TED Tuesdays at SMU offer a glimpse of the future

by Colin Hogan of The Daily Mustang

Jaclyn Mitchell/The Daily Mustang

SMU faculty, undergraduate students, and graduate students gather with their lunches in the Embrey engineering building to discuss a TED video on Tuesday Sept. 15, in the third TED Talk on campus.

“No problem too big” is the motto for SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering.

In this spirit, a group of students and professors have gathered around a long conference table with their bag lunches, ready to tackle the issues of tomorrow.

In the lead up to next month’s TEDxSMU conference on campus, Lyle has begun hosting “TED Tuesdays” to build excitement for the upcoming event. TED Tuesdays present a weekly video from the TED website, which feature innovative speakers from the areas of technology, entertainment, and design (TED).

Space travel

This week, the topic was the future of space travel. American aerospace engineer Burt Rutan gave the address, in which he described the current state of the space industry and made a bold prediction.

“Soon you’ll be able to buy a ticket for a plane that will fly higher than the current military capabilities,” Rutan said.

Rutan, an innovator in the industry who designed the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, has joined Virgin mogul Richard Branson as a pioneer of commercial space travel. Frustrated with what he calls a lack of innovation coming from NASA, Rutan believes that the next big breakthrough will occur in the private sector.

“I look forward to a new capitalist space race,” Rutan said.

Following the 20-minute video presentation, Ph.D student Nathan Huntoon opened the floor for discussion, raising the issue of the apparent stagnation of innovation at NASA.

“People today have a very low tolerance for risk,” responded Amy Herbel, a graduate student studying mechanical engineering. “I think we need a bigger reason to pursue space exploration.”

Others thought it was a matter of government making a stronger commitment to growing the space agency.

“The space race in the ‘50s and ‘60s made a push for math and science in the classroom,” Huntoon said.

“It took a leader like Kennedy to stand up and say ‘in ten years we will have a man on the moon’,” Marc Christensen, associate professor of electrical engineering, added.

TEDxKids

Along with the upcoming TEDxSMU conference, which will take place on October 10, is TEDxKids. Aimed at junior high students, TEDxKids will provide students from public, private, and charter schools with the opportunity to engage in an experience similar to TEDxSMU.

“It’s important to get kids interested at an early age,” John Duvenci, an undergraduate civil engineering major, said. “One of the hopes is that TEDxKids will be a meaningful experience for both us and other kids.”

TED Tuesdays are hosted every Tuesday in the Huitt-Zollars Pavilion of the Embrey Building. All SMU students are welcome to attend.