The fourth annual TEDxPSU conference will bring together leading thinkers and innovators in the community for a one day speaker series starting at 10 a.m. today. We’ll be blogging throughout the day from Schwab Auditorium, so check back for updates. Here’s the full list of speakers expected today.

Live Stream

Live Blog

5:28 That’s all from TEDxPSU 2014! Another great success, put on by Penn State students. We’ll see you at TEDxPSU 2015!

5:24 p.m. We’re hearing some final words from TEDxPSU curator Nick Sikoutris. He’s invited the past three curators onto the stage, along with the 20+ volunteers and executive team.

5:07 p.m. These guys are awesome.

4:55 p.m. That’s it for speakers at TEDxPSU 2014! Stay tuned for a performance by City of the Sun.

4:52 p.m. “Language is a signifier, and if we think and speak in terms of death, we’re experiencing a figurative death every day.

4:42 p.m. Dr. Jeanine Staples begins her talk morbidly by saying “I have some terrible news. You are in danger. You’re going to die…and I can teach you how to die peacefully.”

4:32 pm. Longtime teacher Rita Pierson is the next video. She passed away only months after her video was shot.

4:31 p.m. Applequist finishes, “I remind my students — you are one out of 40,000 here. You are a person, you are an individual, you are unique. Find your one moment and share it with the world.”

4:29 p.m. Penn State graduate and instructor Janelle Applequist is speaking now about traumatic brain injuries. When she was 13, she suffered an injury herself and had to have brain surgery.

“The first memory I had when I woke up from my surgery…was [seeing my family]. I knew then that I was loved and that I would get through this…for me, this really isn’t a TED talk, this is my life.”

“My moment didn’t mean that my life was over, and that’s what I need you to know today.”

4:23 p.m. Dell O’Brien talks about what losing means to her — “Losing never felt so good,” she said of winning a bronze medal in rowing in the 2012 Olympics (the first time the United States placed in the event).

“I spent a lot of time in a losing position, but man did I love it. I found my passion. When you find your passion, failure only makes you want to continue doing it.”

“We’re all losers. We all lose more than we win. But it’s okay because it gives us perspective.”

4:20 p.m. Dell O’Brien is showing off some of her high school ribbons on the screen.

“I went out to our schools track meet, and I was feeling good. I was feeling fast…And I went out there-and won everything.”

4:16 p.m. 2012 Olympic Bronze Medalist and Penn State graduate Natalie Dell O’Brien is up next.

4:03 p.m. The next video is from Ron Finley, an urban gardener from Los Angeles.

“Plant some shit!”

4:00 p.m. Dr. Puts has everyone focused in on his graphs explaining women’s preferences on male voice, body, odor, etc.

“I said I’d end on orgasm…I just wanted to say that I’m for it, pro-orgasm.”

3:48 p.m. Dr. David A Puts is here to talk about sex — or rather, “the evolution of human mating.” He has promised his talk will end with the word “orgasm.” We shall see.

3:35 p.m. We’re back for the third and final session. Dr. Bob Davis is up first, talking about he inefficiency of the light bulb.

“More rapid changes in lighting have occurred in the past 20 years than in the preceding 100 years.”

2:55 p.m. Hogan is definitely one of the favorites of the night, winning over the crowd with his singing ability and the explanation of his passion for music — despite occasional unemployment and the stress involved with constant auditioning.

2:50 p.m. Recent graduate Jim Hogan is now singing on stage, reenact info various short auditions he’s had in New York City. You could say he “can sing high.”

“In New York City, auditioning is a lifestyle. It’s a full-time job.”

2:35 p.m. Miller says there has been a “chief explosion” as far as the business title goes. He recounted an incident where he was sitting next it the AT&T CEO and came to the realization that they weren’t all that different.

“A real chief is someone who makes the choice to connect what they do to who they are.”

“We can never assume that someone who is less fortunate…are not less able to be chief.”

2:30 p.m. Business executive Rick Miller starts his TED talk about how “chiefs” are in charge of helping others and questioning the strict definition of the word.

2:16 p.m. Smeal professor John Jordan is up next and begins by talking about the sophistication of robots, specifically false layman perception.

“Mass market science fiction announced and described and created a technology before it was a reality…the time has come to talk seriously about robots and forget the science fiction.”

2:02 pm. Body Varty is the first TED video of session two, which he dedicated to Nelson Mandella.

2:00 p.m. Geologist Liz Hajek is next to talk about the earth, specifically rocks. She is discussing how earth landscapes evolve and develop because of rock deposits.

“When we go to landscapes like this, with stacked rocks, we can recreate what the landscape would have looked like.”

1:42 p.m. Dr. Matt Lamb kicks off the second session this afternoon. Lamb studies the art of parkour — basically, getting one place to another as fast as possible (such as climbing up walls).

“Just as you develop your body in parkour, you develop your mind. There’s a very spiritual component of parkour.”

1:33 p.m. We’re back for session two! Stay tuned this afternoon for the next round of speakers.

11:44 a.m. Cham Lim ends his talk by emphasizing the need for empathy in the creative process. There will be about a 90 minute lunch break as session one concludes here at TEDxPSU.

“Making was going through the process with enough humility to admit that you do not know and having enough confidence to not let anyone convince you that you’re crazy.”

11:40 a.m. Author Seung Chan Lim, aka “Slim,” is on now, taking about the creative process and his experience at art school.

11:20 a.m. Here’s the next TED video from Chimamanda Adichie.

11:18 a.m. Russell spoke on how to cultivate your creative being.

“Your individual stories are the key to knowing who you are in the system of energy that surrounds you. I promise, in order to find out what you want, you have to dream.”

11:12 a.m. Penn State laureate Susan Russell is next and her acting background is showing as she captivates the audience with great speaking abilities.

“I am dismissed up and down because I’m a woman…because I’m gay. When people dismiss you, things start to get complicated.”

11:00 a.m. Tennessen is trying to answer the question, “What is the university of life?” — specifically, where are the best communities to cultivate ideas and sharing.

“It doesn’t matter where you live, how much money you have, or how many followers you have on Twitter…we can turn our home into a University of Life.”

“Gadgets come and go, but Universities of Life are built by us to build the communities and the world we want.”

10:52 a.m. We’re hearing now from Travis Tennessen, the Executive Director of Sarvodaya USA.

10:42 a.m. Part of any TEDx conference are the videos of previous TED talks played on the screen in between live talks. Maysoon Zayid was the first this year (from Dec. 2013), who gave a good-spirited account of what it’s like to live with cerebral palsy.

10:36 a.m. Collins discussed her developments for a “behavioral intervention” with smokers. The stated goal was reducing smoking to 12% of the adult population by the year 2012.

“If we engineer affective behavioral interventions…they will become more effective, more efficient, and more cost effective.”

10:28 a.m. Dr. Linda M Collins is up next, and the topic is smoking. As a Human Development & Family Studies professor, Collins is well versed in the adverse effects of smoking and the dynamic of addiction.

10:17 a.m. After coming out on stage in a red bathrobe, co.space CEO Spud Marshall spoke about how to have meaningful conversations (the bathrobe implying that many important conversations happen over the breakfast table or at home).

“We obsessively count how many twitter followers and Facebook friends we have, but have you counted how many people can you confide in?…If you want to have conversations that matter, surround yourself with people who do too.”

10:04 a.m. Curator Nick Sikoutris and host Rob Andrejewski getting things kicked off for the fourth annual TEDxPSU conference. Stay tuned all day for updates!