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*Morning and Afternoon sessions have different speaker rotations.
Our 2026 theme is:
Interweave
To interweave is to pass threads through one another until something stronger and more beautiful than any single strand emerges.
At TEDxPrincetonU, Interweave is our invitation to question the boundaries that divide us most: technology vs. nature, art vs. policy, past vs. present, and ask what becomes possible when we cross them deliberately. The most generative ideas live at the crossing points, where unlike things meet and something new takes shape.
This year’s speakers share ideas born at the intersections of technology and humanity, identity and community, research and lived experience. This year, we will explore how weaving our perspectives creates a stronger, more resilient fabric of change.
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Andrae Alexander
Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Southern California
Andrae Alexander, Ph.D., is a Grammy Award-winning composer, music industry scholar, faculty member at the University of Southern California, and veteran of both the Marine Corps and Navy. As an advocate for music creatives, Andrae serves on the board of the Songwriters of North America (SONA) and the Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). Dr. Alexander has over 20 years of music industry experience and implements strategies to ensure that the next generation of music creatives are able to have access to resources that assist them in creating the songs that act as the soundtracks to our lives.
Caitlin Begg
Founder, Authentic Social and Sociologist
Caitlin Begg is the founder of Authentic Social and a sociologist. Authentic Social is a NYC-based applied research lab at the intersection of sociology and technology. Since her undergraduate Harvard sociology thesis in 2016, she has spent the last decade researching how digital communication reshapes human interaction. Caitlin speaks around the U.S. and Europe, presenting her work at venues ranging from the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting to World Summit AI in Amsterdam. She is also the host of the Progression to Analog podcast.
Wilson Moyer
Mechanical Engineering Student at Princeton
Wilson Moyer is a student at Princeton University with enthusiasm for creativity, community, and engineering. Wilson has worked for the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is part of the Robotics club and project lead for Engineers Without Borders club on campus. In his free time, Wilson enjoys hiking in nature, reading, and making creative projects and gifts for his friends and family.
Aaron Landsman
Artist, Researcher, Teacher
Based in New York City, Aaron Landsman is an artist who makes performances, records, working groups, curricula and, currently, a card game. His work has been presented in the US, UK and Europe. He is a recent Guggenheim Fellow and Creative Capital Awardee. His book The City We Make Together, co-authored with Mallory Catlett was published by the University of Iowa Press. He is the instigator of Perfect City, a working group and network at the intersection of live performance, urban planning and civic innovation. Aaron is a Lecturer at Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts.
Catherine Marie Mellett Felix
Student at Princeton University
Marie Felix is a Mexican international student from Oaxaca at Princeton University. Currently studying economic development with a minor in Finance, her work has focused on financial education through the Girley App and Economic Policy through her roles as a Representative in the Mexican Consulate in New York and Princeton’s Economic Policy Association. Outside the classroom, Marie is part of the Lightweight Rowing team, the Daily Princetonian Podcast, Women in Economics and DEI committee at Princeton University.
Matthew Sierra
Student at Princeton University
Matthew was born and raised in Queens, New York, and he’s the proud son of Honduran immigrants. He’s a freshman studying math and physics. He was first exposed to jazz, the topic of his TEDx talk, after his mother forced him to start playing guitar in 8th grade (he says it’s one of the best things she could have ever done). Besides playing music, he also enjoys going on Wikipedia rabbit holes, appreciating people’s handwriting, optimizing his Banagrams gameplay, and making double entendres.
Parastoo Abtahi
From Perceptual Illusions to Beyond-Real Interactions in Extended Reality
Parastoo Abtahi is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. She leads Princeton’s Situated Interactions Lab (Ψ Lab), which explores virtual and augmented reality interactions grounded in human perception and cognition. Before joining Princeton, Parastoo was a visiting research scientist at Meta Reality Labs Research. She received her PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University, where she was a Gerald J. Lieberman Fellow, and her bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Alex Tseng
Energy Systems Engineer
Alex Tseng is a senior studying Electrical and Computer Engineering and is motivated by problems in decarbonization, energy affordability, and electric grid operation. His published research focuses on machine learning and optimization for improved grid control, which he is hoping to implement as founder and president of WattOur, an early-stage company providing intelligent grid services. Outside of academics, he enjoy piano, tennis, running, ceramics, and giving Orange Key tours. Next year, he will be studying global affairs at Tsinghua University as a Schwarzman Scholar.
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