Wright State playing major role in virtual TEDxDayton 2020 by hosting filming and providing speakers

Subhashini Ganapathy, chair of the Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, will discuss how industrial and systems engineering makes a difference in everyday life during TEDxDayton on Nov. 10. (Photos by Knack Video + Photo)

Wright State University is playing a major role in the production of TEDxDayton 2020, an all-virtual event in which the 16 speakers were video recorded in the Festival Playhouse in the Creative Arts Center.

Four people with Wright State connections, including two faculty members, were selected to be among the speakers.

Subhashini Ganapathy, chair of the Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, and Christopher Wyatt, associate chair of the Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology and Physiology, will be part of the virtual program.

TEDxDayton spreads ideas and perspectives to spark conversation and connections in the community. The event uses TED’s celebrated format of short, carefully prepared talks, demonstrations and performances designed to foster learning and inspiration.

In the past, the talks were live at the Victoria Theatre in Dayton. This year, the recorded talks will be edited into four programs and live-streamed on Nov. 10, 12, 17 and 19 at 7 p.m. Learn more about how to watch at tedxdayton.com.

“We want this to be a free gift to the community in which — from the safety and comfort of your living room — you can enjoy what you would have enjoyed at the Victoria Theater all in one day, and we’re spacing it out,” said Ron Rollins, co-chair of TEDxDayton 2020. “We are trying to replicate the feel as much as we can.”

Joe Deer, chair of the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures, and the Wright State Design/Technology faculty and staff and students offered TEDxDayton the use of the Creative Arts Center, which included a classroom for speaker rehearsals and the Stein Galleries to film the TEDxDayton hosts, who will introduce the speakers.

Wright State students got valuable experience helping with lighting and sound during the taping of the talks in the Festival Playhouse. All Wright State safety protocols were followed.

Rollins said Wright State has always been a big part of TEDxDayton 2020, offering up faculty and students as speakers and other support. Wyatt and Ganapathy are this year’s Wright State stars.

“I am going to talk about how industrial and systems engineering is an exciting and fun area in engineering and how ISEs make a difference in everyday life,” said Ganapathy. “Engineering is not always number crunching. I want to inspire people to think beyond traditional engineering into applied fields of engineering such as ISE.”

Ganapathy’s talk will be live-streamed on Nov. 10.

Ganapathy earned her bachelor’s degree in instrumentation and control engineering from Madras University in India and her master’s in human factors and industrial engineering and her Ph.D. in humans in complex systems from Wright State.

Her research areas include integrating technology for improving human performance, health and wellness, design thinking, user-experience assessment and human factors engineering. She directs Wright State’s Interaction Design and Modeling Lab, which explores human-computer interaction and seeks to understand how technology can help enable healthier and more socially connected and reflective living.

Christopher Wyatt, associate chair of the Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology and Physiology, will discuss opioid addiction, tolerance, dependence and overdose. His talk will be livestreamed on Nov. 17.

Wyatt will speak on the mechanisms of opioid addiction, tolerance, dependence and overdose. His talk will be live-streamed on Nov. 17.

“I want people to understand that used appropriately opioids are safe effective medicine. However, they are addictive and can be deadly and so my talk explains why,” Wyatt said. “I wrap up by advocating for better treatment for opioid addiction. We need to invest more people, time and money in getting addicts on the road to recovery.”

Wyatt, who is originally from Manchester, England, earned his bachelor’s degree in pharmacology from the University of Bath and his Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from the University of Leeds.

For the past 30 years, Wyatt has researched the neuronal control of breathing with particular interest in how disease states and medicines alter breathing. His research focuses on the critical role of specialized oxygen-sensing organs called the carotid bodies.

Two other people with Wright State connections are among the TEDxDayton speakers.

Jacquelyn Wright Palmer, an educator who retired from teaching at Wright State and a former administrator at Dayton Public Schools, will speak on the topic “Finding Pride in a Family’s History of Enslavement.”

Amy M. Riegel, a Wright State graduate and director of housing at CareSource, will speak on housing justice.