Meet our speakers and get a glimpse into the ideas they’ll be sharing from the TEDxCSU stage.
Bryce Anderson
Civil Engineer Student
Bryce Anderson is a fourth-year civil engineering student at Colorado State University with a passion for sustainable transportation, urban infrastructure, and how they can be better integrated into American cities. His interests center on multimodal transportation and sustainable urban development, particularly how thoughtful infrastructure can create more accessible, connected, and people-centered communities.
At CSU, he serves as Vice Chair of the Alternative Transportation Fee Advisory Board (ATFAB), where he helps advocate for and guide investments in multimodal transportation infrastructure and programs across campus. Through his studies and involvement in transportation initiatives, Bryce have developed a strong interest in how the decisions we make about mobility today can shape our cities for generations to come. He is excited to continue contributing to and advocating for transportation solutions that improve how people connect with their communities and one another.
Bryce’s Talk
Building Inward: A New Blueprint for Our Cities
What if the future of our cities isn’t about building farther out, but building better within? American cities did not become car-centric by accident – they were shaped by decades of choices. This talk explores how making different choices, by building inward and investing in the communities and infrastructure we already have, can create more connected, accessible, and multimodal cities
Sean Waters
English Department Instructor
Sean Waters is a teacher, a dad, and a singer-songwriter who has played more than 1,000 shows across the Colorado Front Range. He teaches writing in the Department of English at Colorado State University and holds master’s degrees in English Education and Philosophy, where he studied ancient Buddhist and modern scientific approaches to mental health. An advocate of the transformative power of pen and paper, his daily writing practice has filled 246 pocket notebooks. In 2021, he founded the Wisdom Workshop, offering courses in writing and philosophy for adults navigating mid-life transitions.
Sean’s Talk
The Most Important Technology of Our Time
The most important technology of our time is how we write with pen and paper. With mindful freewriting, we can harness the power of handwriting to debug our mental scripts and reconnect with what makes us human.
Jide Williams
Mechanical Engineering Instructor
Jide Williams is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Denver, where his research examined advanced materials and design approaches for large power transformers. His teaching and scholarship bring together engineering education, material engineering, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. He is developing Data-Driven Engineering Automation, a textbook and course framework that connects theory with laboratories, simulation, data, and real-world engineering judgment. Through teaching, research, and mentorship, Williams advocates for rigorous, practical, and equitable learning experiences that prepare students for a rapidly changing technological world.
Jide’s Talk
Redesigned Rigor: The Future of Engineering Education
Rigor does not have to look the way it did a generation ago. Drawing on engineering education, active learning, AI, digital twins, and failure-based practice, Jide Williams argues that the future of education is not less rigor – it is redesigned rigor. He offers five practical ways to make learning more demanding, relevant, and human for today’s students.
Gary Held
People & Productivity
Gary Held is a global human resources & organizational development mensch with an affinity for baseball, rescue dogs, the Queen of Soul, and building highly engaged workplaces across manufacturing, technology, and private equity. He has led HR initiatives across more than 20 countries, supported more than 20 acquisitions, and developed leadership programs designed to create and sustain employee engagement. A Lean Manufacturing Master who has led or participated in more than 300 Kaizen events, Gary brings a continuous-improvement mindset to the people side of business. His work has helped organizations dramatically reduce turnover, elevate employee satisfaction, and strengthen business performance. He has worked with teams across five continents and believes the best HR leaders spend less time creating & policing policies and more time helping people do their best work by bringing their best selves to work.
Gary’s Talk
Aretha & McDonald’s: The Four Traditions of Employee Engagement
You can pay people to show up—but you can’t pay them to care. Find out what the Queen of Soul knew nearly 60 years ago—and how it can help turn attendance into genuine employee engagement.
Liza Dadone
Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarian: Founder of Giraffe Veterinary Services
Dr. Liza Dadone is a zoo and wildlife veterinarian who has built her career around a very tall patient: the giraffe. She is the founder of Giraffe Veterinary Services and Head Veterinarian for Save Giraffes Now, working with giraffes in zoos and conservation programs across the United States and around the world. Her clinical work and research explore new ways to recognize health problems earlier and improve care for giraffes and other wildlife. She is especially interested in what animals can tell us when we learn to look differently, including how technologies such as thermal imaging can reveal changes that are invisible to the human eye.
Liza’s Talk
Seeing What We’ve Been Missing: Lessons from Giraffe Medicine
Animals can show us important changes in their health long before those changes are obvious to the human eye. Drawing on her work with giraffes and other species, zoo and wildlife veterinarian Liza Dadone explores how thermal imaging can make otherwise invisible biological signals visible, and how learning to see animals differently could improve veterinary care and conservation.
Jada Askew
Journalism & Media Communications Student
Jada Askew is a third-year Journalism & Media Communications student at Colorado State University. Her interests are centered on identity, philosophy, social justice, and creativity. She also finds it interesting how the media shapes how people understand themselves and the world around them. Through advocacy and storytelling, she hopes to amplify perspectives that are often overlooked and create spaces for all people to be seen, heard, and understood. She plans to become a civil rights attorney, combining her passion for storytelling with her commitment to justice.
Jada’s Talk
The Politics of Our Roots: Why Black Hair is More Than Hair
The history behind 4C Black Hair and how racism and misogyny hinders Black individuals, especially women from embracing their essence both professionally and in the everyday.