Seven distinguished speakers will deliver talks this year at the annual TEDx University of Mississippi event on Feb. 20. This year’s program is titled “Uncharted” and will be held at 7 p.m. at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets for the event are free, but donations are encouraged.
Speakers include Southern Poverty Law Center Director Waikinya Clanton; research scientist Mark Dysinger; ethical hacker, entropy advocate and founder of PostQuantSec.io Samantha Lowrimore; University of Mississippi Associate Professor of Social Work Tess Lefmann; oral radiologist Dania Tamimi; University of Mississippi Lecturer in Composition and Rhetoric and Assistant Director of Academic Innovation Marc Watkins; and Director of the National Center for Cannabis Research and Education and University of Mississippi Research Associate Professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences Robert Welch.
“We really try to cater to individual interests, and this year’s speakers are all so deserving of this opportunity,” Jorja Carter, TEDx University of Mississippi assistant chief of staff, said.
The TEDx University of Mississippi’s website describes the theme, “From groundbreaking science to frontier education, Uncharted is an invitation to envision the world as it could be, not just what it is.”
The event is planned and organized by students that work in different committees, such as public relations and speaker relations. TEDx 2026 is also co-sponsored by the Department of Media and Communication.
Staff starts planning the event in August, choosing speakers through open submission and interviews to select who it believes will best fit the event’s annual theme.
With more than 100 submissions, the committees narrowed the group down to four speakers who will be discussing a variety of topics.
“Tess Lefmann’s talk is the one I’m most excited for this year,” Shea Graham, co-head of speaker relations, said. “It’s rare to hear a talk that is both scientifically rigorous and emotionally disarming, but Tess does that so naturally.”
Meredith Anderson, TEDx University of Mississippi’s chief of staff, said the organization’s goal is for students to expand their knowledge with diverse points of view.
“We really want to try and expand people’s mindsets,” Anderson said. “We have speakers from Mississippi but also outside of Mississippi, which is good because that can bring new ideas or experiences. We want students to go home with possibly new interest in a topic or idea that they hadn’t thought of before.”
Each speaker brings a new and different approach to a specific topic. Mark Dysinger, in his biography, states that he is a researcher for “rare” diseases but argues against the word “rare,” as it harms the research of a disease.
Daylan Flowers, senior journalism major and host of sports podcast “The Daylan Show,” will emcee the event.
TEDx UM will host a reception following the event, which is a collaboration with the UM Department of Art and Art History. Attendees can browse student art and mingle with the speakers, ask questions or dive into deeper discussions. The Mississippians Jazz Ensemble and Jiwon Lee, a violinist and integrated marketing communications graduate student, will perform during the intermission following the first two speakers.
The sole fundraiser for TedX University of Mississippi Saeed Fanoodi is a Ph.D. candidate who joined the organization this year. He helped secure donations and advertisement sales for this year’s event.
“The goal is to introduce perspectives and ideas that students may not encounter in traditional academic settings,” Fanoodi said. “TEDx creates a space for interdisciplinary thinking, inspiration and exposure to voices and experiences that broaden how students understand innovation, leadership and impact.”
Editor’s Note: P.B. Jernigan, an arts and culture staff writer, serves as co-head of speaker relations for TEDx University of Mississippi.
Meredith Anderson was an arts and culture staff writer during the 2024-25 academic year.
Jorja Carter was a news staff writer during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic year.
