TED Names 2011 Fellows, Senior Fellows

NEW YORK, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, announces today the 19 members of 2011's TED Fellows class. Founded in January 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. TED also announces today its 2011 Senior Fellows, 12 members chosen from last year's TED, TEDGlobal, and TEDIndia Fellows classes who have been invited to participate in the TED community for another two years.

"Our incoming Fellows and rising Senior Fellows are extraordinary people drawn from the widest spectrum of disciplines," said Tom Rielly, TED Fellows director. "And while each has already achieved so much in his or her respective fields – from music to science to the arts – all are now poised to spread their ideas on a global level. The Fellows program helps amplify the impact of each Fellow's eye-opening ideas, and we're thrilled to welcome these innovators to the TED community."

This year's Fellows hail from Austria, Canada, Cambodia, Chile, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, India, Iran, Jordan, Korea, New Zealand, Spain, Sri Lanka, UK and the US. The group includes a classical cellist "rock star" pushing the boundaries of the idiom; a primatologist who has made critical discoveries about adult bonobos in DR Congo; a nightclub behaviorist who studies the way music affects bar sales; and a sustainable fashion designer turned biologist who has devised a way to "grow" clothes out of bacteria.

All TED Fellows participate as full members of 2011's annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, as well as a two-day pre-conference event where they collaborate with their peers and deliver their own TEDTalks.  The Fellows will also participate actively in the TED community throughout 2011, telling their ongoing stories on the TED Fellows blog, contributing to TEDx events, being featured in the online Fellows directory and participating in a private TED social network.

This year's 12 Senior Fellows come from Bahrain, France, India, Iran, Japan, Pakistan, Palestine, the UK and the US. The group includes an ecological biologist studying the biota of indoor air, a virtuoso violinist who works with the severely mentally ill, a physicist engineering non-carbon-based life forms, and a dentist-turned-political activist in Pakistan. Senior Fellows attend four additional TED conferences (including both TED and TEDGlobal), participate in four Senior Fellows pre-conference events, and have the chance to deliver a talk on one of the TED stages, and have that talk posted on TED.com.

On January 17, TED will begin accepting submissions for the next round of TED Fellows here. 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 five regions: Asia/Pacific, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America 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 Case Foundation, private donors, IBM, and Johnny Walker.

See full list of 2011 Fellows and Senior Fellows below. For complete bios, please visit: www.ted.com/fellows

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 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 http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED.

TED2011, "The Rediscovery of Wonder," will be held February 21-25, 2011, in Long Beach, California, along with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs, California. TEDGlobal 2011, "The Stuff of Life," will be held July 11-15, 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

SOURCE TED