Dr. Sam Richards is an award-winning sociologist, speaker, and Teaching Professor at Penn State University and a Distinguished Professor at Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. With 800 students each semester and a 35-year legacy, his SOC 119 course was the subject of an Emmy Award winning television broadcast called, “You Can’t Say That.” Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon (EST), his class is live streamed to 500,000 subscribers from over 200 countries on the class YouTube channel. Sam’s videos have generated close to ONE billion views, making SOC 119 “the most widely recognized classroom in the world.” He considers himself an academic generalist who thinks about a wide range of local and global issues. Arguing that empathy is the core of sociology, his "Radical Experiment in Empathy" is one of the most widely viewed TEDx talks online. As the Co-founder at the World in Conversation Center for Public Diplomacy, Sam co-directed an innovative research project to develop a virtual cross-cultural dialogue tool for NATO military personnel and civilians in conflict zones. He has consulted a wide range of U.S.-based and international corporations and organizations about issues related to moral leadership, multicultural engagement, and, most recently, adapting to AI. Sam’s work has been covered by media outlets around the world.