a Professor in the Ohio State Departments of Physics and Astronomy, as well as being Director of their joint Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP). His research focuses on neutrinos — almost massless and almost non-interacting particles that pervade the Universe and that can reveal hidden wonders, such as the core of the Sun, stars that implode, and black holes that are gobbling away. (Trillions of neutrinos passed invisibly through your eyes as you read that sentence.) He has won both the Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award and the Ohio State Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. He frequently makes or hosts presentations on science for the public, from children to retirees.

John Campo

Dr. Campo, a nationally recognized expert in child and adolescent psychiatry, was named chair of the College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry in 2012. He has been at Ohio State since 2006, and is the former director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and medical director of Pediatric Behavioral Health, a joint position serving Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Ohio State. Board certified in pediatrics, psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry, Dr. Campo is the recipient of Innovation in Pediatric Practice at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His interests include the relationship between medically unexplained physical symptoms and emotional disorders, psychosomatic medicine, and the delivery of evidence based behavioral health interventions, most notably in primary care. Dr. Campo has been honored as a NAMI exemplary Psychiatrist.

Lisa Cravens-Brown

Dr. Cravens-Brown is a triple alumna of The Ohio State University, with a bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. in clinical child psychology. She started teaching at OSU as a graduate student and was hooked from the start. She was a 2014 recipient of the Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Lecturer, and also has won the psychology department’s distinguished teaching award. She was named by the Princeton Review as one of the Top 300 Professors in the U.S. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the department of psychology, where she teaches several large undergraduate courses and coordinates two department-wide courses. She also gives numerous talks on campus each year. In her limited spare time, she participates in community theater productions as an actor, singer, dancer, and director.

Marisa McGrath

Marisa McGrath is a senior at The Ohio State University double majoring in International Relations and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. A native of Youngstown, Ohio, on campus, McGrath is a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority, The Girl’s Circle Project, and various other activities. She graduates this May.

Mushtaq Dualeh

Mushtaq is a fourth-year studying Public Health and Development Studies. She is a VanderMolen Scholar, OIA Scholar and national Benjamin A. Gilman Scholar. Mushtaq holds many leadership roles in the campus community. She is the secretary of the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, the Co-President of the Muslim Students Association, and the Chief Networking Officer for Pillar. She also participated in the LeaderShape Institute and serves as a Student Events Coordinator for Undergraduate Admissions. Mushtaq hopes to attain a Masters in Public Health and has dreams of obtaining a PhD to further a career in health policy, epidemiology and international development upon her graduation this May.

Richard Petty

Richard Petty is Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at The Ohio State University. He received his B.A. from the University of Virginia with a double major in political science and psychology and his Ph.D. in social psychology from Ohio State. Petty’s research focuses on the automatic and deliberative factors responsible for influencing people’s attitudes, decisions, and behaviors. He has published eight books and over 300 research articles and chapters. Petty is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, and four other societies. His honors include the Scientific Impact Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards from the Societies for Personality and Social Psychology and Consumer Psychology.

Stephen Synder-Hill

Stephen Snyder-Hill, Author & Registered Dietitian, joined the military in 1988 and served in 2 wars. He has received numerous awards, including the Meritorious Service Medal. He is currently a Major in the US Army Reserve and works at Columbus Public Health in Columbus, Ohio. Having endured years of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which passively encouraged a culture of fear and secrecy for gay soldiers, he submitted a video question to political candidates during a Republican Primary Debate asking their if they would re-instate the policy. He was booed, which led to a media frenzy. He fought the DOD & DOMA in a lawsuit spearheaded by SLDN. He and his Husband took 25 couples to Washington DC to get married on the steps of the Supreme Court before the DOMA hearings. They fought Ohio’s probate court which denied them a name change. They currently chair several efforts for Marriage Equality in Ohio.

William Evans

William Evans is a writer and performance poet residing in Columbus, Oh. In addition to making founding the Writing Wrongs Poetry Slam, William made six consecutive Columbus national slam teams. He has made two National Slam finals appearances (NPS 2011 and IWPS 2008) while putting out a poetry manuscript, In the Event you Are Caught Behind Enemy Lines, in 2008 on Penmanship Books.