Conservation Through a Lens of Wonder


Acacia Johnson, BFA Photography 2014

Acacia Johnson is a photographer and writer from Alaska. Drawn to painterly light and otherworldly landscapes, her work has focused on the environment, conservation, and the connections between people and place—especially in the Arctic and Antarctica, where she has made over fifty expeditions.

Johnson’s photographs are regularly published in National Geographic and are held in collections at the Anchorage Museum and the Smithsonian Museum of American History. In 2021, she received the Canon Female Photojournalist Grant and in 2022 was awarded an ICP Infinity Award for Documentary Practices and Photojournalism. 


︎ @acacia.johnson

Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?


Douglass Scott, Senior Critic, Graphic Design

Douglass Scott has been a graphic designer and artist for over 55 years. For 35 of those years, he worked at WGBH Boston – a public television & radio producer and broadcaster. He has taught graphic design, typography, exhibit design, history of graphic design, and information design at RISD since 1980 and at Northeastern University since 2010. He taught at Yale from 1984 to 2023. He has given over 250 lectures on various aspects of design, and has curated hundreds of small exhibits on design since 1978.

A Love Letter to Creatives (On Where We Could Belong)



Joel Yong, Student, BFA Industrial Design 2025

Joel Yong is a designer with a practice of applying design methodologies to improve government systems and policies. Previously, he has worked on President Biden’s Executive Order for Advancing Racial Equity in federal government data, the development of the Colorado Privacy Act, and expanding Medicaid access in Rhode Island. Additionally, he was a fellow with Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy, Coding It Forward, and the RISD Maharam. He leads the social impact student organization, Design for America (RISD/Brown).

︎ @joelyongg


The Case for Unethical Materials


Lizzie Brown, Student, BFA FAV 2024

Lizzie Brown is an interdisciplinary artist at the junction of animal science and design. Raised in the wilderness of North Carolina, they have looked after all manner of life from arachnids to waterfowl, incorporating that ever-expanding knowledge into their practical effects animatronics and wearable sculptures. When not working at RISD’s Nature Lab, they design and fabricate film-quality creature costumes for private clients.

︎ @m0ntydragon


The Repairer: A Radical Transformation in Design Education


Markus Berger, Professor, Interior Architecture

Markus Berger is an artist, designer, writer, and Professor of Interior architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), a registered architect (SBA) in the Netherlands, and founder and director of The Repair Atelier: an art/design workshop that investigates and activates ideas of reuse. His work, research, writing, and teaching critique the ethics, aesthetics, and values of modern architecture and focus on forms of change and repair in art, architecture, and design. Berger co-founded Int|AR, the Journal on Interventions and Adaptive Reuse (2009- 2019) which addresses such issues as preservation, conservation, alteration and interventions. His latest co-edited books are: Intervention and Adaptive Reuse: A Decade of Responsible Practice, (Berger, Wong), Birkhauser, 2021; and Repair: Sustainable Design Futures, (Berger, Irvin), Routledge, 2023.


The Importance of Believing for Child Abuse Victims


Sylvia Rodriguez, Student TLAD 2024

Sylvia Rodriguez is an artist, educator, writer, social justice activist, and student teacher in the Teaching and Learning in Art and Design (TLAD) department at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Her work in children’s media illustration centers children of diverse identities, in particular children with disabilities, races, and families. She believes in educational reform, equity, and accessibility for all, all of which inform her teaching practices, where she seeks to connect past and contemporary art histories to inform learners that art does not exist in a vacuum, and that all art is political.







[Top - Left to Right] Aram Festekjian, Shrume Zuo, Ryan Scott, Julian Rodriguez, Aanya Arora, Amy Liu, Juhi Nagpal | [Bottom - Left to Right] Haoying Zhang, Isabel Lee, Elaine Jia, Nooriyah Gulamhusein, Samuel Choi, Nicole Lee, Kevin Du | [Not Pictured] Natcha Pakdeekitcharoen



 

Aanya Arora
Co-President and Design & Marketing Lead BArch 2024 | Architecture

Aanya is a 5th year architecture student and is the Co-President TEDxRISD as well as the lead of the Design and Marketing team. She is passionate about human-centered design and believes that great design is born at the intersection of different disciplines. She is interested in retail, experiential and experience design.

︎   aarora@risd.edu
︎   @aanyaarora
Juhi Nagpal 
Co-President and Curation Lead
BFA 2025 | Film, Animation and Video

Juhi Nagpal is an artist, animator, filmmaker currently in her third year at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her passion in life is to tell stories through the versatile medium of film by combining different media, textures, and processes.

︎   jnagpal@risd.edu
︎   @juhinagpal5


Ryan Scott Operations Team
BFA 2026 | Graphic Design

Ryan is a Graphic Design student here at RISD and I'm very excited work with this wonderful team here at TEDxRISD. Ryan has volunteered for the first ever event last year and really enjoyed it so I hope this year's event will be even better. He is from Maryland and likes watching old movies, listening to indie and alternative rock music, and have an embarrassing collection of bobbleheads somewhere in his basement collecting dust.

︎   rscott@risd.edu
︎   @ryscoot







Haoying Zhang Operations Team
BFA 2024 | Furniture Design

Haoying is an artist and furniture designer who is interested in human mobility. She explores and expresses the nomadic identity through utility objects and the production and supplying chain through which they are created.

︎   hzhang13@risd.edu   
︎   @ haoying_zzz


Kevin Du Operations Team
BFA 2025 | Photography

Kevin is a photographer and filmmaker currently in his third year at Rhode Island School of Design. He utilizes the macro lens to explore unseen worlds and perspective in nature. He is also interested in capturing the sacredness of the natural environment and how people interact and situate in different spaces. He is excited to join the TEDxRISD team for the first time this year!

︎   hdu02@risd.edu
︎   @dudu_9383

Elaine JiaOperations Team
BFA 2025 | Illustration

Elaine believes TED is cross-border and conducts in-depth exchanges with people from all walks of life. She joined TED to work on integrating art into all areas of speech and storytelling.

︎   yliu24@risd.edu
︎   @elainejia100
Julian Rodriguez Curation Team
BFA 2026 | Furniture

Hi, I’m Julian Rodriguez! I’m probably rewatching a Wes Anderson movie whenever I get time off from my Furn (furniture) studies. Otherwise, I’m making tea.

︎   jrodri03@risd.edu  
︎   @julian_rodzz

Nooriyah Gulamhusein Curation Team
BFA 2024 | Interior Architecture

As a senior pursuing a degree in Interior Architecture, Nooriyah is deeply passionate about the interdisciplinary nature of both art and architecture, leveraging their unique strengths to create dynamic and experiential spaces in her work.

︎   ngulamhu@risd.edu
︎   @ nooriyahfg

Samuel Choi Curation Team
MARCH 2026 | Architecture

Samuel is a 1st-year graduate student in Architecture and a member of the Curations Team at TEDxRISD. Originally from South Korea, he attended the University of Toronto for my undergraduate studies, focusing on a discipline of both architecture and visual studies.

︎   jchoi18@risd.edu   
︎   @samchoi_

Amy Liu Marketing Team
BFA 2024 | Interior Architecture

Amy is a senior in Interior Architecture at RISD! She is excited to join TEDxRISD’s marketing team this year and also getting to work with an array of professionals and student bodies. In her spare time, she’s interested in photography, traveling, tennis, and latte art.

︎   jliu12@risd.edu
︎   @ amyadudu

Aram Festekjian Marketing Team
MID 2025 | Industrial Design

Aram is interested in the intersection of technology, user-experience, and branding. Originally from Boston, he is pursuing a Master's Degree in Industrial & Product Design at RISD while studying Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management at Brown.

︎   afestekj@risd.edu   
︎   @aram_festekjian

Isabel Lee Marketing Team
BFA 2025 | Graphic Design

Isabel is a junior in Graphic Design at Rhode Island School of Design. She is a designer exploring her interests in UX/UI and branding design. A fun fact is that she has a twin sister and that this is her first year as a part of the tedxrisd community! She is happy to be a part of the team and looks forward to the work we can create!

︎   ilee03@risd.edu   
︎   @isabel_twin2
Natcha Pakdeekitcharoen Marketing Team
BFA 2024 | Graphic Design

Natcha is a graphic designer from Bangkok Thailand. She is passionate about bringing people together, making things beautiful and traveling.

︎   npakdeek@risd.edu
︎   @ kaimookk.k
Nicole Lee Marketing Team
BFA 2024 | Graphic Design

Nicole is a senior studying Graphic Design at the Rhode Island School of Design with a passion for creating worlds of visual identities and solving design problems along the way with engaging solutions.

︎   nlee05@risd.edu
︎   @nicole.nlee
Shrume Zuo Marketing Team
BFA 2026 | Industrial Design

Shrume is a Industrial designer that loves graphic design. He interested in games, films, and rock music.

︎   szuo@risd.edu  
︎   @shrumezuo