The What If...? Conference (SD‪)‬ The What If...? LLC

Looking to her great grand uncle, Sarah Caldicott explains some of the thinking processes Thomas Edison used that could help us think more creatively. Part of this, is how Edison brought his teams together with a "Midnight Lunch". These lunches were informal gatherings where coworkers would learn from each other, think up new ideas, and even sing songs. Sarah Miller Caldicott is an innovation process expert. Sarah works with organizations that want to bring innovation to the center of their business practices, driving new levels of growth and relevance. A great grandniece of Thomas Edison, Sarah is a highly sought after content developer and speaker on the subjects of innovation and collaboration. Sarah offers consulting services that enable today's organizations to tap the brilliance of Thomas Edison's Five Competencies of Innovation and his Four Phases of True Collaboration. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Fast Company, and on CNBC as well as PBS. She currently writes on innovation for Forbes.com, and was named a Top 50 Innovation Tweeter in 2013 by InnovationExcellence.com.

By using things found in many kitchens, Dr. Katti creates nanoparticals on stage. An outstanding leader with sustained international acclaims for his work in biomedical sciences, Kattesh V. Katti is the first immigrant American to receive the Sate of Missouri's highest civilian honor of 'Outstanding Missourian' award from the Governor of Missouri State in recognition of his contributions in Nanomedicine and Green Nanotechnology. For his stellar scientific contributions and ground breaking inventions in chemical, green nanotechnological and nano-
biomedical sciences, which have made transformative differences in cancer diagnostics and therapy, Dr. Katti has been awarded a number of international awards and citations which include: one of the '25 Most Influential Scientists In Molecular Imaging in the World' award by RT Image, the 'Father of Green Nanotechnology' citation by the Nobel Prize Winner Norman Borlaug, Gauss Professorship from the Gottingen Academy of Sciences, 'Outstanding Scientists Fellows' award and induction as a Fellow of the Academy of Science, St Louis - one of the oldest scientific academies of the world and many more. In 2013, Dr. Katti was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science with a citation "for distinguished contributions encompassing main group, transition metal and nanoscale chemistry, particularly for ground breaking discoveries enabling application of chemical concepts for biomedical applications" (SCIENCE : 30 NOVEMBER 2012, VOL 338, ISSUE 6111, PAGES 1117-1248). His unprecedented discovery of the production of tumor specific gold nanoparticles through 100% green processes have been cited as the Editor's choice in Nature, Future Medicine, in Science (AAAS), in Popular Science, by the Discovery Channel and have been highlighted in scientific/medical programs of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, London).

Each day, decisions are made that change the course of human events. Some few of these decisions have made us an Earthbound species for far longer than we could have been. In this stimulating retrospectacle, Shane Kincaid will show how America could have made space its playground in the last decades of the twentieth century, and will muse about the fantastical worlds humans might stride upon today, had some decisions been made differently. Having completed his Religious Studies and Philosophy majors, and graduating from Westminster College this May, Shane is almost wholly unsure what he's going to do with his life, but he has a few ideas. He wants to be a writer of fiction, perhaps of some acclaim. He also wants to enact his passions, such as space exploration and human compassion, upon the world. In this befuddled context you may find his What If...? question: what if space were America's playground?

To probe humanity's greatest trait, we must first turn to the most creative of us all- the writers and musicians and children whose thoughts race too fast for their forming mouths. This What If...? ponders whether we could exhume the soul of adults who have lost the ability to create with such a reckless abandon- or if we never needed to.
Sloane's entire life philosophy revolves around living bravely, often followed by some form of consequence. When not being a miscreant, she can be found playing her cello, getting far too into Charles Bukowski, or wandering woodlands.

What would happen if every collage student took a course in entrepreneurship? Would we have more business people? Would less-traditionally "business people" step into a new way of being? What are the upsides? Sara Cochran uses her own research to answer. Sara Cochran is a Higher Education PhD student in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri where she focuses her research on entrepreneurship education. Additionally, Sara is the Proprietor of Treehouse Treasures, an online boutique offering eco-friendly baby and children's items at www.TreehouseTreasures.net. Sara holds both an M.A. in Communications and a B.A. in accounting from Drury University and previously worked as the Assistant Director of the Edward Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at Drury where she still serves as an adjunct instructor. In the Columbia community, Sara serves on the #BOOM Task Force and is involved with the Columbia Chamber of Commerce through Emerging Professionals in Columbia and the Women's Network.

Our gender boundaries also create mental boundaries. How could we mix that up? What would happen if we thought more about, and through, gender? As a kid Sam got really good at asking supremely annoying questions (like Why do we use forks?), which her parents mostly entertained. She turned this curiosity into an anthropology degree from Westminster, along with sociology and Spanish. Sam likes to travel and has lived in 3 foreign countries for extended periods, giving her the opportunity to feel enough like an outsider to examine American culture in all its weirdness. Her other interests include dollar pint night at McNally's, yoga, watching movies, and smashing the patriarchy.