On Saturday, Nov. 15, TEDxJHU hosted their salon event titled “The Carousel of Ideas,” providing a platform for Hopkins students to share notable research, experiences or ideas. Speakers included Rachel Sholder, Mark Faust, Devothama Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy and Zaraf Khondoker.
TEDxJHU Communications team director Eloise Martenson, in her opening speech, expanded on the theme of the event.
“The development of ideas does not move in a straight line. It loops, it turns, it returns; and each new rotation reveals a new angle, a new question and a new possibility. A carousel is both nonlinear motion and new perspective. Every moment offers a different view, and every thinker brings a different idea.” Martenson added, “…as we rotate through their ideas, we invite you not just to listen, but to let each perspective shift your own just a little each time around.”
Sholder, a current doctoral candidate of the University's Doctor of Engineering program delivered a talk titled “Epidemics and space debris: How space debris is going viral.”
Sholder began by explaining space debris, a wide range of objects in space left behind from previous spacecraft or machinery. At high speeds, they can collide into functioning aircraft at high speeds that can cause the formation of even more debris. This could lead to the destruction of satellites for weather forecasts, GPS and communication servers.
The Kessler syndrome, Sholder explained, describes a situation that depicts a situation where collisions produce fragments that then go on to produce more fragments and more collisions in a chain reaction-like manner which, in the worst-case scenario, prevents a spacecraft from leaving Earth due to the debris cluttering up the lower orbit. When reading about it, Sholder connected the principle back to how viruses spread in the field of epidemiology.
“I created the Jump Accumulation Model (JAM) to describe this behavior. What my model does is help us to see and understand the spread of proliferation of space debris as something we already know: how to fight an outbreak... JAM doesn’t just describe the problem, it allows us to experiment with the solution. Solutions by adjusting parameters… small changes in behavior that could prevent a cascade of collisions or trigger one. [But] it isn’t biological, it’s orbital.” Sholder said.
Following Sholder’s talk, Mark Faust, a current undergraduate student studying Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, spoke about his experiences with uncertainty, and how a good question can bring comfort.
Faust stated that his first real battle with uncertainty originated from imposter syndrome. His first question came in the form of whether computer science was the right career path for him, which resulted in the conclusion that intellectually, Faust preferred physics, mathematics and the philosophical questions resulting from that perspective. For example, he questioned if anyone in his life would ask him to be their best man and then considered the answer’s implications.
“I had become obsessed, obsessed with pushing myself, obsessed with not feeling like a failure, and… this came at the cost of a social life… sure, I could calculate derivatives all day and I could carry my rucksack for miles, [but] could I even get an invitation to a wedding?” Faust stated.
Faust credits his change in behavior to questions like these. He described his behavior becoming more open to invitations from friends.
Faust also questioned the conviction of his faith, and whether his belief was simply an echo of his parents’.
“What came to the surface were doubts that I had suppressed my entire life… But the result of my single big question was a real forging of not only my own faith, but also the faiths of many others.” Faust said.
Faust wrapped up his talk by stating that good questions are the right tool for combating uncertainty.
After an intermission with Students of Caribbean Ancestry, a Caribbean-based dance team, and the Entertainers Club, a fire-spinning and flow arts group, Faust was followed by Devothama Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy, a master’s student in Engineering Management.
Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy delivered a talk titled “Life is not a straight line” that outlined his journey of self-discovery. After his schooling, he worked at Mercedes Benz Research and Development. Despite the financial stability, Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy expressed his unhappiness with his day-to-day life.
“The days began to blur together…I realized that I hadn’t had a real conversation with anybody that day. It hit me hard then, that even though there are a lot of people around me, I was completely disconnected. I realized I had stopped living,” Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy said.
Then, Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy underwent a significant surgery that changed his life and allowed him to reflect. This eventually led Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy to quit his job, start traveling and resume photography, which included locations like the Thar Desert as well as a remote village where he was able to converse with a Buddhist monk at the monastery.
“So if there is one thing I learned in life, it is this: life doesn’t always follow a blueprint. Not all detours are distractions. Sometimes, they are directions. So the people you meet by chance, the unplanned moments and the decisions we actually take out of instinct, they make us closer to who we truly are,” he said.
Zarah Khondoker, a current graduate student at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, then started her speech, where she discussed the importance of menstrual health awareness. Khondoker highlighted that many OB-GYNs and endocrinologists have started to deem menstruation as the fifth vital sign for women, in addition to the classic four of body temperature, blood pressure, pulse and breathing rate.
Khondoker emphasized the potential menstrual blood has as a way to test reproductive disorders; menstrual blood contains almost 400 unique proteins specific to it, and characteristics like color and frequency provides important information about one’s health. Menstrual blood also contains stem cells that have potential for clinical treatments. Khondoker discussed the importance of awareness and further research, calling for the end of the stigma revolving around menstruation.
“Before 1993, women were not included in clinical trials. A lot of the logic and basis for this was that women were seen as too hormonal, with the menstrual cycle being seen as something that could convolute data… But isn’t that the point of research? Shouldn't we be researching the difference?... End the stigma. Start talking about periods. Do more. Science needs to start, and science needs to start today,” Khondoker emphasized.
Following all of the speeches, Gathoni Kinyatti, a current student at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, offered her thoughts about the event as an audience member in an interview with The News-Letter.
“[Sholder] was talking about epidemiology, which I am majoring in. So it was really cool to see it from the space perspective, and how that is correlated to infectious diseases. I'm going to look more into spacecraft and the debris that can be in space because of collisions,” Kinyatti said.
The TEDxHopkins design team was led by senior Jennifer Mendoza. She described her responsibilities as ordering balloons and carnival-like decorations from Amazon to match the theme in an interview with The News-Letter. Curator Arielle Clayton, a senior, also offered a glimpse into the work behind the planning of the event in an interview with The News-Letter.
“We’ve been preparing for this event since the beginning of the school year in August.” Clayton said. “Our applications [for the teams] open every fall. You also can find us at the [Student Involvement Fair (SIF)], and our Instagram, @tedxhopkins, is our main form of communication.”
