Theme: Collaboration and Innovation

TEDxNJIT - ​Innovation & Collaboration will feature leaders from business, academia and the arts exploring new modes of collaboration, celebrating art in the urban environment, social entrepreneurship, new media music and self awareness .

Speakers include:

Gerard Adams, known as The Millennial Mentor™ and co-founder of Fownders, a non-profit community of entrepreneurs in Newark;

Dr. Tara Alvarez, NJIT professor of biomedical engineering who works on vision related research;

​ Newark Mayor Ras Baraka who is fostering new collaborations on downtown and neighborhood redevelopment, education initiatives and fighting crime;.

​ ​ Ron Gold founder of LeanOnWe a startup company that focuses on delivering improved home care experience at a more affordable price;

​ ​ Medina founder of Medina=Citi

Professor David Rothenberg, NJIT student Kabir Mitra and local musician Matthew Aidekman who will explore and perform new types of music;

Mark Scotland, CEO of 4.0 Analytics who will discuss a revolutionary vehicle emission technology being developed and tested in Newark

​ ​ Donald Sebastian, president of the New Jersey Innovation Institute who will discuss collaboration in today’s environment

Emma Wilcox co-founder of Gallery Aferro in Newark.

Jim Wise Theatre
New Jersey Institute of Technology
University Heights
Newark, New Jersey, 07102
United States

Medina

As professionals go, Medina is on the forefront. Being a Creative Director and working within this industry for over 10 years, Medina has seen the practice of artful conception grow and become more popular, trendier, and more influential with each passing year. This outlook and passion led to the creation of MEDINA = CITI, a design collective, which delves into the worlds of Print Design, Web Design, Multimedia, Film Production, Photography and Ongoing/Contributing Marketing strategies and Social Media Management. As an expert in entrepreneurship, design and social media Medina has spoken at seminars and on panels for SBA, Essex County Office of Affirmative Action and Passaic County. Speaking to aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses and arming them with tools for success is a way Medina can give back to his community and create success for others.

David Rothenberg

Philosopher and musician David Rothenberg is the author of Why Birds Sing (Basic Books, 2005), also published in Italy, Spain, Taiwan, China, Korea, and Germany. His feature-length documentary Why Birds Sing was shown on BBC4 in June, 2007. Rothenberg is also the author of Sudden Music: Improvisation, Art, Nature (Georgia, 2002), Blue Cliff Record: Zen Echoes (Codhill Press, 2001), Hand´s End: Technology and the Limits of Nature (California, 1993), and Always the Mountains (Georgia, 2003). His most recent book is Thousand Mile Song, about making music with whales.

Donald Sebastian

Dr. Donald H. Sebastian is the President & CEO of the New Jersey Innovation Institute, an NJIT Corporation. Dr. Sebastian assumed this role after fifteen years leading research at NJIT during which time the R&D enterprise grew to over a $110M, placing NJIT fifth among all polytechnic universities in the country, and fourth among all universities in patent productivity. He led the effort to form a statewide NJ Health Information Technology Extension Center that leads the nation in physicians certified as meaningful users of electronic healthcare record systems, and is a member of the Board of the Greater Newark Healthcare Coalition the R&D Council of NJ, the Polymer Processing Institute, Inc., and the NJ Manufacturing Extension Program.

Emma Wilcox

Emma Wilcox, Gallery Director/Co-Founder, is a working artist and writer. Over the past decade, she has worked with Gallery Aferro Co-Founder Evonne M. Davis to develop hundreds of exhibitions, artist residencies, events, education programs, public art initiatives, and publications. Our notable fluency with collaborative partnerships derives from a belief that we are part of a network working for systemic change in our community. The gallery has exhibited: an artist food truck about climate change, hacked roomba vacuum cleaners, motion and color tracked live tropical fish, an interactive responsive projection of every street in Newark, a full size sod lawn that needed to be mowed, music for a freight elevator, and a model of an eclipse powered by a foot pedal. As a photographer she is concerned with environmental justice, land usage, eminent domain, and the role of individual memory in the creation of local history.

Gerard Adams

Gerard. Also known as The Millennial Mentor™. is a thought leader, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and philanthropist. His purpose is simple: to inspire other Millennials to leverage their passions to create the successful lifestyles they dream of. He became a self-made multi-millionaire at 24, but not without overcoming obstacles, fear, and self-doubt. He left college early, after a semester to be exact, to pave his own path. In recent years he invested in, built, and backed 9 companies and trades that have all made seven figures. He has lived bi-coastal, owned exotic cars, traveled the world first class, and made friends with countless influencers. Today he is a co-founder of Fownders a non-profit community of entrepreneur located on the ground floor of a brand new 4 story live-work space, in the heart of Newark’s booming University Heights neighborhood.

Kabir Mitra

NJIT Student

Mark Scotland

Mark L. Scotland, Co-founder & CEO, 4.0 Analytics, Inc. has developed “Smart Solutions” - sustainable technologies harnessing next generation technology that leads to Smart Cities. Mark is an entrepreneur and true innovator with 30+years of experience. Mark was the Co-founder and CEO of an automotive diagnostic technology company that was built from a four person R&D start-up to an OEM of nationally and internationally award winning product. At 4.0 Analytics Mark brings experience in product development, national business development, government affairs and strategic planning. He is known for developing solutions to very complex problems. Mark has led the effort that has attracted global channel partners to seek 4.0’s signature “Mechanic on Board® and EmCARS™”

Matthew Aidekman

Musician

Ron Gold

It was an unseasonably warm Thanksgiving weekend in 2011 when Ron Gold embarked on one last bicycle ride before winter came storming in. Near the end of a routine, 50-mile ride in northern New Jersey, a sleeping driver in an SUV struck him head on without braking. When Ron and his dedicated wife Betsy experienced countless problems finding reliable, affordable private caregivers, he knew there had to be a better way. So, he started LeanOnWe with a focus on delivering a better home care experience at a more affordable price.

Tara Alvarez

Tara Alvarez, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering, is conducting neuroscience research that could help stroke victims recover their vision but also lead to diagnosis of other visual diseases. Alvarez seeks to understand how the brain learns when visually locating objects in three-dimensional (3D) space. Understanding the learning strategies that the human brain uses to control eye movement will also yield insight into the general problem of motor learning. Her research will lead to a better understanding of basic motor control and also discover how dysfunctions in the eyes’ three-dimensional tracking system affect motor learning. In 2005, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Alvarez an NSF Career Award.