TED Names 2011 TEDGlobal Fellows

NEW YORK, June 7, 2011 -

- Mobile Commerce Innovator from Africa and Mental Health Activist from
Bulgaria Among 20 Members of 2011 TEDGlobal Fellows Class

- TED to begin accepting applications for next class of TED Fellows on.
June 13

TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, announces today 20
new members of 2011's TEDGlobal Fellows class. Founded in 2009, the TED
Fellows program handpicks world-changing innovators from around the globe,
and brings them to the TED stage — literally and figuratively — to raise
international awareness of their remarkable work.

"I couldn't be more excited about our latest class of exceptionally
talented women and men, mavericks from all over the world who embody the
fellowship's commitment to diverse pursuits and geographies," said Tom
Rielly, the founder and director of the TED Fellows program. "And we know the
program works. After the first two and a half years, we are thrilled to
witness the Fellows' post-conference transformation and accomplishment."

This year's Fellows hail from Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, China,
Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, Poland, Rwanda,
Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, the UK and the US. The group includes
the founder of SlimTrader, the first platform in Africa allowing consumers to
shop for goods and services with their mobile devices; an investigative
journalist working to expose the inhumane treatment of children and adults
with disabilities and mental illness in the Balkans; and a Jordanian social
media entrepreneur who is creating comics, animation, and games for the
Middle East. See full list of the 2011 TEDGlobal Fellows below. For complete
program information, please visit: www.ted.com/fellows.

All TED Fellows participate as full members of 2011's annual TEDGlobal
Conference in its new home in Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as a three-day
pre-conference event where they collaborate with their peers, learn new
skills and deliver their own TEDTalks. The Fellows will continue to actively
participate in the TED community throughout the year, telling their ongoing
stories on the TED Fellows blog, contributing to TEDx events, receiving 1:1
professional coaching being featured in the online Fellows directory and
participating in a private TED social network.

On June 13, TED will begin accepting submissions for the next round of
TED Fellows www.ted.com/fellows/appy. The Fellows program seeks
individuals of age 21-50 (though anyone over age 18 is eligible) who
demonstrate remarkable achievement in their field of endeavor. The program
focuses on candidates from six regions: Asia/Pacific, Africa, the Caribbean,
Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, though candidates from
all regions are welcome.

The TED Fellows program is made possible by the visionary support of the
Bezos family, the Harnisch Foundation, the Dhanam Foundation, the Kitchen
Table Foundation and the Case Foundation among other donors.

Connect with TED Fellows at fellows [AT] ted [DOT] com, Twitter:
@tedfellow, Facebook: facebook.com/TEDFellow, YouTube:
youtube.com/tedfellowstalks, and ted.com/tedfellows.

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started
as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support
those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED
Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18
minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers
have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir
Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED
Conference takes place each spring in Long Beach, California, along with the
TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each summer in
Edinburgh, Scotland.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted
daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and
interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be
translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize,
where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the
opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals
or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and
the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the
globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the
impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at
facebook.com/TED.

TEDGlobal 2011, "The Stuff of Life," will be held July 11-15, 2011, in
Edinburgh, Scotland. TED2012, "Full Spectrum," will be held February 27 -
March 2, 2012, in Long Beach, CA.

    TEDGlobal 2011 Fellows:
    -----------------------

    Manuel Aguilar (Guatemala) - Energy entrepreneur
    Founder of Quetsol, an organization meeting the energy needs of the
    Guatemalan people with appropriate tech solutions.

    Femi Akinde (Nigeria | US) - Mobile commerce innovator
    Founder of SlimTrader, the first platform in Africa allowing
    consumers to shop for goods and services via their mobile phones
    through text.

    Suleiman Bakhit (Jordan) - Comic creator + social media entrepreneur
    Jordanian social media entrepreneur creating comics, animation, and
    games for the Middle East.

    Yana Buhrer Tavanier (Bulgaria) - Mental health activist
    Investigative journalist working to expose the inhumane treatment of
    children and adults with disabilities and mental illness in the
    Balkans.

    Monika Bulaj (Poland | Italy) - Photo documentarian
    Photographer + documentarian telling the stories of people and places
    in conflict.

    Bilge M. Demirkoz (Turkey | Switzerland) - Particle physicist +
    educator
    Particle physicist + educator currently working at CERN on the ATLAS
    experiment, looking for new physics.

    Julie Freeman (UK) - Tech artist
    UK based artist combining science, technology, and natural systems,
    in order to create work that "translates" nature.

    Jose Gomez-Marquez (Honduras | US) Medical device designer
    Director of the IIH (Innovations in International Health) Lab at MIT,
    inventing and deploying medical technology for global health.

    Lars Jan (US) - Transmedia director
    US based media artist and founder of Early Morning Opera, a
    multidisciplinary art lab creating works about "America right now."

    Somi (Rwanda | Uganda | US) - Singer + cultural activist
    East African soul-jazz vocalist + songwriter and founder of New
    Africa Live.

    Christine Lee (US | China) - Bio-archeologist
    American bio-archeologist working to uncover and better understand
    Mongolia's and China's ancient civilizations.

    Jae Rhim Lee (US) - Scientific artist
    Founder of the Infinity Burial Project, a project developing a unique
    strain of mushroom that decomposes and remediates toxins in human
    tissue.

    Jon Lowenstein (US) - Documentary Photographer
    Photographer specializing in long-term, in-depth projects around
    power, poverty, and violence -- also working to create a
    foundation committed to social justice through visual communication.

    Sonaar Luthra (US) - Water testing innovator
    Creator of Water Canary, a water-testing device that collects real-
    time water quality data from the field.

    Nathalie Miebach (US) - Weather artist
    Boston based artist using weather data to create sculptures and
    music.

    Serge Mouangue (Cameroon | Japan) - Cross cultural designer
    Tokyo based Cameroonian cross cultural artist + designer -- bringing
    both African and Japanese techniques into his work.

    Alex Odira Odundo (Kenya) - Agricultural machinist
    Kenyan inventor of the Sisal Decorticator, a device turning sisal
    plant into fibre, and the Sisal Twinner, a device turning sisal
    fibre into rope.

    Genevieve von Petzinger (Canada) - Cave art researcher
    Canadian doctoral student studying ancient geometric signs from the
    Ice Age.

    Lucianne Walkowicz (US) - Stellar astronomer
    Postdoctoral Fellow studying the effects of stellar activity on
    exoplanets with the Kepler Mission.

    Jodie Wu (US | Tanzania) - Appropriate technologist
    Founder of Global Cycle Solutions, an organization developing and
    selling appropriate tech in the form of bicycle add-ons.

Contact: Ben Kellogg, Group SJR, bkellogg@groupsjr.com, +1-917-816-0831

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