Theme: Connected. Instructed. Created.

TEDxNYED is independently organized by New York educators. At TEDxNYED, live speakers and TED Talk videos combine to spark deep discussion and connections. TEDxNYED presenters are invited to share their insights and inspire conversations about the future of education. Attendees of the conference participate via networking sessions where they educate one another and, in the spirit of TED, help spread these ideas.

Museum of Moving Image
3601 35th Avenue
New York, New York, 11106
United States

Homa Tavangar

Homa Sabet Tavangar is the author of the widely-acclaimed, Random House release, Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World, named a “Best New Parenting Book” by Scholastic magazine, and hailed by national education and business leaders and media ranging from Dr. Jane Goodall to the BBC, NBC, Washington Post.com, Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, Boston Globe, PBS, Parents Magazine, FoxNews.com, the Huffington Post and many more. Her book is sparking initiatives across the U.S. to help audiences from CEOs to Kindergartners learn and thrive in a global context – and have fun along the way. She has worked with organizations ranging from the World Bank and the Asia Society to Education First (EF), PBS Parents, Sprout TV, and Kidshealth.org. She is a contributor to the Huffington Post, PBS, Momsrising, and ABC news’ Million Moms Challenge, among other media, and a sought-after speaker. She has 20 years’ experience working in global competitiveness, organizational, business and international development with hundreds of businesses, non-profit agencies, governments and international organizations before turning her attention to global education and parenting issues. Born in Iran, she also has lived in East and West Africa, South America and throughout the U.S. She holds degrees from UCLA and Princeton University. She speaks four languages and her religious heritage includes four of the world’s major faiths. She is married and the mother of three girls ages 8, 16 and 18, and an active volunteer in her local community.

Jenny Buccos

Jenny M. Buccos is the Director, Producer, and Series Creator of ProjectExplorer.org and an agent for global citizenship. She began her professional career with Credit Suisse First Boston as a marketing project manager on two web-based startup projects. It is here she gained experience with global media production managing projects in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York. In 2003, before the existence of YouTube, she founded ProjectExplorer.org, a free multimedia website designed educate primary and secondary school students about global cultures and histories. Over the last 5 years, she has directed/produced 340 short films for students working with leaders and visionaries including: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Belize’s First Lady Kim Simplis Barrow, Ziggy Marley, and Anthony Bourdain to name but a few. ProjectExplorer.org also features a catalogue of over 1,400 text-based materials and 1,500+ images. Five million students – in every US state and 40 countries around the world – have logged on to ProjectExplorer.org to become more globally aware.To date, Jenny has travelled to 45 countries. In May 2012, Jenny will begin production on her 6th educational series focusing on the country of Mauritius. Additionally, she is currently developing a television series based on her experiences travelling and working abroad.Jenny is the two-time recipient of a GOLD Parent’s Choice Award for Excellence in Educational Programming. She is a 2010 recipient of a National Award for Citizen Diplomacy; honored alongside Academy Award winner Robert Redford for her work as a citizen diplomat.

Jaymes Dec

For the past three years Jaymes also taught robotics to students in kindergarten through middle-school at Vision Education. Jaymes studied economics and mathematics at New York University. Jaymes also completed a Masters degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU where he concentrated in physical computing, game design and wearable technologies. In Fall 2010, he was an Assistant Adjunct Professor at NYU, teaching a course on technology education. Jaymes is also a founder of City Hunt, a special events company based in New York City. Through City Hunt, he has produced hundreds of team building scavenger hunts for clients in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Jose Luis Vilson

Jose Vilson is a math teacher, math instructional coach, and data analyst in an NYC Public School. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in mathematics education from the City College of New York. He is on CTQ’s TeacherSolutions 2030 team, co-authoring the book Teaching 2030: What We Must Do for Our Students and Our Public Schools–Now and in the Future. He is also a committed poet, Web designer and developer, mentor, and blogger for The Huffington Post, and has been as named one of the top 20 teacher blogs by Scholastic Inc. He can be found at TheJoseVilson.com. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Center for Teaching Quality and the Steering Committee for the Save Our Schools Movement.

Jim Groom

Jim Groom is the Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He has been working for over fifteen years in education with a consistent focus on the development of teaching and learning in higher education. In addition to extensive experience teaching at the college level, for the past seven years he has worked primarily in the field of instructional technology. Recent projects include an intercampus collaborative course known affectionately as ds106, a “massive” open online digital storytelling course that re-thinks the intersection of the humanities and online, distributed community-based learning experiences. He was also instrumental in the development of UMW Blogs, a multi-user blogging environment designed to provide an academic web-authoring solution to faculty and students that is flexible and open. Jim regularly blogs about edtech, film, literature, toys, and whatever else interests him at bavatuesdays.com.

Frank Noschese

Frank teaches physics and chemistry at a public high school in New York. He advocates for inquiry-based learning and for technology use that supports the inquiry process. His classroom has been featured on MSNBC.com and CUNY-TV, and he has been quoted in The Economist, The New York Times, and USA Today. He is a National Board Certified Teacher and is a finalist for the 2011 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Juliette LaMontagne

Juliette LaMontagne, Ed.D., is an educator dedicated to diversifying educational opportunities to better meet the needs of learners. After teaching in the New York City Public Schools and later Columbia University, she began consulting for the Student Press Initiative, the Center for the Professional Education of Teachers, and the Asia Society’s International Studies School Network as a Curriculum Developer and EdTech Innovations Facilitator. Her current initiative, ProjectBreaker.org, drives alternative learning and social innovation by mobilizing interdisciplinary teams of young, creative collaborators to design product solutions to global challenges.

Sree Srinivasan

Sree Srinivasan is a professor and Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he teaches in the digital media program, including social media and digital entrepreneurship. He specializes in explaining technology to journalists and the general public. He writes the SreeTips blog for CNET and appears regularly on CBS and elsewhere to talk tech. For more than eight years, he served as technology reporter for WABC-TV and WNBC-TV in NYC. During 2009-11, he was part of the founding team of DNAinfo.com, a Manhattan news site with Joe Ricketts, Ameritrade founder (and new owner of the Chicago Cubs). The site was named one of the six hottest news startups of 2010 by BusinessInsider. He has written articles for The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone, National Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes and Popular Science. He is co-founder of SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, a group of 1,000+ journalists across the US & Canada. In 2009, he was named one of AdAge’s 25 media people to follow on Twitter and in 2010 was named one of Poynter’s the 35 most influential people in social media. He is creator of such learning opportunities as Social Media Weekend, Social Media One-Night Stand and more. You can find him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sree and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/sreetips and on the web at http://sree.net

Jaimie Cloud

Jaimie Cloud, Founder and President of The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education, is a thought leader in the field of Education for Sustainability. She has authored The Cloud Institute’s EfS Framework, and several peer-reviewed journal chapters and articles on Sustainability and the significance of Education for Sustainability. Jaimie works extensively with educators, administrators, and school boards across the nation. She designs and facilitates professional development programs and directs the collaborative development of numerous instructional units and courses for K-12 and Higher Education desined to teach and learn across disciplines through the lens of sustainability. In addition to her commitment to furthering the mission of The Cloud Institute, Jaimie serves as an advisor, board member or committee member to several organizations with related goals and interests.

Bre Pettis

Bre Pettis makes things that make things. Passionate about invention, innovation, and all things DIY, Pettis builds infrastructure for creativity. He is a founder of MakerBot, a company that produces robots that make things, a founder of Thingiverse where people share digital designs and a founder of NYCResistor, a hacker collective in Brooklyn.

Christopher Emdin

Christopher Emdin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also serves as Director of Secondary School Initiatives at the Urban Science Education Center. He is author of the book, Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation, and also a columnist for the Huffington Post, where he writes the “Emdin 5″ series. Dr. Emdin holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education with a concentration in Mathematics, Science and Technology, Masters degrees in both Natural Sciences, and Education Administration, and Bachelors degrees in Physical Anthropology, Biology, and Chemistry. Dr. Emdin has coauthored proposals to start New York City Public Schools, taught middle school mathematics and general science, and high school physics, and chemistry. He has also been a researcher on many NSF funded research projects in mathematics and science education. Dr. Emdin was recently awarded the “Best paper for Innovation in Teaching” by the The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) and was named ”Groundbreaking Educator” by Arrive Magazine. He was also awarded the Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) Outstanding Dissertation and Emerging Leader Awards. His research focuses on issues of race, class, and diversity in urban science classrooms, the use of new theoretical frameworks to transform education, and urban school reform. Dr. Emdin researches, consults, and delivers speeches on various issues in schools such as science technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, urban education, school and classroom climate, fostering dialogue in schools, and student engagement. He is a noted public speaker on issues such as the Obama Effect on Urban Education, Hip-hop culture and education, improving STEM education, and various educational and socio-political issues related to urban youth of color.