TED, the idea?exchange platform that has become a global phenomenon, is coming to the Hill through the Tufts Idea Exchange (TEX), a new initiative that will provide a forum for interested community members to showcase their passions.
TEX is now accepting applications from Tufts students, faculty and alumni to share their creative, extracurricular or academic ideas through 10?minute lectures at an April 12 symposium. The goal is to inspire others through their lectures.
OneWorld and the Institute for Global Leadership's Synaptic Scholars Program are co?sponsoring the project.
"In a broader sense, the mission is to create a forum for the Tufts community to share innovative ideas for the future," sophomore Ben Perlstein, a synaptic scholar and OneWorld executive board member, said.
TED ?? a series of global conferences where experts deliver short, ideas?focused lectures about their field ?? is the inspiration behind this project, according to senior Charles Cushing, a synaptic scholar.
The organizers hope to create a space where Tufts students and faculty can be inspired by each other's ideas and collaborate on them, based on the TED philosophy that ideas give birth to new ideas, Perlstein said.
"TED comes from this theory of creativity that really creative ideas come from seeing something in an arrangement that they haven't been seen in before," Perlstein said. "We want to showcase the innovative ideas that have been hatched at Tufts in the interest of breeding new and more creative ideas."
The group is particularly looking out for applicants who will bring an original approach to their field of expertise that will in turn inspire others, Perlstein said.
"We want people who have a unique methodology or some kind of fresh philosophy that they're bringing to the work," he said. "It's not so much about the 'what' but the 'why' or the 'how.'"
The group recently launched its website at tuftsideaexchange.com, where the application and more information about the initiative can be found.
TEX has already attracted several promising applicants and has received positive responses from several professors whom organizers have asked to participate, freshman Tessa Ruben, advertising director of OneWorld, said.
"We've got an applicant already who designs Lego?robotics for kids with developmental disabilities, which is exactly what we're looking for: something really eclectic that people from many disciplines wouldn't have heard about ?? something that can inform their interests and inspire them," Perlstein said.
Through its inclusive online application process, the initiative hopes to appeal to a diverse, interdisciplinary group of motivated individuals, capable of leaving a lasting impact on the Tufts community, junior Sanjana Basu, the project manager of TEX, said.
"It's really a forum for anything that people are passionate about," Basu said. "We want people who are engaging and have a balance of passion and an ability to speak about it in a way that is engaging to everyone else."
OneWorld and the Synaptic Scholars Program came together with the shared goal of showcasing the parts of their mission statements that are concerned with forging connections between individuals at Tufts, Perlstein said.
"We both sort of conceptualized this," Cushing said. "From late last semester, Synaptic Scholars had been talking about doing something similar to this, and Tufts Idea Exchange seemed like a great opportunity for collaboration."
By working together on the initiative, OneWorld and the Synaptic Scholars Program are reflecting the partnerships that they hope TEX will encourage, Perlstein said.
"The two groups are co?sponsoring the event, which allows us to model the collaboration that we're hoping to promote: the marriage of two organizations with overlapping statements, reaching across the boundaries that existed on this campus and bringing people together around this pursuit," Perlstein said.
