CMU students, faculty, alumni share their 'Navigating the Unknown' experiences at TEDx talks
CMU hosts second TEDx event
Angle Bush, founder of Black Women in Artificial Intelligence and CMU alumna, describes common fears people have regarding AI at the 2025 TEDx Central Michigan University event held in French Auditorium, on the campus of Central Michigan University, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (CM Life | Cristin Coppess)
Camera crews fretted around Central Michigan University’s French Auditorium Saturday, setting up teleprompters and preparing for the livestream. On-deck speakers ran through their speech introductions as their microphones were checked before the event started. Eager audience members socialized as they waited for the TEDx CMU event to begin.
The atmosphere calmed as lights dimmed and the slow instrumental music cut off. Carolina Hernandez Ruiz entered and planted herself on the big red dot that marked center stage.
“Welcome to TEDx Central Michigan University,” announced Hernandez Ruiz, the lead organizer and emcee of the event. “This is an amazing opportunity to highlight speakers from our community and broadcast them all over the world.”
The event sold out, with about 70 people in attendance and more watching online. CMU’s newly formed Division of University Engagement and Student Affairs and the Student Government Association were the primary sponsors.
Exploring the theme “Navigating the Unknown,” each talk covered a wide range of topics, varying from the science of early cancer screenings to postpartum depression.
The featured speakers (in order of appearance) and chosen topics were:
- “How to Raise a Kid (without more screen time)” by CMU Alumnus Dillon Barr
- “Your DNA can tell you your risk for cancer - can you afford to listen?” by second year CMU medical student Madison Miller
- “The Gift of Goodbye, Growing through Grieving” by CMU student Holly Caldwell
- “Ogchidaa - Way of the Warrior” by CMU Alumnus Mike McCreery
- “Trapped in an Untamed Mind” by CMU Student Kelly Lett
- “Paralyzed by Motherhood: Navigating Life through Postpartum Depression” by CMU Graphic Design Professor Annie Peters
- “Navigating the Unknown of AI” by Founder of Black Women in AI CMU Alumna Angle Bush
- “Fail Forward Through Fear” - Former NFL player and CMU Alumnus Jacob Brown
Ameer Hicks, CMU student and the event’s head of speaker curation, said that the planning committee went through a painstaking process as they developed the speaker list. He said that narrowing down the 70-person applicant pool was a challenge, as there were only eight spots available.
“Our main focus was to see who was really grasping the theme the most,” Hicks said. “We are ‘Navigating the Unknown’ this year. Going off of today’s environment, there’s so many things we don’t know about that a lot of us feel unprepared for.
"This is us stepping into that reality, and hearing about how we all have shared experiences stepping into that unknown.”
Each speaker tied the theme of “Navigating the Unknown” into their experiences, sharing their stories with the audience and online viewers.
Bush, founder of Black Women in Artificial Intelligence and CMU alumna, discussed the attitude people hold toward AI and her journey establishing herself in the field of AI.
"I implore you to be afraid," Bush said to the audience. "Anytime something has the power to reshape the way that we live, the way that we work and the way that we govern, it deserves our attention and our caution. Be afraid, because artificial intelligence is doing that every single day."
She said that starting from a point of fear puts people in a position to educate themselves.
"Fear can be useful because it wakes us up," Bush said. "Fear can be useful because it causes us to ask questions and continue to ask better questions. And then it causes us to move forward. Fear takes us to awareness."
Bush emphazised that people do not need to be experts to understand the implications AI can have and that gaining awareness does not require a title, or permission. She encouraged the audience to settle into their fear and get curious, because doing so is what helped her gain a position of power as a Black woman in the field of AI.
Another speaker, sophomore Holly Caldwell, shared her experiences dealing with grief as a teenager and young adult. She said she always wanted to do a TED talk, but finding a topic to discuss was challenging.
“I didn’t have a set topic that I wanted to talk about,” Caldwell said. “I initially was going to talk about navigating greenwashing, but I didn’t know how to make people relate to it.”
Caldwell said her journey to giving her TED talk was difficult. For about a month and a half, she struggled to find the right words that would make her message stick to the hearts of the audience.
After a lot of trial and error, Caldwell said that Hicks encouraged her to be vulnerable and tell her and her family’s story of grief, loss and estrangement after her father's death.
“He helped me find a way to talk about grief and loss in a way that other people could connect to, and understand that what they’re feeling is normal,” Caldwell said. “Grief and loss are something we all experience, and we’re pressured to go through it as quickly as we can. The truth is you don’t just go back to normal after a significant loss. It completely changes your outlook on everything.”
Caldwell said her experiences dealing with grief alongside other mental health issues helped her research the psychology of grief and how it affects human beings. Through her preparation, she learned about the concept of complex grief and in doing so was able to move forward in her own healing process.
“I certainly went through a bit of a rough patch while writing,” she said. “But I feel like it has been a really good part of the healing process for me. Part of healing is telling your story and sharing what you’ve gone through with others.”
During her time on stage, Caldwell recounted the experience of losing her father in several ways: First, in a devastating car accident that left him severely physically and cognitively impaired, and later his death from cancer.
She shared her own struggle with grief, detailing how different stages of the grieving process affected her mental health. Additionally, she discussed the science behind ambiguous, complex and traumatic grief and the stages in which they manifest.
Caldwell said she hopes that those who heard her speak know they are not alone in their loss. She said that there are many kinds of grief, and she hopes the audience can now put a name to their struggles.
As she wrapped up her TEDx talk, Caldwell encouraged the audience to lean on support systems including family, friends and medical professionals to help support them as they deal with their grief.
“I want people to understand that they are not isolated in their experience,” Caldwell said. “It’s a universal experience we all go through. But there are ways to go through it healthily, and even if they haven’t gone through it healthily in the past, there are always opportunities to go through it in a healthy way in the future.”
