The iCons Fall Workshop and Idea Slam is an annual event where industry and academic thought-leaders engage the iCons community and guests in discussions on a critical real-world issue. The theme of the event typically alternates between the iCons tracks: Biomedicine/Biosystems, Clean Energy, and Food-Water-Climate.
Upcoming Workshop:
Idea Slam ~ Topic TBD
Fall TBD
For more information about the iCons Idea Slam, please contact iCons at icons@cns.umass.edu.
Past Workshops:
- 2024 | Dr. Melissa Rotkiewicz (UMass Amherst Center for Counseling and Psychological Health) and Brian Pearson (Adventure East)
The Epidemic of Student Anxiety - 2023 | Cristian Blanco '03G and Yajaira Combariza '03G (BOTH: Department of Chemistry, Universidad Industrial de Santander and Nextcoa)
Solving the Problem of Unsustainable Chocolate Production - 2022 | Tricia Canavan (Tech Foundry), Laura Draucker (Ceres), Michael Fogwill (Waters Corporation), and Anna Goldstein (Prime Coalition)
The Business of the Energy Transition - 2021 | Museum of Science, Boston
Should We Engineer the Mosquito? - 2020 | Christine Crago (UMass Resource Economics), Peter Green (National Renewable Energy Lab), and Lily Rajic (Elateq)
Social Justice in the Energy Transition - 2019 | Woody Sherman (ROIVANT)
Curing Cancer without Chemotherapy - 2018 | Krish Sharman (UMass Mechanical and Industrial Engineering)
Can a Blue Revolution supply a hungry world with food and energy? - 2017 | Jonathan Thon (Brigham and Women's Hospital)
What do you do when blood supplies run out? - 2016 | Dan Nocera (Harvard Chemistry)
How can you use solar energy when the sun isn’t shining? - 2015 | Jeff Karp (Harvard Medical School)
How can you repair a hole in the human body without using sutures? - 2014 | David O'Connor (ML Strategies), Carter Wall (FirstLight Power), and Mike Kearney (Ambri Inc.)
A Sustainable Blueprint on the Massachusetts Military Reservation - 2013 | Bob Langer (MIT)
The latest innovation developed in the Langer Lab at MIT - 2012 | Keith Hastie (U.S. Fish and Wildlife)
Energy development in New England - 2011 | Pam Silver (Harvard Medical School) and Bill Lee (Gilead)
From Biomedicine to Renewable Energy, how an interdisciplinary career can solve BIG problems