TED Announces the 2010 TEDGlobal Fellows

Newest TED Fellows to participate in the prestigious TEDGlobal Conference in Oxford, UK

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May 25, 2010, 10:48 ET

NEW YORK, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizers of the TED Conference announced today the 23 Fellows who will participate in TEDGlobal 2010, TED's annual conference in Oxford, UK, July 12 – 16, 2010. The 2010 TEDGlobal Fellows join the TED community as the most recent additions to the TED Fellows program.

The 2010 TEDGlobal Fellows reflect both geographic and discipline diversity. From Venezuela to Ghana to Brazil to Costa Rica to Sri Lanka to Yemen, these pioneers are breaking new ground in technology, engineering, programming, biology, genetics, environmental science and invention. Fellows also are innovating in filmmaking, photojournalism, architecture, music, poetry, entrepreneurship and activism, among other disciplines.

"We are excited to host our second class of TEDGlobal Fellows in Oxford. They represent a spectacular concentration of cross-disciplinary talent and share a common goal of improving the state of humanity. We look forward to their active participation in the TEDGlobal community and the amazing collaborations that inevitably result from the Fellows' time together," said Tom Rielly, TED Fellows director.

In addition to participating as full members of the 2010 TEDGlobal conference audience, each TED Fellow will participate in a two-day pre-conference, where they will receive world-class communication training, deliver a short TEDTalk, and collaborate with their peers, among other benefits. The Fellows will also participate in the TED community throughout the next year, by telling their ongoing stories on the TED Fellows blog, contributing to TEDx events, being featured in the online Fellows directory and participating in a private social network.

The TED Fellows program seeks individuals of age 21-50 (though anyone over age 18 is eligible) who demonstrate remarkable achievement in their field of endeavor. The program focuses on candidates from five regions: Asia/Pacific, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East. The TEDGlobal Fellows program is made possible by the visionary support of the Bezos family, the Harnisch Foundation, the Case Foundation, private donors, IBM, Johnny Walker and Nokia.

Meet the 2010 TEDGlobal Fellows:

Mubarak Abdullahi
Aircraft engineer
Nigerian aircraft engineer who, at 24, built a homemade helicopter out of car and motorbike parts

Walid Al-Saqaf
Anti-censorship activist
Yemeni programmer and founder of Yemen Portal and alkasir -- software that gives individuals access to blocked websites

Erika Bagnarelo
Filmmaker
Costa Rican writer and director (her most-recent film tells the story of atomic bomb-survivors aboard Peace Boat)

Eric Berlow
Ecological networks scientist
American ecologist and entrepreneur researching networks and environmental sustainability

Milena Boniolo
Environmental chemist
Brazilian chemist developing methods to detect emerging contaminants in the environment

Nina Dudnik
Science facilitator
American geneticist and CEO of Seeding Labs, an organization providing up-and-coming researchers with lab equipment and other resources

Adital Ela
Sustainability designer
Israeli designer and artist incorporating indigenous knowledge into sustainable design

Joseph Foster Ellis
Sculptor
American artist, living and working in China, whose work bridges gaps between East and West

David Gurman
Installation artist
San Francisco-based installation artist whose work makes invisible events (such as seismic data from nuclear testing) visible

Lope Gutierrez-Ruiz
Culture curator
Venezuelan editor, writer and co-founder of The Gopher Illustrated magazine and the Plantanoverde Foundation, a platform for emerging artists

Sanjana Hattotuwa
Citizen journalist
Sri Lankan human rights activist and founder of Groundviews, a citizen-journalism initiative

Su Kahumbu-Stephanou
Organic industry entrepreneur
Kenyan entrepreneur promoting the development of an organic food industry in Kenya

Teru Kuwayama
Crisis photographer
American photojournalist covering humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Iraq

Richard Move
Performance + media artist
American dancer, choreographer and filmmaker exploring the intersection of the human body and digital media

Dominic Muren
Open manufacturing evangelist
Open-source fabrication advocate, product designer and founder of The Humblefactory, a product-development consultancy

Boniface Mwangi
Photo-activist
Kenyan photojournalist and founder of Picha Mtaani, a youth-led national reconciliation initiative in Kenya

Guido Nunez-Mujica
Biotechnologist
Venezuelan writer and scientist working on LavaAmp, a pocket-size thermal cycler for rapid PCR

Olatunbosun Obayomi
Bio-energy inventor
Nigerian biotechnologist inventing new means of alternative energy production from organic waste

Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo
Poet + recording artist
Nigerian-American poet and recording artist currently based in Boston

DK Osseo-Asare
Grassroots architect
Ghanaian-American architect and co-founder of DSGN AGNC, an activist design think-tank, and Low Design Office, an architecture studio

Veronica Reed
Architectural activist
Ecuadorian architect working in sustainable design and low-income housing

Camilo Rodriguez-Beltran
Arts + science collaborator
Mexican scientist, filmmaker and gallery founder focusing on human health, biodiversity and cross-cultural collaboration

Roshini Thinakaran
Documentarian
Founder of Women at the Forefront, a multimedia company that examines the challenges faced by women living in conflict zones

Details on each Fellow and the program are available at www.ted.com/fellows. To support the program, or to receive more information, please contact Logan McClure at +1.212.346.9333 or via email at [email protected]. Follow the TED Fellows blog at http://tedfellows.posterous.com.

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where three exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action, and TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world. Follow TED on Twitter, twitter.com/tedtalks, or on Facebook, www.facebook.com/TED

TEDGlobal 2010, "And Now the Good News," will be held July 13-16, 2010, in Oxford, UK. TED2011, "The Rediscovery of Wonder," will be held Feb. 28 – March 4, 2011, in Long Beach, California, along with TEDActive, a simulcast conference of TED2011, in Palm Springs, California.