TEDx returns to CSU
Get pumped for the upcoming TEDxCSU event by discovering the story behind its return to Cleveland State and get a sneak peek of some of the inspiring speakers taking the stage.
Written by Mitchell Wood
We all remember those slow days in school when we would drag our feet walking to class, anticipating another day full of repetitive note-taking or filling out a plain, boring worksheet that would end up covered in doodles.
But every once in a while, our teacher would flip the script. Instead of the regularly scheduled lesson plan, the teacher would dim the classroom lights, open YouTube and, as long as no one fell asleep, play a TED Talk for the class to watch.
Even though we were watching from a stiff, uncomfortable desk chair, a TED Talk always felt like an immersive learning experience. But have you ever thought about actually going to one?
Well, you're in luck: Cleveland State University is hosting TEDx Cleveland State University - Untangling Wonder on Friday, Oct. 23, from 3 to 8 p.m. at the Waetjen Auditorium.
TEDxCSU is far more than an event. It's an immersive experience into the lives of the 12 unique speakers handpicked to present. Nate Ward, the lead speaker curator for TEDxCSU, crafted the speaker lineup with Cleveland in mind. There's no shortage of connections to the city and campus. From businesses based in the Cleveland area to CSU staff and even a student speaker, TEDxCSU was made for the local community.
Ward, 48, also runs the Global Business Center in the Monte Ahuja College of Business and has worked at Cleveland State since 2012. He was given the seemingly impossible task of selecting 12 speakers from 331 applicants.
“We had 331 applications and had to shut down the application link two months early,” Ward said. “We were trending toward 500-plus applications and it was already overwhelming at 300-plus.”
Along with his work on the upcoming TEDxCSU event, Ward was the lead speaker curator for the last major TEDx event hosted at Cleveland State in 2016. Believe it or not, TED’s 10-year hiatus at Cleveland State came to an end thanks to a simple question asked by former student Puneet Sudarshanam.
Sudarshanam works in Cleveland but is from India, where he participated in a TEDx event and felt Cleveland State would benefit from seeing TEDx return to campus.
“He found my boss and asked, ‘Why aren’t we doing TEDx here?’” Ward said. “It was very powerful to hear from a student that other students want this to happen.”
Eventually, Cleveland State President Laura Bloomberg caught wind of Sudarshanam’s question, and that’s when the thought of bringing TEDx back to campus began to change from an idea to a reality.
“We are very fortunate that President Bloomberg sees the value in doing this and wants us to bring the band back together,” Ward said.
Sudarshanam’s contribution to bringing TEDx back to Cleveland State did not go unnoticed. He was part of the team that helped create the event's theme, Untangling Wonder.
With TEDxCSU fast approaching, many people have asked, “What is the meaning behind the theme Untangling Wonder?”
“The idea of untangling wonder is, hey, life is messy, and there is a lot of tangling that happens, but yet there is also an awe,” Ward said. “There is also a fascination and curiosity that we’re trying to tap into, so I think that the idea blended those two playfully.”
Ward is confident that everyone who attends TEDxCSU will walk out of the Waetjen Auditorium with a new perspective on life, thanks to the event’s speaker lineup.
“We were spoiled for choice when it came to how many people had an idea that they wanted to share,” he said. “We picked the speakers we did because they not only have an incredible message, but they have a message to share with our community.”
Professor Christa Laser is one of the many phenomenal speakers in the TEDxCSU lineup. She is an associate professor of law at Cleveland State and the director of the Intellectual Property Law Center on campus.
Christa Laser, Associate Professor of Law at Cleveland State, Director of the Intellectual Property Law Center
Laser, 40, began working at Cleveland State in 2020 and is thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of a TEDx event at the university.
“It’s definitely been one of my dreams to go and do a TEDx talk, and to be able to do it here on campus is really fun because I get to engage with my community,” she said.
Laser’s talk, titled “Why Innovation Fails Us: The Laws that Shape Progress and How to Change Them,” centers on the idea that innovation can do great things for society. Still, if the market determines an innovative idea or product may not be profitable, it might not get the investment it needs to reach the people who need it.
Laser has unfortunately experienced this lack of innovation firsthand.
“I’ve seen this happen with my stepfather when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease,” she said. “There were some treatments that were available that had better efficacy than pharmaceuticals on the market, and yet doctors weren’t willing to prescribe it because nobody had gone through the steps of formalizing the FDA approval, and that’s in part because there’s just no money in it.”
Laser wants to use her talk to discuss flaws in current U.S. innovation laws and how they could be changed to prevent situations like hers from recurring. But what, exactly, is wrong with these laws?
U.S. patent law grants patent holders exclusive rights to their inventions, meaning they can prevent other companies from making, using or selling the patented invention. Laser explains that these protections contribute to pharmaceutical companies charging extremely high prices for medications.
“You have pharmaceutical companies charging $56,000 a year because they’re the only person that’s allowed to, under patent law, sell that product,” she said.
In her talk, Laser will explain different ways federal powers can change patent laws to reignite innovation in the medical field and, hopefully, lower the cost of medication.
While Laser’s talk will focus on how aspects of patent law can be changed to benefit society, another speaker is using his company’s patented technology to benefit society differently.
Camilo Ferro is the president of RAWS Americas, a sustainable materials company working to end the life cycle of plastics through a process called “Thermal Random Assimilation.” Based in Solon, RAWS was founded in 2018 to provide plastic solutions that benefit communities and the planet.
Camilo Ferro, president of RAWS Americas
That said, Ferro’s journey into plastics began when he threw a plastic bag full of pots and pans into the trunk of his car.
“I had my pots and pans inside my trunk, and when I was getting it, to give to my buddy, the bag ripped on me,” Ferro, 42, said. “So when my friend brought me another plastic bag, a light bulb went off, and that’s when my entrepreneurial head started thinking.”
This is where Ferro’s research began. He wanted to find an alternative option to plastic but ran into a problem: How can we replace plastic when there is so much being used?
“We created plastic to make sure that the bread bag or our frozen vegetables gave us the shelf life and stability that we needed to be able to protect our food,” he said. “In that conversation with myself [I understood] that plastic was created to give us this permanence, and it's just simple chemistry. How do we find solutions to adjust the chemistry? How do we give it a verified end of life?"
After this conversation with himself, Ferro realized that plastic was an incredible invention and that the solution to ending plastic waste wasn’t going to be finding a replacement.
“Instead of trying to replace it, I had to take a step backward,” he said. “If the chemistry is there, how do we fix it and then innovate behind it?”
Laser and Ferro are just two of the innovators coming to Cleveland State to speak to students and the community. Their stories reflect the wonder that will be untangled at Cleveland State’s first major TEDx event in 10 years.
To learn more about Laser, Ferro and the other 10 speakers, attend TEDxClevelandStateUniversity - Untangling Wonder for a learning experience like no other.
