Theme: Re-Formations of Tomorrow

At TEDxTUM 2017, we invite you to join us in a discussion about the kind of place we want to work, live and grow in tomorrow. What will the ideas and concepts nourishing our inspiration be? What can we do to keep improving?

We believe that what we design, discuss and do is driven by our inherent desire to improve our surroundings. But in this age of sensationalism and self-serving agendas, the shape, size and structure of our collective future is being steered in a surprisingly restrictive direction. The form of tomorrow seems to require a recalibration of our expectations, for us to identify our values with certainty and support an inclusive future for everyone.

Join us at TEDxTUM and let’s explore the “Re-Formations of Tomorrow”.

TUM Main campus
Arcisstraße 21
Munich, Bayern
Germany

Angelika Kneidl

Crowd behavior simulation expert

Angelika Kneidl is an expert in modeling and simulating crowd behavior. Since first hearing of the field, Angelika has passionately sought to notice patterns in daily life and imitate the nuances of human behavior in computers. Following her PhD on pedestrians’ navigational behavior, Angelika co-founded the firm accu:rate, which offers consulting services and software for pedestrian dynamics simulations. This can include modeling and visualizing the behavior of large crowds at events, or collaborating with planners and event managers to improve the safety of events and layout of buildings.

Christos Chantzaras

Architectural Innovator

Christos Chantzaras holds diplomas in both architecture and management, and has embarked on a mission to open the field of architecture for co-creation and innovation. Initially an architect and strategy consultant, he now uses experiences gained from an architecture firm environment to improve interdisciplinary collaboration within the field as a researcher and lecturer at TUM. His initiative and deep-seated belief in expanding traditional architectural thinking and applicability, is supporting the department of architecture to transform its research lab into an Architecture Research Incubator.

Daniel Aaron Donahue

Immunologist & Virologist

Daniel Aaron Donahue is fascinated by viruses. Inspired by how scientific research can have an impact on improving the lives of millions, his PhD work and postdoctoral studies have focused on HIV cure approaches and understanding how HIV interacts with immune cells. Aaron is driven by a desire to uncover the details of how pathogens infect cells, using this knowledge in collaboration with his colleagues to test novel approaches to treat or cure human diseases.

Jessamyn Fairfield

Physicist and Science Comedian

Jessamyn is a physicist specializing in nanomaterials and neuromorphic devices. She is originally from the U.S., and grew up in Los Alamos, the home of the atomic bomb. Her research is about building electronics to emulate the brain, but in addition to research and teaching, Jessamyn loves to talk about science. She runs Bright Club Ireland, a variety night for lateral minds where comedy, music, and ideas come together. She also appears frequently on Futureproof, the Newstalk science radio show, gives lots of public talks, and performs improvised and standup comedy around Ireland and the UK.

Jürgen Gradl

Scholarship coordinator & social activist

Jürgen Gradl believes solidarity is a basic virtue of a liberal democratic society, where individuals are afforded many rights but also empathize with and take care of one another. That is why he is currently working on an initiative to grow and strengthen solidarity in society. In his work at TUM Jürgen helped develop the Deutschlandstipendium, a scholarship which factors a wide variety of life experiences, including volunteering experience, migratory background, and/or parenthood, into recipient selection.

Kai Stuht

Photographer

Kai started as a sports photographer in the 90s and was not satisfied until he found his own very individual and artistic style. His dramatically staged picture worlds appeal to the subconscious, and his philosophical ideas are reflected in his campaigns and artistic works. Today, Kai specializes in photographing VIPs, celebrities and major figures in fashion. In his roles as photographer and creative director, he is a widely acclaimed international trendsetter with his own unique style in editorial design. Amongst other campaigns, he started Project Fovea, in which he explores in depth how our intuition shapes our perception. Kai lives and works as free artist in Berlin.

Laura Fabbietti

Physicist & Professor

Laura Fabbietti loves three-dimensional thinking and the idea of building detectors to measure particles and learn about what we think is the story of our universe. Born close to the mountains in Bergamo, Italy, she studied in Milan and came to Munich 19 years ago, first to obtain her PhD and later succeeding her advisor to become the professor for Dense and Strange Hadronic Matter at TUM. Laura likes to cook for and entertain her friends to thank them for being patient with her, and loves Munich for its ability to simultaneously feel like a little village as well as a sinful city.

Manuel Opitz

Bioengineer & Entrepreneur

Manuel Opitz studied Industrial & Bio-Engineering and co-founded Mecuris, a startup with the vision to create personalized prostheses & orthoses with the help of 3D-printing technology and machine learning. Today, Manuel analyzes orthopaedic care processes to unlock digital potential for personalized products with the aid of digital tailoring and additive manufacturing for doctors, technicians and patients alike.

Monica Boța-Moisin

Lawyer

Monica Boța-Moisin is an unconventional lawyer. She is the promoter of a legislative initiative in Romania protecting the traditional Romanian blouse, Romanian designs and traditional cultural expressions. Monica has pioneered the terms ‘cultural intellectual property’ and ‘traditional identity design’ within Romanian academia. Currently in Berlin, Monica is focusing on textile management in fashion and fashion law, and inspired by her travels, writes a blog on textile stories and traditional designs aimed at generating cultural sustainability projects.

Nils Thuerey

Associate Professor Games Engineering

Nils Thuerey’s work is in the field of computer graphics: he models physical behaviors of fluids such as water and smoke to enable computer created virtual effects to look like the real thing. These phenomena are very expensive to simulate computationally, so Nils’ research explores the use of deep learning methods to generate the effects more quickly and more realistically. Before assuming his assistant professor position at TUM, Nils studied in Erlangen, held a post-doc position in Zurich, and worked in the visual effects industry. He was awarded a technical Oscar for the development of an algorithm which aids in editing explosion and smoke effects for film.

Ramona Hacker

AIESEC

Ramona Hacker has a degree in English and American Studies and is currently pursuing a Masters in World Heritage Studies. Through several personal experiences as well as her volunteer experience at a local soccer club and for the student organization AIESEC, she started thinking about the topic of emotional intelligence and how it affects everyone’s lives and the way we deal with our problems. She will share research from the field as well as personal stories with the TEDxTUM audience.

Taz Alam

Poet

Taz Alam graduated with a law degree from Cardiff University in 2015. After graduating she went through a period of feeling lost and it was during this difficult time that she discovered her love for spoken word poetry. She was particularly drawn to how spoken word is an impactful way of expressing powerful messages, and how it gave her a voice at a time where she felt the most helpless. Taz started posting videos online talking about difficult topics ranging from mental health, social issues, and body image, transforming them into empowering poems. She gradually grew her audience and now uses her platform to give a voice to vulnerable people.

Thomas Bock

Professor in Building Realization and Robotics

Prof. Thomas Bock has a multidisciplinary background having studied architecture, civil engineering and robotics. He is an expert in construction robotics who combines automation, robotics and mechatronics into the built environment to solve future demographic and societal challenges with emphasis on making life easier for the elderly by designing different life support systems. His motivation to assist one of the vulnerable section of the society is very inspiring. He also has a vast international and multicultural experience having worked in different countries like European countries, Iran, North and Central America, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. He is a pioneer of several new ideas in construction robotics and continues to author several related articles and books.

Thomas Hildebrandt

Reproduction Manager

Thomas Hildebrandt sometimes has difficulties describing his job to other people. The closest example would be a gynecologist at a fertility clinic, except that the patients in his case are rhinos, elephants and other wild animals. Since 1997, he has been head of the department for reproduction management at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin and professor for wildlife reproduction medicine at the Free University of Berlin. Currently, one of the biggest challenges Thomas and his institute are tackling is protecting the white rhino from extinction.