2018 TEDXUCLA on Altruism & Eudaimonia Awards

Featured 2018 Eudaimonia Awardee Speaker

Dr. Peter Whybrow

Dr. Peter Whybrow is a Distinguished Professor and Executive Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and CEO of the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA. Dr. Whybrow has spent much of his scholarly career focusing on how we make meaning, purpose, and happiness in contemporary societies and cultures. His two most recent books (American Mania: When More is Not Enough and The Well Tuned Brain: Neuroscience and the Life Well-Lived) focus on the importance of currying peace and purpose in an increasingly bewildering, technologically obsessed culture. Perhaps most important, The Well-Tuned Brain offers a clear call to action that emphasizes the critical value of social connectedness, and purpose-driven action towards long-term goals that are the hallmarks of Eudaimonic wellbeing.

Awardee

Louis Tse

Louis Tse is a 2016 UCLA alumni of the Mechanical Engineering PHD program. In order to fulfill his desire to provide shelter for students at UCLA experiencing homelessness, Louis Tse lived out of his car so he could use his rent money to establish Bruin Shelter, which launched in fall 2016. Bruin Shelter is the first shelter in the nation that is completely student run and exclusively for individuals pursuing a degree in higher education. As a student, Louis dedicated his free time to building community on the UCLA campus, forging partnerships between student organizations such as Swipe Out Hunger and building connections with students in the Fielding School of Public Health, so the shelter could become a safe haven for 10-12 students per quarter. While also working as a thermal engineer at NASA, Louis remains actively involved in Bruin Shelter as the Executive Director, working to expand the facility to accommodate more students and build the pool of resources needed to sustain its growth. Inspired by a lifetime of volunteering, Louis represents a blend of Bruin optimism and innovation.