Panhia Lee

O’Callaghan to present TEDxNewport talk on “Redesigning Humans”

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Sean O’Callaghan, assistant professor in the Department of Religious and Theological Studies, will present a talk on “Redesigning Humans” as a featured speaker in TEDxNewport, the local version of the world-famous TED talks, which will be filmed before an invited audience on Saturday, Nov. 5 at the Jane Pickens Theater.

“The technology I will be talking about is technology which is still in its young phase, but which will explode in coming decades, and we need to be aware of where the technology revolution is bringing us,” O’Callaghan said. “Some of it may, indeed, turn out to be science fiction, but much of it will happen as predicted and we need to have plans in place both socially and ethically to embrace the opportunities and confront the challenges.”

O’Callaghan, dean of Salve Regina’s Class of 2019 and a Pell Center faculty fellow, is among the 13 speakers chosen from more than 60 who submitted topics. His proposal on human beings and bio-engineering was selected by TEDx organizers among their top 25 initially and then ultimately among their final 13.

“I have been fascinated by technology and its impact on the human body and mind for several years,” O’Callaghan said. “At first, it all seemed like science fiction; then I realized that places like MIT, Harvard and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency were investing millions in research into the GRIN technologies – Genetics, Robotics, Information and Nanotechnology.”

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Connecting Passion and Purpose: Q&A with Changemaker Fellow Amanda Calderon ’18

Mario J. Gabelli School of Business junior selected for fellowship program that integrates student leaders into Rhode Island’s entrepreneurship scene.

BRISTOL, R.I. – If you recently bought a Boston Celtics ticket on the secondary market there is a good chance that you purchased it via student entrepreneur Amanda Calderon. In less than a year the junior marketing major has built a profitable business in the booming secondary ticket industry with her site Courtside Broker.

One might think it beginner’s luck, but the native of Morris Plains, N.J., has been churning out her own small businesses from an early age, making enough bucks with the recent endeavor to forgo further work-study assistance (she worked the Annual Fund Phonathon one year) or the typical college-student job.

Now she’s helping foster the same entrepreneurial spirit among her peers at Roger Williams University and other colleges across Rhode Island as a 2016 Changemaker Fellow. It’s part of a unique statewide effort led by Social Enterprise Greenhouse and the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation to increase awareness and resources for student entrepreneurs in the Ocean State. A marketing major with minors in web development and graphic design communication, Calderon was selected as a fellow for her leadership in the University’s professional business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi – Nu Sigma, and for her interests in social enterprise and entrepreneurship; she also serves as the advertising chair on the University’s Multicultural Student Union and has previously played intramural sports and written for the student newspaper, the Hawk’s Herald.

From her passion for inspiring entrepreneurship in others to leveraging her Changemaker Fellowship, Calderon recently sat down for a Q&A with PDQ@RWU.

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NEIT Digital Media Students Premier Horror Film at Columbus Theater

On Tuesday, November 1 students in New England Tech’s video club debuted the Halloween film at Providence’s Columbus Theater they produced as part of the 48 Hour Film Project – Horror Challenge.

The 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) is a wild and sleepless weekend in which teams from around the globe write, shoot, edit, and produce a movie – in just 48 hours.

On Friday night, October 21, teams drew a genre from a hat. They were then given a character, a prop, and line to include in their films. On Sunday night, October 23, in a wild dash to the drop off event, NEIT’s video club students turned in their film.

The tight deadline of 48 hours puts the focus squarely on the filmmakers—emphasizing creativity and teamwork. While the time limit places an unusual restriction on the filmmakers, it is also liberating by putting an emphasis on doing instead of talking.

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Finding His Voice

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Illustration major Patrick Hulse 17 IL finds inspiration everywhere, but especially in childhood memories and family stories.

Patrick Hulse 17 IL says that before he came to RISD he was incredibly shy. But once his Foundation professors made it clear that students need to talk during crits, he began to share his ideas – tentatively at first, but then with increasingly more certainty. “People said, ‘We like what you’re saying, talk more,’” he recalls incredulously. “It was such an empowering experience. I learned at RISD that my voice matters.”

Once Hulse began to share his thoughts, the floodgates opened and his confidence soared. By the middle of junior year, he decided to run for president of the Student Alliance, RISD’s student governing body. “I never in a million years would have imagined myself in this role,” he says. “But the opportunity presented itself and I went for it.”

The Student Alliance is “here to make things happen for RISD students,” Hulse explains. “We serve on academic committees, meet important people and have access to a lot of information that we share with the rest of the student body.”

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