Into the Unknown

22 East 91 street
New York City, New York, 10128
United States

Gabriel Barcia-Colombo

American artist, Gabriel Barcia-Colombo, is using found objects and video projection to find new ways to memorialize and understand what we are leaving behind for the next generation. Usually archiving has been left to natural history museums but Barcia-Colombo engages with the emergence of social media and the excitement of personal digital documentation by creating video sculptures. Whether it be projecting videos inside glass jars or blenders, Barcia-Colombo invites you to not only observe but also to interact with the selves we choose to capture in digital image and share with others.

Greg Gage

Previously an electrical engineer, Greg Gage shifted fields into neuroscience for his Ph. D. where he noticed that the expensive scientific equipment necessary for experiments could actually be made by scientists like himself. His observation became the seed for Backyard Brains, a hands-on organization that finds ways to make neuroscience accessible to all by building the necessary equipment in alternative ways and easy assembly kits. Their products range from the “Roachscope” which allows you to convert your iphone to a microscope to their first invention, the Spikerbox, which measures the electrical impulses of invertebrates

Dave Gallo

For more than 25 years, David Gallo, Ph. D., has been one of the leading figures on ocean exploration. An American oceanographer and Director of Special Projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Gallo has participated in expeditions to map the RMS Titanic and recover the remains of Air France flight 447. Technology advancements, especially in robotics and submarines, have allowed Gallo to further his capacities to discover the immense unknown and glory of our globe’s oceans. Recognized worldwide, Gallo is continuing his efforts towards strengthening the relationship between humanity, the importance of ocean exploration and understanding the underwater part of our world.

Boris Sofman

Boris Sofman is co-founder and CEO of Anki, a robotics and artificial intelligence company. Sofman earned a B.S., M.S. and Ph. D. at Carnegie Mellon University and since then he has been doing engineer and research on designing and building robotic systems that rane from consumer products to off-road autonomous vehicles. Autonomy and accessibility are two of the key features in Sofman’s works and Anki’s mission, developing robotics and artificial intelligence for unexpected places and uses all around us.

Marco Tempest

Swiss magician, Marco Tempest, has been creating magic since the age of 8. In 1986 Tempest won the New York World Cup of Magic, which initiated his entrance onto the global magic stage. Tempest has been traveling around the world steadily developing his style of “dance magic”, illusions arts and interactive high tech animation. In 2000 “The Virtual Magician – Keeper of Secrets,” was launched, a television series featuring Tempest’s work. Today Marco Tempest is expanding by downsizing to your phone screen doing “phonecam” magic that is original acts of magic captured on a phone, no cuts or edits. Throughout all of his work Tempest constantly encourages internetworking and collaboration between himself and the rest of the magicians out there in order to enrich our everyday lives with a little magic.

Gever Tully

Gever Tulley is co-founder of the Tinkering School, a weeklong camp where kids learn how to build, solve problems, use new materials, find inspiration in past creations and invent new ways to learn and play all while using power tools. A software engineer, paraglider and co-author of “50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do)”, Tulley strives to play in order to learn.

Jeff Belanger

Jeff Belanger is an author, talk show host, television producer, lecturer, founder of the new legend tripping movement, journalist and paranormal researcher. Belanger began interviewing eyewitnesses to paranormal activity in 1997 and since then has developed TV series like New England Legends, hosts cable/Web talk show 30 Odd Minutes authored dozens of books and created Ghostvillage.com, all in order to enrich our understanding of paranormal activity and create a community/media base to collect and share what we have seen of the unseen. Belanger also sits on the Board of Directors of the Newton Memorial Fund, Inc. a non-profit organization to memorialize and support the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy and provide scholarships to the school community.

Dyan DeNapoli

At New England Aquarium, Dyan DeNapoli is a Senior Penguin Aquarist in charge of overseeing the penguin community at the aquarium and cultivating programs that educate and bring awareness to people about the role of penguins in the world. DeNapoli has also started her own education program and has traveled around the world sharing her knowledge on penguins. In 2000 South Africa suffered a catastrophic oil spill, in response, DeNapoli co-lead one of the largest animal rescue missions and helped save 40,000 penguins. DeNapoli is currently authoring a book about the incredible challenge and enlightening experience of the oil spill and animal rescue response.

Colleen Flanigan

Colleen Flanigan’s work ranges from 3-d steel “drawings” woven with wire by children to the use of Biorock, a mineral base that encourages coral reef growth and restoration. A BA in Design from UCLA and a post-baccalaureate Certificate in Metals from the Oregon College of Art and Craft, Flanigan has been creating jewelry, sculpture and multi media interactive works in conceptual and collaborative projects. In 2009 she contributed to the stop motion film “Coraline”. Flanigan’s art work and commitment in coral reef restoration brings together her passion for art and the natural habitats around us.

Ben Harrison

Ben Harrison, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at Wake Forest School of Regenerative Medicine and part of a growing movement to take hold of the advances in technology and apply it to the world of health. Harrison is part of a team leading the initiative on printing organs. In response to the difficulties in finding an organ donor, Harrison and his team are using a 3-D printer that uses biomaterial to produce a transplantable organ. They have had successful printed transplants and are continuing refining the printing process as well as making it more accessible for patients.

Raghava KK

Raghava KK is a multidisciplinary artist and story teller. Having quit his formal education at 18, Raghava KK began his career as a newspaper cartoonist and from there has continued to explore different mediums and spaces to put forth his work and ideas. In 2011 Raghava KK created “Pop-it” an interactive iPad book that shook the foundations of how we understand the family unit and earned him a Kirkus Book Award for Best of 2011. Using technology, art and radical education through collaboration Raghava KK continues to make art that invites us to question what we take for granted and push ourselves to discover more about who we are.

Chris Milne

Chris Milne is an electro-mechanical software prototyper at IDEO NY, where he builds iPhone apps, software mockups and electronics. IDEO is a design firm that repositions the needs of people as the inspiration for design. Instead of separating design for different styles of life, IDEO strives to bridge design with all parts of life through alternative technologies. Milne uses his “techspertese” to enrich design for both Tech and Non-Tech designers and clients.

T.M. Rives

T.M. Rives is an author and photographer and his subject matter is New York City. Originally from California, Rives currently lives in Bowery where he continues his search for the secrets and treasures of New York City to be shared through photos, stories or writing. In 2012 Rives published “Secret New York: An Unusual Guide: Local Guides by Local People”, a collection of different and unexpected sites to be found through the five boroughs.

Zoe Weil

Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute of Human Education (IHE). With master’s degrees in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and in English Literature form the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 as well as being certified in psychosynthesis counseling, Weil is considered to be a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement. An education aimed towards prioritizing the accessibility, personalization and empowerment, Weil has created IHE’s M.Ed., M.A. and graduate certificate programs as well as acclaimed workshops and online courses.

Jim Bales

James W. Bales is the assistant director and an instructor at the Edgerton Center at MIT. Dr. Bales studies the optical properties of semiconductors, programming, robotics, engineering and photography. High resolution photography to capture that which is impossible to see with the naked eye is one of Bales’ passions. Bales’ work has taken him around the world teaching electronics and high-speed imaging; he currently teaches a 6.163 Strobe Project Lab and a photography course at the Edgerton Center.

Maddy deLone

Maddy deLone, a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges with a Masters in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health, a graduate of New York University School of Law and an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Fellow has been the Executive Director of the Innocence Project since 2004. The Innocence Project uses DNA technology to assist and free innocent prisoners. Previously deLone was an attorney with the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society, a Skaddon Fellow and staff attorney with Children’s Rights, Inc. and a law clerk to the Honorable Robert W. Sweet. DeLone has also held various administrative and policy positions in New York City involving juvenile justice, public health, and the City jails. She is the editor of the American Public Health Association's Standards for Health Services in Correctional Institutions (3rd ed).

Derrick Gay

Derrick Gay is a nationally renowned educational consultant. Having received his M.A. from Columbia University, a B.A. from Oberlin College and a B.M. from The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Gay has worked as senior administrator at the Nightinglae-Bamford School and dean of students at L’ Académie de Paris, and has taught Spanish and French at Groton, Wilmington Friends, and the Masters School. Gay’s work has taken him around the world, working and collaborating with schools to create spaces of education and exploration to help communities understand how we construct identity.

Renée Hlozek

Renée Hlozek is a Lyman Spitzer Jr. Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Astrophysics at Princeton University and a Spitzer-Cotsen Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows. Hlozek studies theoretical and observational cosmology in order to better understand the universe through observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, Type Ia supernovae and observation of the Beryon Acoustic Oscillations. Alongside her research, Hlozek is also passionate about finding alternative ways to make science more accessible to the greater public.

Benay Lappe

Rabbi Benay Lappe is founder and Rosh Yeshiva of SVARA, a traditionally radical yeshiva dedicated to the study of Talmud and committed to the Queer experience. In 1997 Rabbi Lappe was the first selected Fellow for Steven Spieldberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation at CLAL (The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership) where she remains on faculty as an Associate. Rabbi Lappe is an award-winning educator specializing in innovative explorations of Jewish text study and Queer theory. Rabbi Lappe also serves as Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Next Jewish Future, Professor of Talmud at the Hebrew Seminary, in Skokie, Illinois, and is an educator for Keshet, a national organization working for the full inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life.

Morley

With a mix of jazz, folk and soul, Morley has used her voice to spread her message of love, justice and inspiration through music around the world. Morley was featured in Nobel Women’s Initiative documentary and has performed for many world leaders and policy makers around the world from His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Ela Gandhi. From collaboration to solo work Morley’s music has been performed live and featured on several television programs nationally and internationally.

Cara Muhlhahn

Midwife Cara Muhlhahn, CNM, started her private practice in 1996. A graduate of Columbia University of Nursing and SUNY Downstate Health Science Center in Brooklyn’s midwifery Education Program, Muhlhahn obtained her Certificate of Nurse-Midwifery in 1991 and practiced at Beth Israel Medical Center and Maternity Center, Inc. Manhattan’s Birthing Center. Muhlhahn strives to educate people about homebirth and ensure a safe and loving birthing environment, she currently resides in New York City.

Steve Tejada

Steven Tejada is Dean of Diversity Initiatives at Nobles and Greenough School in Dedham, MA. From the South Bronx and a graduate of Wesleyan University, Tejada wrote, directed and acts in “Boogie Down Journeys”, a one-man show in response to his life experiences and as a way for others to find unity through common experiences.

Tara Todras-Whitehill

Tara Todras-Whitehill is a freelance documentary photographer represented by Polaris Images and currently residing in the Middle East. Previously a staff photographer for the Associated Press, she has worked for clients such as Vanity Fair, NY Times Travel, Glamour, the Abu Dhabi government and the ICRC. Todras-Whitehill’s work ranges in subject matter from the Egyptian Revolution to life on the Turkish/Syrian border and in form from multimedia to radio; she seeks to try and portray women’s issues and capture empowerment through change made by women.

Eliot Schrefer

Eliot Schrefer is the author most recently of “Endangered”, about a girl surviving war in Congo with an orphaned bonobo at her side. “Endangered” was a finalist for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature, one of NPR’s “Best of 2012,” and an editor’s choice in The New York Times. The book was also a finalist for the Walden Award and won the Green Earth Book Award and the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award. Having graduated Harvard University with High Honors in French and American literature, Schrefer went on to teach at a boarding school in Rome for a year after which he settled down in New York City. Schrefer writes fiction during the day and tutors for the SATs in the evening.

Lourds

Lourds is the book, music, and lyrics writer of the Broadway-bound musical, Chix 6 as well as one of the stars of the show -- the electric-violin playing superhero, "Rise." Lourds is also the founder and CEO of the educational, arts-based non-profit called the Super You FUN-dation, which will be expanding globally this year with the help of their partners at Skype and Microsoft. With her message that “The superhero is you,” Lourds has become a voice of empowerment, inspiring audiences at TEDxWomen, the Forbes Women in Power Summit, the United Federation of Teachers Annual Conference, and this year, the United Nations. From her years of fronting her own touring rock band, Billboard has hailed, "Lourds breaks the rules while poised to break into the big time"

Caroline Gorman

Caroline Gorman, a senior at The Spence School in New York City, has been playing classical piano for 14 years. Throughout her life she has taught herself guitar, ukulele, bass and drums. Gorman's first solo album was released in 2012 and she is currently in a duo group called "Madness and the Film". They have recently recorded an EP entitled Scrapbook and made a short film that has yet to b released. Gorman

Cally Harper

Cally Harper is a biologist who specializes in the anatomy and biomechanics of animals. During her career as a scientist, she studied whales, dolphins, and nectar-feeding bats. Upon finishing her PhD, Cally decided to dedicate her career to helping others, especially young women, learn about science and gain confidence in their abilities. In the near future, she hopes to start an after-school program for girls to draft, design, and build equipment for members of the local community, such as ramps for the elderly and wheelbarrows for local farmers. She loves volunteering at museums, sweep rowing, and coffee ice cream with chocolate sprinkles.

Ria Jervis

Ria Jervis is a 5th grader at Spence. Ria’s interests in diversity and equity led her to create this TEDx talk about her identity in the Spence community.

Robert Carrillo

Rob is the girls wrestling coach at Taft High School in the Bronx. He is a native New Yorker, and graduate of Wesleyan University.

Megan Harvey

Megan Harvey is training to be a Flight Controller for the International Space Station at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Harvey’s dreams of working in Mission Control began in the 6th grade when she attended the U.S. Space Camp. Since then she has worked at Astrocamp, an outdoor ed science camp in Southern California. She got her BA in Physics from Kenyon College, with a minor in Russion, and received her Masters in Engineering Physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL and in July 2012 she started working at NASA. By March she will be a certified Attitude Dynamics and Control Officer (ADCO) where she will work closely with NASA’s Russian counterparts in the office and in Mission Control to support the International Space Station program.