Home Professional Development King Talks King Talks Rackham’s annual King Talks are TED-style talks echoing the theme of U-M’s MLK Symposium. Through this program, Rackham students publicly communicate the relevance of their research to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. 2025 Rackham King Talks On Thursday, January 30, the 2025 King Talks featured six Rackham students communicating the relevance of their work to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in a TED-talk style. As always, the King Talks relate to the theme of the U-M MLK Symposium, which this year is “Restless Dissatisfaction: An Urgent Call for the Pursuit of Justice and Equality.” Nha Tran Challenging the Prescribing Culture Sachi Patil Catalytic Girlhood Kiana Cook Hip Hop: A Transformative Culture Gabrielle Tanksley The Fly in the Room: On Equitable Learning Environments and Radical Change Mahnoor Naseer Gondal Mentorship Matters: Nurturing the Next Generation of Women in Science through Power of Choice Jaedyn Medrano Decentering White Environmentalism in Higher Education Apply to Present In this annual event, Rackham students present TED-style overviews of their research, echoing the theme of that year’s U-M MLK Symposium in order to honor the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students are encouraged to apply to present, and those students who are selected receive an honorarium. Eligibility To be eligible to participate, students must: Be a graduate student in a Rackham program Have a passion for spreading their message Be available for training and feedback sessions with Rackham staff Applications open in early fall and are reviewed electronically through a double-blind review process. Decisions are shared by early November. 2024 Rackham King Talks The 2024 Rackham King Talks took place on Thursday, January 25. The talks featured seven Rackham students communicating the relevance of their work to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in a TED-talk style. As always, the King Talks related to the theme of the U-M MLK Symposium, which was “Transforming the Jangling Discords of Our Nation into a Beautiful Symphony.” Kati Lebioda Doing “With” in Participatory Research Gabrielle Young The Rhythm of Change Iris Yuning Ye What Makes You Curious About That Exchange Student? Julianne Armijo What It’s Like to Be a Nurse Living with Bipolar Disorder Julianna Loera-Wiggins Our Laughter Is a Symphony Penny (Panagiota) Kitsopoulos Designing Justice Amna Rizvi-Toner More Than Skin Deep: Racism in Health Care 2023 Rackham King Talks The 2023 Rackham King Talks were held on Thursday, January 26. The theme for the 2023 MLK Symposium was: “The (R)evolution of MLK: From Segregation to Elevation.” Ernesta Cole Indigenous Languages in Sierra Leone: A Comparison with English Jonathan Garon The Myth of Time: Dr. King, Rabbi Heschel, and Humanity’s Eternal Struggle Alanna Hurd Toward Radical Imagination: Dreaming a More Beautiful Education System O Hwang Kwon Which Would Be the Successor of Fossil Fuels—Renewables or Nuclear? Onyinye Nwankwo Breaking Barriers: Evolution in Thoughts about Space Sciences Charles Phillips Teaching Mathematics: Revolution Sparked by Inspiration 2022 Rackham King Talks The 2022 Rackham King Talks were held on January 26, 2022. Rackham students communicated the relevance of their work to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in a TED-talk style. The theme for the 2022 MLK Symposium was: “This is America.” Sarah Burch Black Excellence Is Exhausting Leesi George-Komi Cultural Reckoning: Anxiety, Racism, and Moving Ahead Michelle Marin How Our Physical Spaces Demonize and Criminalize the Poor A’zia Harris-Martin The Story of Health Disparities (Equity) in America Chiamaka Ukachukwu I, Too, Am America Kierstyn Worthem The American Bias 2021 Rackham King Talks The 2021 Rackham King Talks were held January 28, 2020, via Zoom. This year’s MLK Symposium theme was “Where do we go from here?” Watch the videos below, in which Rackham students communicate the relevance of their work to this theme and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy in a TED-talk style. Raymond Asare Redefining Celebrity Culture: The True Influencers Yvonne Garcia Interrogating Ourselves through Our Knowledge Systems Brittany B. Hicks Water Stories: Understanding Racial Gaps in Water Quality Perceptions Alondra M. Ortiz-Ortiz Behind the Stormcloud Najwat Rehman Can Design Help Us Get Out of the Mess It Helped Create? 2020 Rackham King Talks The theme for 2020 was “The (Mis)Education of US.” Colleen Clark No Time Like the Present: Designing Real-Time Support for Novice Teachers Chloe Luyet How Antibiotics Have Failed Us: The Food Industry’s Role in a Global Epidemic Bassam Sidiki (Post)Colonial Aphasia: America’s Imperial Miseducation Maria C. Virgilio Hear Me Out Aya M. Waller-Bey No Pain, No Gain: Sharing Trauma to Get In Michole Washington The (Mis)Calculation of US 2019 Rackham King Talks The theme for 2019 was “Unravel.” Kavitha Lobo Care Not Cure: The Benefits of Deinstitutionalizing Mental Health Care Shannon Moran Be the Mentor You Wish You’d Had Steven M. Smith Our Most Valuable Things: Connecting with Each Other, and the Time We Have Aunrika Tucker-Shabazz Fighting the Hidden Fees: Unraveling Disciplinary Disparities in Public School Punishment of Young Black Girls 2018 Rackham King Talks The theme for 2018 was “The Fierce Urgency of Now.” Dominic Bednar Blackout: America’s Hidden Energy Crisis Garima Malhotra Skirts & STEM Gautam Nagaraj How to Save the World: A 3 Step Plan Melvin P. Washington II Same Sheep, Different Day: Towards a More Transformative Policy Framework for Strengthening America’s Black Communities Jana Wilbricht Information, Health, and Social Justice — The Example of Rural U.S. Indigenous Communities
Mahnoor Naseer Gondal Mentorship Matters: Nurturing the Next Generation of Women in Science through Power of Choice
Aunrika Tucker-Shabazz Fighting the Hidden Fees: Unraveling Disciplinary Disparities in Public School Punishment of Young Black Girls
Melvin P. Washington II Same Sheep, Different Day: Towards a More Transformative Policy Framework for Strengthening America’s Black Communities
Jana Wilbricht Information, Health, and Social Justice — The Example of Rural U.S. Indigenous Communities
