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Past Grand Seminars

headshot of Prof GatesFall 2024

How Quantum Gravity Became an Arena for Art, Mathematics, & Science
Sylvester James "Jim" Gates, Ph.D.
Theoritical Physicist ate the University of Maryland and Winner of the National Medal of Science

 

 

Headshot of Adam PhillippyFall 2023

Life's code: the 30-year quest to read the human genome
Adam Phillippy, Ph.D.
Senior Investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland

 

Headshot of Dr. Kartik Chandran

Fall 2022

The re-engineered 'waste' cycle: Pathways, protagonists, and processes
Kartik Chandran, Ph.D.
Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, 2015 MacArthur Fellow, and a 2013 Fellow for the Water Environment Federation

 

Nicola Fox, Ph.D.

Spring 2022

What's New and Good Under the Sun
Nicola Fox, Ph.D.
Heliophysics Division Director in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

 

Leana Wen, M.D.

Fall 2020

Leana Wen, M.D.
Emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University

 

Elodie Ghedin, Ph.D.

Fall 2019

(Microbial) Networking Going Viral
Elodie Ghedin, Ph.D.
Professor of epidemiology and global public health, director of the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at New York University, and 2011 MacArthur Fellow

Peter LuFall 2018

Modern Math in Medieval Islamic Architecture
Peter Lu, Ph.D.
Physics Research Fellow in the Department of Physics in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University

 

 

John Warner green chemist winner of 2014 Perkin Medal

Fall 2017

Green Chemistry: The Missing Elements
John Warner, Ph.D.
Co-Founder of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, LLC
Founder of Beyond Benign, a non-profit dedicated to sustainability and green chemistry education and winner of the 2014 Perkin Medal

 

John Mather, astrophysicist and Nobel laureate

Spring 2017

The History of the Universe from Beginning to the End: "Where Did We Come From, Where Can We Go?” 
Dr. John Mather
Senior Astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2006 Nobel Prize in Physics

 

Bonnie Bassler Microbiologist Princeton2016

Tiny Conspiracies: Cell-to Cell Communication in Bacteria
Dr. Bonnie Bassler
Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology and chair of the department of molecular biology at Princeton University
2015 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine

 

Adam Reiss, astrophysicist and Nobel laureate2015

The Accelerating Universe
Dr. Adam Riess
2011 Nobel Prize in Physics
Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the Johns Hopkins University
Senior member of the Science Staff at the Space Telescope Science Institute

 

Richard Alley, geologist and Nobel laureate2014

Jobs and Security, Pikas and Penguins:  The Big Surprisingly Optimistic Story on Energy
and the Environment
Dr. Richard Alley
Earth Scientist, Professor, and Contributor to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007 Nobel Prize

 

Mario Livio, astrophysicist 2013

The Greatest Scientific Achievements of the Hubble Space Telescope
Dr. Mario Livio
Astrophysicist

 

Arthur Benjamin Mathemagician2012

The Art of Mental Calculation
Arthur Benjamin, Ph.D.
Professor of Mathematics and Mathemagician

 

Colonel Timothy 'T.J.' Creamer NASA2011

From Loyola to Outer Space
Colonel Timothy "T.J." Creamer, ’82
Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer on International Space Station Expedition 22/23