Agents of change in education: Dr. Vince Gutschick at TEDxElPaso

Vincent P. Gutschick is a Chicago-born husband, father, and scientist who decided to become a chemist at age 8...which he did, via a B.S. from Notre Dame ('66) and a Ph. D. from Caltech ('71/'72). Migrating in his career through Berkeley, Yale, Los Alamos labs, and NMSU, he retired early in 2008 to start a small scientific consulting firm, and, mostly, to help his wife, Dr. Lou Ellen Kay (Ph. D., Biology, CUNY, '84) start and run a novel non-profit, independent, non-sectarian school, the Las Cruces Academy. Vince and Lou Ellen's son, David, another Caltech grad (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, '08) joined the effort and helps from Ohio State University -- it's a family passion...now shared with many parents and students.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)