Biology

The second annual IdeaFestival®Bowling Green promises to be an outstanding event for those who celebrate ideas.

Dr. John All will deliver the keynote presentation When Preparation Meets Need – Lessons from the Himalaya on Achieving Success at IdeaFestival Bowling Green on March 20 at WKU’s Downing Student Union.

This one-day speaker series, set for March 20 at WKU’s Downing Student Union, features nine presentations split into three 90-minute sessions each with three 20-minute talks, and a keynote session that is also 90 minutes. Each session will end with a 15-minute Q&A panel discussion with all three speakers. The theme of Ideas, Innovation, Invention will be reflected in each of the presentations.

Keynote speaker John All, a WKU Geography associate professor, will headline IFBG 2015 with a presentation titled When Preparation Meets Need – Lessons from the Himalaya on Achieving Success. After surviving a fall down a 70-foot crevasse in the Himalayas last May, Dr. All will share how his planning allowed him to endure a perilous climb that he undertook with 15 broken bones (including six vertebrae), a right arm that was ripped out of the shoulder, and internal and external bleeding.

Starting off the day at IFBG 2015 will be session speakers Brian Gupton, Tim Earnhart and Ma’ayan Plaut.

• Gupton is the co-founder and executive director of Dataseam, a company that churns out 300 years of cancer research each week through 14,000 computers located in Kentucky classrooms. For students, these computers open up an exciting world of online possibilities; for Dataseam and the world at large, the computers represent one of the largest pipelines of potential new cancer drugs in the country. Gupton is presenting a talk titled Kids, Cancer, Computers: The Dataseam Story.
• Earnhart is the CEO and founder of Werkshop, a branding firm located in Bowling Green that is focused on crafting big ideas. With more than 20 years of experience, Earnhart consults with companies nationwide on their branding needs. He has a passion for branding big ideas that he’ll share in a presentation he’s titled Get Your Brand On! Why Building Effective Brands for Ideas and Innovations is Critical.
• Plaut works as the Social Strategy and Projects Manager at Oberlin College in Ohio. Plaut, originally from LaRue County, will be returning to Kentucky to discuss her passion for telling better stories in our social spaces during a presentation titled Make Content More Social.

The second session at IFBG 2015 will focus on the automotive industry and features Dave Tatman, Mitch Wright and Eric Millette.

• Tatman is the Associate Vice President for Automotive and Manufacturing at WKU and will deliver The Current Innovative Revolutions in the Automotive Industry. As the former plant manager for the Corvette Assembly Facility, Tatman will look at technological frontiers in today’s global automotive business.
• Wright is the general manager of NCM Motorsports Park. His talk, titled The Rate of Innovation in the Motorsports Industry, will detail the breakneck pace at which innovation moves and the speed with which new technologies must be developed in order to stay competitive.
• Millette, business manager of the body systems group at Bowling Green Corvette Assembly, will give the audience a behind-the-scenes look at the process of designing a new Corvette with his talk Design and Manufacturing Innovations in the Launch of the New Corvette Stingray.

The fourth session will follow Dr. All’s keynote presentation and include speakers Stephanie Pruitt, Michelle Howell, Justin Raque and Kyle O’Donnell.

• Pruitt is a self-described “Artrepreneur” and poet who resides in Nashville and offers a creative amplifier for ready-to-boom events or businesses. Her presentation is titled To Do or Not To Do: Intuition as an ARTrepreneurial Strategy and she will discuss five basic business “aha” moments that will help literary, visual and performing artists activate their roles in a creative ecosystem.
• Howell describes herself as a farmer, writer and community organizer. As one of the founding vendors of the Community Farmers Market in Bowling Green, Howell has a passion for connecting local food producers and consumers. During a talk called My Kentucky Food Story, she will share moments from her journey in the world of farming that are sure to connect with every member of the audience.
• Aspiring entrepreneurs will be drawn to the discussion that concludes IFBG 2015. Raque of JRaque Marketing and O’Donnell of Only Footprints will sit down for a collaborative Q&A session called Create Your Own Job and detail how they brought their ideas to life at the WKU Student Business Accelerator and created their own jobs.

Information on speakers, presentation descriptions, videos from IFBG 2014 and a link to buy tickets for IFBG 2015 can be found at www.ideafestivalbg.com.

In addition to the speakers, IFBG 2015 will feature supplementary events meant to stimulate the creativity of participants. Build something new in the Maker Mobile, hone your communication skills in pop-up improv activities between sessions, complete the mural curated by Nashville artist Andee Rudloff, and interact with artwork from Mark Whitley and Alex Lockwood.

Information on speakers, presentation descriptions, videos from IFBG 2014 and a link to buy tickets for IFBG 2015 can be found at www.ideafestivalbg.com. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for high school and middle school students. Thanks to a generous sponsorship, WKU students can attend IFBG 2015 free of charge by filling out the form at www.ideafestivalbg.com/wku-student-registration

School groups interested in attending IFBG 2015 should contact Josh Raymer via email at joshua.raymer@wku.edu or at (270) 745-3015.

Contact: Josh Raymer, (270) 745-3015