Five Students Win Free Tickets to TEDxUCSD

Five winners have been selected to receive complimentary pairs of tickets to TEDxUCSD and dinner with the speakers at a pre-conference mixer courtesy of Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. More than 1,800 entries were received for the giveaway contest, which was open to the campus community from April 24 through April 29.

The contest winners are: Esther Cho, Sophie Man, Nancy Ronquillo, Pualine Tai and Jason Varvas.

Now in its second year, TEDxUCSD is set for Saturday, May 10 at UC San Diego Mandell Weiss Theatre at La Jolla Playhouse. Featuring 16 speakers from a variety of fields, the event will explore ideas related to the theme “the power of one, the power of many.”

The student-run event will bring together UC San Diego alumni, faculty and students—as well as distinguished speakers from across the nation—to inspire and engage the campus community. Drawing upon their diverse backgrounds and experiences, the speakers will cover a wide range of topics and personal stories. Attendees will hear from musicians and scientists, entrepreneurs and physicians, artists and nonprofit leaders. All talks are designed to be accessible to a general audience.

Co-directors of TEDxUCSD Danny Smith and Michael Tsai noted that a focus of this year’s event is to facilitate more interaction between the speakers and students in attendance. “We’re encouraging students to talk with speakers during the breaks,” Smith said. “It’s important to make those personal connections.”

Speakers presenting at TEDxUCSD include:

• David Brin, UC San Diego alumnus, Physicist and sci-fi author
• Jamie Tworkowski, Founder of the nonprofit To Write Love on Her Arms
• Crystal Lee, Miss California
• Stephen Foster, UC San Diego alumnus, Computer scientist and co-founder of ThoughtSTEM
• Kevin Lewis, UC San Diego alumnus and faculty member, Sociologist and social networks expert
• Alexis Rhee, Violinist and actor
• Tatsushi Arai, Professor of peacebuilding and conflict transformation
• John M. Newsam, UC San Diego faculty member, Materials scientist and CEO of Tioga Research
• Kenta-Thomas and Elijah, Design and media
• Michael Fujinaka, UC San Diego medical resident, Anesthesiology
• Danny Green Trio, UC San Diego alumnus, Jazz musicians
• Nipun Mehta, Founder of ServiceSpace
• Kai Chang, UC San Diego alumnus, Technology leader
• Senyon Choe, UC San Diego faculty member, Molecular biologist, director of the joint Center for Biosciences
• Culture Shock, San Diego Hip Hop dance troupe
• Uzair Mohammad, UC San Diego student, Bioengineer and artist

Tickets to TEDxUCSD are $25 for students and $60 for general admission. For event registration and more information, visit tedxucsd.com.