Theme: Möbius

Building off the mathematical/geometric concept of a Möbius strip, a 2D construct that exists in a 3D space, we challenge our community to consider concepts that might be unfamiliar - or uncanny - at first glance, prompting the exploration of multidimensional ideas. Mobius allows us a creative form - both physical and ideological - to work within.

Wharton Center for Performing Arts
750 East Shaw Ln
East Lansing, Michigan, 48824
United States

Alex C. Lange

Alex has been an educator and speaker regarding diversity, justice, equity, and inclusion for the better part of a decade, and is passionate about community-based advocacy. They believe fiercely in the power of intersectional movements and works to promote positive social change and mutual learning and understanding on university campuses.

Ania Pathak

Philosopher, neuroscientist, lifelong student

Ania Pathak is a philosopher, teacher, learner, neuroscience researcher and DO/PhD candidate at the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. Her experiences in physiology and neuroscience, as well as her time shadowing the work of physicians in clinics, hospitals, and private practices, have oriented her to think about how our bodies and minds work, and how they help us exist in, perceive, and understand ourselves and the world around us.

Bryan Taylor

Innovative educator, entrepreneur

Bryan Taylor is the founding president of EduGuide, a national award-winning nonprofit which creates research-driven tools that thousands of schools and colleges have used to help students take new steps toward reaching their potential to contribute to the world.

Evan Fried

Human-centered designer, entrepreneur

Evan Fried loves disrupting the status quo. A recent alum of MSU and incoming Venture for America fellow, he founded the Design For America group on campus and led project teams to tackle multiple systematic issues in the Greater Lansing area, spanning nutrition, science education, and occupational safety, among many others. He hopes to create domestic and international social impact and innovation for people and communities that need it the most.

Frances Downes

Laboratory medicine, global + public health professor

Dr. Downes is an internationally recognized public health consultant and educator. She specializes in analyzing laboratory technologies and qualities globally, especially in resource-poor settings where ailments like HIV are present.

Jeffery Ford

Author, autism spectrum disorders advocate

Jeffery Alan Ford is an author in East Lansing, Michigan; a member of MENSA; and the World Genius Directory: 2016 Genius of the Year for America. By actively contributing to awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorders, Asperger’s, Mobius Syndrome and other disabilities, he hopes to impact perception and understanding.

Jennifer Beckner

Refugee development volunteer + student

A devoted volunteer at the Lansing Refugee Development Center, Jennifer is an MSU student who continually invests in the local and social world directly around her.

Maen Hammad

Youth advocate

Maen's main professional and academic interests focus on the many interactions, most especially, at the personal level, of international affairs. As a proud alumnus of MSU, his expertise revolves around the Middle East and North Africa as he is pursuing his Master’s at George Washington University. He is enthusiastic about independent filmmaking and photojournalism in hopes to document the human effect of international conflict.

Margaret Hermanson

Museum exhibition designer

As a child, Margaret Hermanson fell in love with the complete immersion museum exhibits that affected not only her, but her fellow students, siblings, and parents. Passionate about creating those experiences for visitors to enact lasting world change, Margaret strives to tell stories in writing, design, and (sometimes) witty jokes.

Peter Burroughs

Video game designer

Peter Burroughs is a video game enthusiast and world-shaper - in more ways than one. While pursuing his degree through MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences, he’s also researching how video games can create social influence as well.

Rohit Menon

Quality of life researcher + Urban experience architect

To paraphrase a professor that taught him a few years ago, Rohit is 'always in search of utopia. Tell him to stop searching. It doesn't exist'. Rohit has not stopped searching yet. Trained as an architect from India and studying as a graduate student at MSU, he has lived, worked and played in search of a brighter tomorrow. This outlook has taken him to the further reaches of understanding how physical places and people interact.

Sophia Lunt

Cancer biologist, Professor of Biochemistry

Dr. Sophia Lunt began her training in metabolism at Princeton University, where she received my Ph.D. studying the metabolic consequences of the antibiotic drug trimethoprim. As a postdoctoral fellow at MIT, she focused on cancer metabolism, and was awarded the CDMRP PRCRP Visionary Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Department of Defense to support her research. She currently runs a research lab focused on cancer metabolism at Michigan State University.

Thaddeus Stegall

Student affairs advocate

Thaddeus is a passionate educator, social activist, and community leader at Michigan State University.