As urban tree shade shrinks, mortality rises
August 5, 2026
Three Northwestern faculty members and two alumni will present at this year’s TEDxChicago, an independently organized TED event that promotes “ideas worth spreading.”
This year’s installment will take place on Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St. in Chicago. The theme is “We the People,” focusing on innovative ideas for building our shared future.
Ahead of the event, get to know the Northwestern speakers and their work:
Fabrics of the future
Cécile Chazot will describe how her research team works to design the textiles of the future. Chazot takes inspiration from nature’s structures, such as how butterfly wings create color without dye and strength without bulk, to design fabrics that serve function without generating waste.
She is the Julia Weertman Professor in Materials Science and Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering, where she directs the Sustainable Polymer Innovation (SPIn) Lab.
Read more about Chazot’s work to create sustainable, functional textiles in Northwestern Magazine.
A home for women’s sports fans
In her talk, Clarissa Flores ’01 will explore how building infrastructure for the women’s sports fanbase — in the form of physical spaces and investment — can change business, culture and girls’ futures.
The former Wildcats women’s basketball player recently opened Level Sporting Club, the first women’s sports bar in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood. For Flores, Level isn’t about capitalizing on a trend but offering a home that women’s sports fans have long deserved.
Read about Flores’ latest venture in the upcoming fall issue of Northwestern Magazine.
Lessons from the brain
Tamar Gefen ’12 MS, ’15 PhD will discuss the way her work studying SuperAgers — adults over age 80 who show outstanding memory performance — shows how much the brain at death can teach us about life, including vitality in old age.
Gefen is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and a neuropsychologist at Northwestern’s Mesulam Institute for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease. She is also the director of the Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychology at Feinberg.
Read about Gefen’s work with SuperAgers in Northwestern Magazine.
Finding your inner hero
Gita Pullapilly ’01 MS will answer the question, “How do you find and nurture your superpower to become the hero you are meant to be?”
Pullapilly is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter, director, producer and journalist who has spent her career exploring what drives human resilience, purpose and transformation. She is also the founder of a nonprofit that trains humanitarian organizations in developing countries to use storytelling as a tool for social change.
Read a Q&A with Pullapilly about her 2021 movie “Queenpins” in Northwestern Magazine.
The power of one
Jessica Schleider will present her research into the power of single-session interventions in a mental health system built around patients continually returning. These intentionally designed sessions can help to close the care gap for young people whom the traditional mental health system might not reach.
She is an associate professor of medical social sciences in the divisions of intervention science and implementation science at Feinberg, as well as the founding director of Northwestern’s Lab for Scalable Mental Health.
Learn more about Schleider’s recent research into single-session interventions.
See the full list of this year’s speakers on the TEDxChicago website.
