2019 Creativity Conference Speakers

Creativity Conference Curators

Mark W. Moffett

Mark W. Moffett, called the Indiana Jones of entomology by National Geographic, which has published hundreds of his images in 30 articles, is known for finding rare species in remote places as a specialist on treetop ecology and army ant swarm behavior. He has the Harvard Bowdoin Prize for writing, World Press Awards for photography, and a Lowell Thomas Medal from the Explorer’s Club.

Melissa Wells

Melissa Wells is an expert at managing healthcare systems in the US and abroad. When on expeditions with fellow explorer Moffett, she also captures the work and inspiration of scientific researchers through photography and film.

2019 Creativity Conference Speakers

Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most daring creative pioneers. Renowned for her multimedia presentations, she is a visual artist, vocalist, songwriter, and director whose groundbreaking works span the worlds of art, theater, and music.

Roy Baumeister

Roy Baumeister is among the most prolific, frequently cited psychologists in the world, with over 600 articles and 35 books, including New York Times bestseller Willpower. Roy works on issues such as identity, meaning, self-esteem, and free will.

Ethan Coen

With his brother Joel, Ethan Coen has written, produced, and directed such films as the Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men and Fargo. Now in the 35th year of their career, their 18th feature film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, is currently in release.

Norman Doidge

Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge’s books, The Brain That Changes Itself and The Brain’s Way of Healing, have been called “remarkable” by Oliver Sacks and “brilliant” by the London Times. He is also highly regarded as a poet.

Sheldon Glashow

Sheldon Glashow is a theoretical physicist focused on particle physics and cosmology: the sciences at the far extremes of size. He discovered the fundamental particle “Charm” and has a Nobel Prize for contributions to the unified theory.

Bernd Heinrich

Bernd Heinrich, naturalist, artist, and outdoorsman, has made major contributions to ecology, with highly praised books on everything from long-distance running and the economics of living in a bumblebee hive to the intelligence of ravens.

Donald Johanson

One of the most accomplished scholars regarding human origins, Donald Johanson has produced some of the field’s most groundbreaking discoveries, including the most widely known fossil of the 20th century, the 3.2-million-year-old “Lucy” skeleton.

Peter Norvig

Peter Norvig was the senior computer scientist at NASA before becoming director of research at Google. He coauthored the most important textbook on artificial intelligence, and millions have read his article on learning to program in ten years.

Pete Souza

Pete Souza was the official White House photographer under President Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama and former director of the White House Photography Office. Pete’s most recent bestseller is Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents.

Amy Tan

Amy Tan, a New York Times best-selling novelist and writer of children’s books and memoirs, also co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of her book, The Joy Luck Club, and the libretto for the opera The Bonesetter’s Daughter.

Jill Tarter

Jill Tarter, Emeritus Chair of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) received the TED Prize and has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. She is portrayed by Jodie Foster in the movie Contact.

Mark W. Moffett

Melissa Wells

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