Browse All Upcoming Lectures

Will Wilson and the Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange Series
5:30 PM – Brunnier Art Museum, 295 Scheman Building - As an Indigenous artist working with both historic and contemporary processes in photography, Will Wilson (Diné) is endeavoring to recreate a contemporary vision of Native North America. Historically, Edward S. Curtis and other early Euro-Americans used photography as a method of recording the disappearing Native population, which led to the image of Native Americans as frozen in time. Through the Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange series, Wilson is radically altering this static image and engaging with his sitters in the creation of their own contemporary representations.Note: This lecture will not be recorded.

Reflecting on My Parents’ Holocaust Journeys: Finding Forgiveness and Celebrating My Family's Legacy
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Dr. Alex Kor's late parents, Michael and Eva Mozes Kor, each survived concentration camps during the Holocaust; Eva and her twin sister were victims of Jose Mengele's experiments. Kor will highlight his parents' incredible journeys in the decades after. He will share how Michael and Eva's sense of humor helped them lead happy and productive lives out of the shadow of the Holocaust. For anyone who may be struggling with day-to-day challenges, Kor believes that learning how his parents persevered will provide a perspective to help others. Kor traveled to Auschwitz more than 20 times with his late mother. He is a member of the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center Board of Directors. Kor assisted in establishing the exhibit “Eva Kor from Auschwitz to Indiana” at the Indiana Historical Society to honor his mother. Kor's book, A Blessing, Not a Burden: My Parents' Remarkable Holocaust Story & My Fight to Keep Their Legacy Alive, offers a thorough account of his parents' extraordinary lives and their positive impact on him.Originally from Terre Haute, Indiana, Dr. Alex Kor a bachelor's degree B.S. in Chemistry from Butler University and a masters in science in Exercise Physiology from Purdue University. He earned his D.P.M. from the Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Kor is a full-time podiatrist for Hendricks Regional Health in Danville, Indiana, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor for Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine. This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event. The recording will only be available for three weeks from the date of the lecture.

The Death of D.E.I. in America … What’s Next?
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - The State of Iowa government and the Trump Administration are working to eliminate federal and public university Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs (DEI). This sweeping change provoked protests nationwide and on campus at Iowa State. DEI initiatives have been the norm in government and public institutions for decades, but conservatives see DEI's elimination as a mandate for the return of merit-based hiring. This lecture from author and political commentator Vince Everett Ellison will provide the student body with an opportunity to hear about this issue from a conservative viewpoint and provide insight into why DEI's elimination is necessary and how conservatives can continue to fight to eliminate this ideology on a cultural level.Ellison is no stranger to advocating for the death of DEI. He has written four books condemning Democrats for their ideology and political tactics, the most recent of which is titled: The End of Tolerance: How Democrats Use the Sin of Tolerance to Destroy America (2024). His other books are: Crime Inc.: How Democrats Employ Mafia and Gangster Tactics to Gain and Hold Power (2023); 25 Lies: Exposing Democrats' Most Dangerous, Seductive, Damnable, Destructive Lies and How to Refute Them (2022); and The Iron Triangle: Inside the Liberal Democrat Plan to Use Race to Divide Christians and America in their Quest for Power and How We Can Defeat Them (2019). In addition, Ellison has provided commentary on numerous radio shows, TV programs, and podcasts, including The Sean Hannity Show, The Ingraham Angle, OAN: One America News, The Joe Pags Show, The Brian Kilmeade Show, and The Howie Carr Show, as well as receiving the GOP nomination for the South Carolina 6th Congressional District in 2000.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event. The recording will only be available for three weeks from the date of the lecture.

A Revolution in Computing: Next-Generation Arithmetic
6:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - For 50 years, "floating-point operations per second" (FLOPS) has been the currency of technical computing performance. The rise of AI and the end of Moore's law have made us realize that IEEE standard floating-point (invented by Intel in 1977) is long overdue for replacement. Dr. John Gustafson will present a new way to represent real numbers on computers that is both mathematically sound and follows engineering design goals. The approach can more than double speed and energy efficiency for everything from Machine Learning to Computer Graphics to High-Performance Computing. This is a watershed, a revolution. And it is well underway.John Gustafson is an American computer scientist and businessman, renowned for his contributions to high-performance computing (HPC). He is best known for Gustafson's Law, which provides a model for predicting the performance of parallel computing systems.Gustafson was raised in Des Moines, Iowa, and pursued his passion for science from a young age. He earned his degree in Applied Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in 1977, followed by an M.S. and Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1981 and 1982, respectively.Throughout his career, Gustafson has held several prominent positions, including Chief Technology Officer at Ceranovo, Inc., Chief Graphics Product Architect and Senior Fellow at AMD, and Director of Intel Labs-SC. He also led the reconstruction of the Atanasoff–Berry computer and invented the unum number format, a variable-precision number system.Gustafson has received numerous awards for his work, including the inaugural Gordon Bell Prize in 1988 and the International Atanasoff Award in 2006. His contributions have significantly advanced the field of high-performance computing, making him a key figure in the industry.

Breaking Barriers: Women Leading the Future of Agriculture and Livestock
7:00 PM – 0127 Curtiss Hall - International Women in Agriculture Day LectureDr. Salma Sultana is recognized as the first female entrepreneur and development worker in the livestock sector in Bangladesh. She is the founder of the Model Livestock Advancement Foundation and the Model Livestock Institute and Veterinary Hospital in Dhaka. In acknowledgment of her significant contributions, Dr. Sultana was named one of the top 100 Asian scientists by Asian Scientist magazine in 2021. Additionally, in 2020 she received the prestigious World Food Prize Norman Borlaug Field Award recipient, for her work with veterinary outreach, treatment, and education to small-scale farmers in Bangladesh.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event. The recording will only be available for three weeks from the date of the lecture.

Bodily Autonomy for All: Lessons from the Intersex Movement
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - Bodily Autonomy for All: Lessons from the Intersex Movement explores how the fight for intersex rights offers powerful insights into broader struggles for bodily autonomy. Drawing from personal experience and activism, Pidgeon Pagonis challenges secrecy and medical authority while highlighting the importance of informed consent, self-determination, and justice for all bodies. Pagonis was raised as a girl but was born with both female and male sexual organs. Despite multiple surgeries before they were a teenager, Pagonis wasn't told the truth until they turned 18. Pagonis shared their story in their book Nobody Needs to Know.Pagonis has worked for more than a decade as an intersex advocate to shed light on the human rights violations endured by intersex people. Their goal is to help end the non-consensual irreversible medical procedures meant to discipline unruly intersex bodies. Pagonis's accessible advocacy helps people complicate their preconceived binary notions about “biological differences”. This event is part of a Women’s and Gender Studies Lecture Series funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities Grant, which was awarded to Dr. Winfrey and the WGS program in the fall of 2023.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event. The recording will only be available for two weeks from the date of the lecture.

The Role of Storytelling within Scientific Misinformation
7:00 PM – 3580 Memorial Union - 2025 Sigma Xi Spring LectureScience and storytelling mean different things when they speak of truth. This difference leads many to blame storytelling for presenting a distorted view of science and contributing to misinformation. Yet others celebrate storytelling as a way to engage audiences and share accurate scientific information. This talk will help disentangle the complexities of how storytelling intersects with the understanding of science. Even with their differences, the underlying purpose of both science and narrative seek to make sense of the world and find our place within it. While narrative can indeed lead to scientific misinformation, narrative can also help science counter misinformation by providing meaning to reality that incorporates accurate science knowledge into human experience.Michael Dahlstrom is the director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University and holds a Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Professorship. His research explores how storytelling impacts the communication of science and the ethical considerations involved. Dahlstrom’s work extends across diverse scientific contexts, including risk, health, agricultural, and environmental communication, and has been published in leading journals, such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PLOS Biology, Communication Research and Science Communication. He is also co-editor of Ethics and Practice in Science Communication, an edited volume focusing on the often-overlooked ethical challenges underlying science communication. Dahlstrom is a Kavli Fellow and is also a past head of the Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

The Stutsman Journey: What We've Learned Over 90 Years in Ag Business
4:30 PM – 0127 Curtiss Hall - The Carl and Marjory Hertz Lecture on Emerging Issues in AgricultureMark Stutsman, COO of Eldon C. Stutsman, Inc. and third generation, will share the major lessons learned from his family's 91-year-old ag business and how these experiences can help navigate the evolving ag industry. Stutsman is a proud Iowa State Alumnus; he graduated with a degree in farm operations and was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho. He also holds an MBA from St. Ambrose. Beyond his responsibilities as COO of Stutsmans, Mark serves on the board of the following agricultural organizations: Agricultural Retailers Association, Governor Reynolds Iowa Environmental Protection Commission (Chairman), WestLink AG (Chairman) and The Fertilizer Institute.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event. The recording will only be available for three weeks from the date of the lecture.

100 Years Since the Scopes Monkey Trial: Evolution, Education, and Establishment
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - 2025 First Amendment Days KeynoteThe Scopes "monkey trial" of 1925 was the first controversy over the teaching of evolution in the public schools to reach a courtroom. It was not the last, although in the following century, tactics have shifted and battlefields have expanded. In his talk, Glenn Branch of the National Center for Science Education will describe the contentious legal history of evolution education from the Scopes era to the present day, with a focus on the legal system's evolving understanding of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.Glenn Branch is deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit organization that defends the integrity of American science education against ideological interference. He is the author of numerous articles on evolution education and climate education, and the co-editor, with Eugenie C. Scott, of Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools (2006). He received the Evolution Education Award for 2020 from the National Association of Biology Teachers.

Parks Library at 100: Art, Architecture, and Innovation
6:00 PM – 198 Parks Library - 2025 marks the 100th year of Iowa State University’s beloved Parks Library.  The University Library has been the heart of Iowa State since it first welcomed students in 1869, and students have been the pulse of Parks Library from its opening day on January 6, 1925.In celebration of 100 years of discovery, exploration, and collaboration, Parks Library will host a panel with Hilary Seo, dean of the University Library, and Sydney Marshall and Alison Ranniger Van Zante from University Museums, and Paul Mankins, FAIA, LEED AP, founder and consulting principal at Substance Architecture, to discuss the roles of art, architecture, and innovation over the past 100 years at Parks Library. Paul MankinsPaul Mankins (FAIA, LEED AP) is the founder and consulting principal at substance Architecture in Des Moines. Prior to founding substance in 2004 he was an associate principal at Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture. He has a Bachelor of Arts from Iowa State University and a Master of Architecture from Yale University. Mankins is currently a professor of practice in architecture in the College of Design.Mankins will speak on the Parks Library architecture from the original 1925 building through three significant additions. His insight lends an understanding of the evolution of the library building and its impact on the campus overall.Sydney MarshallSydney Marshall is a curator for University Museums at Iowa State University, overseeing the Art on Campus Collection and the Anderson Sculpture Garden. She earned a bachelor’s in anthropology and history from Iowa State in 2015 and a master’s degree in museum and field studies at University of Colorado Boulder in 2019. Alison Ranniger Van Zante Alison Ranniger Van Zante is the curator of the Christian Petersen Art Museum at Iowa State University. She holds a BA from Central College in Pella, Iowa, and a master’s in arts and Culture, specializing in art history and theory, from Leiden University in the Netherlands, where she served as a curatorial assistant for Museum Beelden aan Zee, focusing on national and international sculpture. Ranniger’s professional focus includes exhibitions that address historical and contemporary cultural narratives, with an emphasis on the Christian Petersen Art Collection and the University Museums’ public art collection. Marshall and Ranniger Van Zante will speak on Parks Library as a primary location for campus visual arts starting in the 1920s, the Grant Wood Murals, Christian Peterson boy and girl, and sculpture work by other artists.Hilary SeoHilary Seo joined the library in 2003 and has been the dean of library services since 2021 after serving as interim dean. Seo has led carefully considered renovations to Parks Library, aiming to enhance student collaboration and access to technology. These include creation of versatile collaboration spaces that reflect the needs of students, additional seating, and modern furniture. Seo has a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an MA in library and information science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and advanced training in preservation administration from the University of Texas at Austin.Seo will reflect on the importance of the library on campus and adapting to emerging technology and student needs to ensure access to cutting-edge resources, innovative tools, and enhanced learning experiences.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event. The recording will only be available for three weeks from the date of the lecture.