The future of universities is...: Dr. Jacob Leachman at TEDxWSU 2014

In this talk, Dr. Leachman discusses how many TED talks have demonstrated that the traditional model of academic lectures is rapidly being replaced by online tools. A natural question emerges of what will be the future of our billion dollar investment in the physical infrastructure of universities. As a former collegiate student athlete, Leachman views the student team model as a natural outcome of both technology advancement and student development. Many national prize and federal grant competitions have demonstrated this new future that leverages student and community motivation for advantage. He believes that collaborative and crowd sourced student efforts not only accomplish more research for less investment, but give students the real world experience and stories that cutting edge companies are looking for.

Bio- Jacob Leachman joined WSU in 2010 and established the Hydrogen Properties for Energy Research (HYPER) laboratory. His core emphasis on cryogenic hydrogen research crosses the traditional discipline boundaries of vehicular energy, nuclear energy, and aerospace vehicles. He won the Western Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Award in 2007 and the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award in 2012.

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)