Fox Cities News

The TEDxOshkosh event, now in its eighth year, continues to feature members of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh community. This year's event, scheduled for November 16, will include talks from Seon Yoon Chung and Michael Ford, who are set to discuss topics related to artificial intelligence in healthcare education and trust and empathy in politics.

Seon Yoon Chung, the dean of the College of Nursing at UW Oshkosh, will present a talk titled "New Tools in Healthcare Education: Incorporating AI-Generated Simulations." Her presentation will focus on the potential benefits of generative AI technology in simulating real-world medical scenarios. Chung hopes her audience will see how such technology can enhance healthcare education by improving the training of medical providers. "I hope the audience will have an opportunity to see and imagine the positive implications of using generative AI, especially in healthcare education," she said.

Michael Ford, an associate professor of Public Administration and director of both the Masters of Public Administration program and the Whitburn Center for Governance and Policy Research at UW Oshkosh, will deliver a talk called "People Matter: Getting Governing Back into Politics." Ford aims to highlight how public engagement and local government can improve political discourse. He explained his motivation for pitching this topic: "First, good government is a passion of mine that I am always eager to share with anyone willing to listen," he said. "Second, we are living through a very challenging time in our democracy and I think it is important to share a hopeful vision for how local government can heal our most challenging divides."

Ford's message encourages attendees to view politics as a means for governance rather than as a competitive spectacle. He hopes his talk inspires people to engage with local government efforts actively.

TEDxOshkosh is an independently organized TED event aimed at fostering meaningful conversations within the community. It features speakers who tackle diverse subjects such as sustainability, mental health, and community resilience. Craig Burnett, co-founder of TEDxOshkosh, noted that speakers often come from regions close to the event location: “TEDxOshkosh, like most successful TEDx events around the globe, finds some of its most amazing speakers by actively searching for new ideas and leading thinkers in the geographic regions closest to the event,” Burnett said.

UW Oshkosh has been well-represented at TEDxOshkosh since its inception in 2016. Notable past speakers include Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO of Axios, whose 2021 talk was featured on TED's main YouTube channel.