TEDxUGA 2016: Student Idea Showcase

TEDxUGA Student Presenters are chosen annually through the TEDxUGA Student Idea Showcase. Though the following students were not selected to present at TEDxUGA, their talks demonstrate outstanding qualities and embody true, original ideas worth sharing.

2016 Illuminate Stage

Daniel Funke

Daniel Funke is a former summer intern for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he reported breaking news from around Atlanta. Funke is a third-year student in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication majoring in journalism and international affairs. He is the current managing editor of both The Red & Black and Ampersand Magazine and has been published in a variety of different media outlets, including USA TODAY and Groundswell.org. Having written about events such as the Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, a large portion of Funke’s articles deal with LGBT issues in America.

Jonah Driggers

Jonah Driggers is a third-year student at UGA concurrently pursuing an A.B. in Geography and an M.S. in Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development with an emphasis in environmental policy. At UGA, Driggers is the Executive Director for Government and NGO relations at the Energy Concept, Director of the Roosevelt Institute’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, and Head Gardener for the Lunchbox Garden. He has worked to develop policy proposals to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the state of Georgia, and last year interned with the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Office of Climate Resilience. Upon graduation, Jonah hopes to obtain a J.D. in environmental law and contribute to climate and energy policy across the Southeast.

Caleb Adams

Caleb Adams is a Computer Science and Astrophysics double major. He is a NASA Core Flight Software developer and is leading the University of Georgia’s Cube Satellite program. Adams is passionate about scientific literacy and has 200,000 social media followers. He is the founder of the space start-up Spacey.io, a group dedicated to making space more accessible to the public.

Tara Bracken

Tara Bracken is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Georgia Department of Infectious Diseases specializing in Global Health. Tara’s research focuses on how the host’s response to disease worsens malaria infection in children under the age of five and pregnant women. A true graduate student at heart, Tara is roughly 55% water and 45% caffeine.

Alex Moran

Alex Moran is a graduate student from El Salvador currently pursuing a master’s degree in Agricultural and Environmental Education at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. As a research assistant for The Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication, he focuses on international agricultural development programs and policies to help fight hunger. He hopes to shine a light on how Latin American agriculture and Latino international students can help meet food demand and feed the world.