It all begins with an idea.
Great ideas, work, and stories, delivered memorably, are acts of generosity that can have immense impact on our communities, cities, and the world.
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How social wealth can transform your career
Nisaini Rexach reveals why sending 150 resumes gets you nowhere—and what actually works. As Microsoft's Community Engagement Lead, she shares her radical approach to career advancement through "social wealth": intentional relationship-building that compounds over time. From Chicago's government housing to rooms with Fortune 500 CEOs, Rexach never submitted a resume for any role. She introduces powerful frameworks including the "shareholder" concept, demonstrates how every encounter is an interview, and explains why your network underwrites your next opportunity. Through compelling personal stories and her mentee Paige's transformation, Rexach provides actionable strategies for building connections that create career opportunities traditional networking never could.
What if we could hear disease?
In this emotional and forward-thinking talk, Dr. Hossein Zargartalebi shares his deeply personal journey from a hospital room to a scientific breakthrough. His innovation—a molecular sensor that detects proteins in real time—may unlock a new era in healthcare, one where disease can be caught long before symptoms appear. By turning biology’s quietest signals into a clear voice, this technology gives us something medicine has never truly had before: the ability to act early, save lives, and give people back the most precious thing of all—time.
Talk your way into better sex
Most people think great and long lasting relationships are built on chemistry — but the real magic lies in communication. In this talk, Dr. Hareder McDowell explores how the way we defeat our silence, begin to speak, listen, and connect directly, shapes emotional intimacy, trust, and even physical desire. Drawing from research and real-life stories, Dr. Mac reveals how mastering communication doesn’t just improve relationships and sex — it transforms them. Because you have the power to talk you way to better sex.
How artists can protect their work from AI
We are what we do — our identities are the sum of our knowledge, experiences and actions. In a world rapidly filled with AI generators, what does it take to protect our identity, and those of the generations to come? Heather Zheng, co-director of the SANDLAB at UChicago, presents bold ideas that empower individuals to restore control over their identity by changing how they share data online. Together with her partner, Ben Zhao, the two UChicago professors and their team have released Glaze and Nightshade, tools that disrupt generative AI from training on and mimicking artists without their consent.
Building trust across America's divides
In this powerful talk, Meg Whitty shares lessons from childhood campaign trails in rural Iowa that shaped her career building coalitions for sustainable aviation fuel. Drawing from experience across agriculture, energy, and aviation sectors, she reveals how authentic trust unlocks solutions to seemingly impossible challenges. Whitty demonstrates how the same communities devastated by hospital closures and economic decline can lead the clean energy transition, creating jobs while solving aviation's 3% contribution to global emissions. The presentation examines specific techniques for bringing together competing interests around shared goals, challenging false choices between economy and environment. Her message resonates particularly with leaders seeking to bridge political and geographic divides.
The Art of Noticing
What happens when a doctor trades his stethoscope for a camera? Photodocumentarian Tony Menias reveals how slowing down transforms the way we see ourselves and each other. From medical missions to National Geographic, his decade-long journey captures life's hidden rhythms and our shared humanity. Through stunning imagery and raw reflection, Tony shows how everyday moments become visual poetry when we pause to truly notice. This talk invites you to witness the divine connections that surround us daily—teaching that when we see with our hearts, not just our eyes, strangers become family and chaos becomes peace.
How quantum technologies may impact your life
Physicist David Awschalom takes us on a fast-paced journey from Star Trek to quantum teleportation, showing how what once seemed like science fiction is quickly becoming reality. Equal parts inspiring and mind-bending, he reveals how uncertainty—the quirky heart of quantum physics—is actually a powerful engine of discovery, fueling breakthroughs in computing, medicine, and secure communication. This talk makes clear that our quantum future is not just coming—it’s already here.
A silent threat & powerful opportunity under cities
Alessandro F. Rotta Loria’s talk delivers an intense emotional and intellectual experience about the urban underground, unveiling a silent threat that simultaneously represents a massive opportunity for the clean energy transition of cities, before we run out of time.
How exascale computers accelerate scientific discovery
Michael Papka takes us on a journey into the world of supercomputing and the extraordinary power of collaboration. From outpacing antibiotic-resistant bacteria to predicting the path of catastrophic hurricanes, today’s challenges demand solutions at unprecedented speeds.
Who's ready to engineer a world that works for all?
What would the world be like if the disability community designed it?" With this provocative question, Vanessa Harris opens a groundbreaking exploration of universal access.
How our stories hold the power to transform healthcare
When architect Abbie Clary experienced the heartbreaking loss of her father within a fragmented healthcare system, it forever transformed her approach to healthcare design.
How cities can save the world
From McDonald's solar-powered flagship to the flood-resilient Riverwalk, Carol Ross Barney showcases how thoughtful design creates healthier, more resilient, and livable cities.
Photography, sisterhood, and play as healing
How do we heal? Through an intimate exploration of trauma and healing, photographer Scheherazade Tillet shares how documenting her sister's recovery from sexual assault transformed both their lives while also inspiring her to work with similarly Black girls and young women. Two decades later, Tillet reveals that she discovered how photography and play can become powerful tools for healing intergenerational trauma.
How tiny particles may explain why we exist
From questioning the universe's edge as a child in Athens to leading America's premier particle physics laboratory, Dr. Lia Merminga shares her remarkable journey through the world of scientific discovery.
AI uses too much energy—nanotech is the solution
Mark Hersam is a nanotechnologist who believes that understanding materials at the shortest of length scales can provide solutions to the world’s largest problems. Using an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of neuroscience and nanoelectronics, Hersam presents a solution to the greatest societal threat posed by AI.
Evolving fashion from destructive to seductive and constructive
After decades of designing clothes for women, Maria Pinto has uncovered a deep truth about fashion and making intentional decisions about what we wear: You must first ask, “Who am I?” Maria explores seduction, beauty, sustainability, and the nature of making decisions that are intentionally grounded in who we are and who we hope to be.
The life changing power of designing with dirt
From immigrant parents to successful urban spaces, Ernie Wong weaves a story of struggling to gain his father's acceptance to creating an equitable world through landscape architecture. In doing so, he unveils a powerful truth about what it means to design urban spaces for our future generations, and how it transforms our lives. With reference to current climate and societal challenges, Ernie describes the innovative projects that capture the flavors of changing neighborhoods in Chicago and their futures.
Reimagining closed schools as incubators for creativity
Imagine your childhood school closing forever. How do we reimagine these spaces and reclaim them for community empowerment? In this insightful and inspiring talk, Paola Aguirre Serrano takes us on a journey of design justice, exploring art and architecture's role in revitalizing closed schools and reimagining the future of social infrastructure in our communities.
Climate action is 90% mindset and starts with a conversation
Doug Farr is fascinated with humanity’s struggle to talk about the Climate Emergency—our unsettled emotions, how we think the world works, and the negotiation we all go through before committing to take climate action. In this funny and provocative talk Doug shares how his own personal climate action journey led him to redo his house, stay home more, and co-found the Climate Action Museum.
Is the cure for cancer already inside us?
Dr. Shana Kelley leads a team of human cell hunters, and they developed a unique and highly sensitive cell processor that can pull incredibly rare, disease-fighting cells out of blood. Recently, they used the device to search for immune cells that can fight cancer, and uncovered surprising and exciting results that may have immense impact on the future of cancer. Join Dr. Shana Kelley as she brings you on a journey through discovery, learn a little bit about immunotherapy, and get excited about what the next era of cancer treatments may look like. A talk to find hope from, and to share and view with those in your life affected by cancer.