Fellows

Emily Esfahani Smith

Bestselling author of The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters | Journalist

In times of great challenge, search for meaning, not happiness.

Edward Burtynsky

World-renowned photographer | Winner of the TED Prize

Photographs are the reflecting pools of our time.

Megan Phelps-Roper

Former Member of the Westboro Baptist Church | Author of Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church

We must extend empathy and compassion to the people who show us hostility and contempt.

Isabel Allende

Most Widely Read Spanish-Language Author Ever | Author of The House of the Spirits and The Wind Knows My Name | Winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Write what should not be forgotten.

Adam Alter

New York Times Bestselling Author of Drunk Tank Pink and Anatomy of a Breakthrough | NYU Marketing Professor

Many of the barriers you're facing are subjective. You can get unstuck—and unlock radical creativity, innovation, and teamwork.

Suki Kim

New York Times bestselling author of Without You, There Is No Us, Expert on North Korea

What can we learn from totalitarian regimes? And how can we connect with their human victims?

Martin Ford

New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Robots and Rule of the Robots

To adapt to machine learning, we'll need to come up with unprecedented solutions.

Angela Duckworth

Author of Grit, the #1 New York Times Bestseller | Pioneering Researcher on Grit, Perseverance, and the Science of Success

Grit, more than talent, IQ, looks, or wealth, is a powerful indicator of success.

Nathan Wolfe

Founder of Metabiota Risk Managment | Expert on COVID-19 and The Spread of Global Pandemics

The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone. Here’s what you need to know, and what’s next.

David Eagleman

One of the world’s foremost neuroscientists | Host of PBS’s The Brain | Host of Inner Cosmos, one of America's top ten podcasts

The AI future doesn't have to be a war, but a collaboration. As AI enhances our brains, we can unlock new realms of creativity.

Bill Strickland

An Extraordinary Business and Community Leader

Give people the tools they need, treat them with respect, and they will perform miraculous deeds.

LaToya Ruby Frazier

Award-winning photographer | Associate professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago | MacArthur Genius

Art is a weapon. Photos can change society—our view of ourselves and our communities.

Douglas Rushkoff

World-Renowned Thinker | Bestselling Author of Team Human, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Present Shock, and Survival of the Richest

We can be fully human in a world of technology.

Candy Chang

Urban space artist behind the "Before I Die" walls

With powerful public art, we can engage communities in real conversations.

Soraya Chemaly

Author of Rage Becomes Her | Award-winning journalist | Co-Founder and Director of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project

Our emotions aren't weaknesses. They're tools that we can use for greater personal and organizational success.

Titus Kaphar

2018 MacArthur Fellow | Author of Redaction | Award-Winning Painter and Sculptor

Art has the power to reframe our history—revealing the past we've lost and the future we're working towards.

Tom Wujec

World Renowned Expert on Innovation | Former Chief Disruptor at Autodesk | Author of The Future of Making

An era of continuous disruption is changing, forever, how we design, manufacture, and consume.

Eman Mohammed

Award-winning photojournalist | TED Senior Fellow

We need to bring the other’s side into focus to recognize our shared humanity.

Jessica Jackley

Co-Founder of Kiva, the microlending site, and Author of Clay Water Brick

The connection between two individuals is a powerful agent for social change.

Steven Pinker

One of the world's top public intellectuals | Author of Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why it Matters and Enlightenment Now | Harvard Professor

The world is getting better, not worse. The Enlightenment ideals of reason and science are a major reason why.

Jared Diamond

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and Upheaval

Nations and individuals share the same techniques to survive a crisis—and thrive beyond it.

Andrew Marantz

New Yorker Writer | Author of Antisocial

Social media is what we make it—here’s how we can use it to create a kinder, more imaginative world.

Salman Khan

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Khan Academy

AI won't destroy education. It'll save it.

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Creator of The 1619 Project | Executive Producer of The 1619 Project Hulu Docuseries | MacArthur Genius

There isn’t a beat you can cover in America—education, housing—where race is not a factor.

Annette Gordon-Reed

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of On Juneteenth | Harvard Law professor | MacArthur Genius

The legacy of Juneteenth, the holiday which marks the end of slavery, continues to influence us and our fight for racial justice today.

John Maeda

Microsoft VP of Design and Artificial Intelligence | Author of How to Speak Machine

Information is expanding—if we want to use it correctly, we need to represent it visually.

Ashton Applewhite

Anti-Ageism Activist | Author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism

Ageism is prejudice against our future selves. What if we were free of it?

Vijay Gupta

Founder of Street Symphony | 2018 MacArthur Genius | TED Senior Fellow

Music speaks to people—touches people—in ways words alone cannot.

Susan Pinker

Psychologist and Author of The Village Effect and The Sexual Paradox

Even in our digital world, human connection is the key to learning, happiness, resilience, and longevity.

Jer Thorp

Author of Living in Data | Former Library of Congress Innovator in Residence | Former NYT Data Artist-in-Residence

The future of data is about to be written—and it’s up to us to imagine a more just data democracy.