Theme: Vision

Our event theme was Vision, which not only lined up nicely with the play on words with the year (20/20), but also with the end of an old decade and the start of a new. Our 8 speakers spoke about their vision looking ahead for the next 20 years, and some even called upon the previous 20 years and the progress that's been made in their respective fields in that time. Our tagline for the event is "Putting the future in focus".

Wharton Center for the Performing Arts
750 E Shaw Ln
East Lansing, Michigan, 48824
United States

Ariel Dempsey

4th Year Medical Student + Aerial Silks Performer

Ariel Dempsey is a fourth-year medical student soon to graduate from Michigan State College of Human Medicine; Ariel, M.D. will then undertake a PhD in Science & Religion at Oxford University. She aspires to become a palliative care physician working at the interface of medicine and theology. On the side of her studies, Ariel loves aerial dance and circus arts and has traveled throughout California street-performing to raise money for a charity called WorldVision. Her TED Talk is entitled, “Live Like You're Dying?” When it comes to pursuing our visions, it is easy to feel paralyzed by uncertainty; how can we find the courage to act, even when we can’t see?

Augusto Gil

Civil Engineer + Fire Safety Researcher

Augusto Gil is a PhD student from Brazil in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department working with structural fire safety. He has worked on projects involving fire safety since 2015, evaluating materials and solutions for building construction, codes, and standards development. He is currently working in the evaluation of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete structures’ behavior in bridge construction. Augusto’s talk will embrace the importance of fire safety in buildings, how technology can impact the future of fire safety, and how we should be prepared.

Donna Tran

Medical Student + Psycho-Oncology Researcher

Donna Tran is a College of Human Medicine medical student and past award-winning Stanford University and UCSF researcher. Drawing from her years of experience in psycho-oncology, and the life lessons she learned from cancer patients, her talk will highlight how to enhance the quality of life through meaning-centered psychology. She will discuss how this research helped her find meaning as a war refugee’s daughter while seeing family members battle cancer. Even in the current polarizing, divisive climate, people can transform their lives by practicing meaningful self-awareness.

Ellie Small

Medical Student + President of Detroit Street Care

Ellie Small is a second-year medical student at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the college’s Detroit Campus where she serves as the President of Detroit Street Care (DSC). DSC is a student-led organization dedicated to providing medical care to underserved and under-resourced individuals experiencing homelessness in Detroit through shelter-based clinics and street medicine outreach. Street medicine in Detroit is an extremely collaborative effort between many different outreach and service organizations, and DSC is one part of this interprofessional, multifaceted network. The osteopathic philosophy is a cornerstone of the care DSC is able to provide to their patients, through treatment of mind, body and spirit. Ellie will be speaking about the role students play in street medicine to build relationships and trust, in order to promote health and autonomy.

Kandace Lavender

Educator for At-Risk Youth + Hip Hop Artist / Poet

Kandace Rochelle Lavender is a Doctoral Student at MSU and an internationally known poet and hip-hop artist who has given powerful keynote speeches across the state. For years now, she has been educating and working with students in the juvenile justice and foster care systems. Kandace’s talk will discuss how accessing student voice through written and spoken word can enhance learning for critically at-risk youth. “See them, through them. Seeing through their eyes, and then helping them adjust their vision.”

Lauren Vollinger

Human-Trafficking Prevention Researcher + Ecological-Community Psychology Student

Lauren Vollinger is a doctoral candidate in the Ecological-Community Psychology program at MSU where she researches community response to human trafficking. This year marks 20 years since the passing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in the United States, which established human trafficking as a federal crime. In her time at MSU, Lauren has had the opportunity to work with and learn from numerous task forces, service providers, and survivors about the state of domestic human trafficking in Michigan and across the Midwest.This talk will pull from those experiences, her research, and the work of others in the field to envision what the next 20 years of the anti-trafficking movement should strive to accomplish.

Megan Maas

Professor of Adolescent Sexuality + Sexual Media Researcher

Megan Maas, PhD, is an assistant professor in Human Development & Family Studies at Michigan State University. Her award-winning research, recognized by the American Psychological Association and funded by the National Institutes of Health, focuses on adolescent sexual development and how internet pornography shapes that development. In addition to publishing in academic journals, she also publishes her work in mass media outlets such as HuffPost, CNN, and Salon. Her talk will feature the history of pornography use in the U.S. and the role it plays in making the sexual experiences of today’s youth so different than the sexual experiences of the past several generations.

Yusri Jamaluddin

Data Specialist

Yusri Jamaluddin is a Data Specialist for the Community, Food, and Environment Institute (CFEI) at MSU Extension. His work revolves around translating complex data into actionable insights in the form of interactive charts and maps. He is passionate about the art and science of data visualization and spatial statistics. His talk will discuss how data visualization changes the way we understand the world around us.