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TEDxMSU reveals 2017 theme

October 14, 2016
International relations junior Nina Capuzzi prepares to unveil the new TEDxMSU theme on Oct. 13, 2016 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.
International relations junior Nina Capuzzi prepares to unveil the new TEDxMSU theme on Oct. 13, 2016 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. —
Photo by Victor DiRita | and Victor DiRita The State News

TEDxMSU has announced “Mosaic” as the theme for the 2017 TEDxMSU conference.

“Mosaic” is about diversity, collaboration and complexity, TEDxMSU administrator Nina Capuzzi said.

The theme for the 2016 TEDxMSU conference was Möbius, “a 2D construct existing in our 3D world,” according to the TEDxMSU website. The theme was intended to “challenge our community to consider concepts that might be unfamiliar — or uncanny — at first glance.”

The theme reveal was held at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on Thursday night. Jazz studies senior Jordyn Davis performed with a small band during a cocktail hour at the start of the event.

Posters containing quotes from people in the community about topics like love, winter and growing up were hung around the Alan and Rebecca Ross Education Wing of the museum.

TED got its start in 1984 as a conference on Technology, Entertainment and Design, though today TED conferences cover “almost all topics,” according to the TED website.

Speakers at the 2016 TEDxMSU conference covered a range of topics. Ania Pathak spoke on different kinds of infinity, Frances Pouch Downes spoke on providing cheap and effective treatment against tropical diseases, Maen Hammad spoke about skateboarding in Palestinian youth culture and Peter Burroughs spoke about the process of video game creation and its applications in everyday life, according to the TEDxMSU website.

Applications to speak at the 2017 conference, which will be held on April 5, opened after the theme reveal, and are due November 18, TEDxMSU president Ksusha Karnoup said. Applicants are encouraged to speak on issues related to the “Mosaic” theme, or the East Lansing community.

“We want to get more than just the MSU community involved,” Taylor Whittington, TEDxMSU finance and events overseer, said.

While students are welcome to apply, TEDxMSU hopes to see more applications from Lansing and East Lansing residents, Whittington said.

Although some TEDxMSU members had been concerned that the group would lose their TED licensing because of a technicality regarding their sponsor, the problem has been completely resolved, Karnoup said.

“We’re going full speed ahead,” Capuzzi said. “Right now it’s going as planned.”

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