Browse All Upcoming Lectures

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.College of Agriculture and Life Sciences students attending the lecture will be eligible to receive one of five $500 Hertz Lecture scholarship awards by scanning their student ID at the lecture’s conclusion.

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 Library 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.

Behind the Scenes of Captain & Blue: A Science Comic About a Species in Decline
10:30 AM – 2630 Memorial Union - Rossmann-Manatt LectureScience comics hold promise in leveraging new literacies to promote ecological stewardship. Learn how an educational anthropologist and an environmental sustainability expert collaborated with a team of naturalists on this science translation project to tell the story of the Blanding's Turtle, a species threatened in Iowa due to habitat loss. Grounded in the need for new approaches that appeal to new audiences in a new era, Captain & Blue highlights the important role of interdisciplinary and applied efforts in addressing grand challenges, efforts which land-grant universities, like ISU, are well-positioned to undertake.

Anti-Capitalist Personal Finance
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - Leo Aquino is a non-binary Filipinx writer, journalist, and financial coach based in Los Angeles. They are known for their work in anti-capitalist personal finance, focusing on financial literacy and empowerment for queer and trans communities. Leo is the founder of Queer & Trans Wealth, an initiative dedicated to increasing economic empowerment and collective liberation.Leo's expertise stems from their experiences and conversations with economically diverse communities across the US. They have written extensively on topics such as debt payoff, saving, budgeting, and maximizing workplace benefits. Leo's unique approach to finance is rooted in their commitment to uplifting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stories.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.

Feeding Story County: Reiman Gardens’ Grow and Give Program
6:00 PM – Garden Room, Reiman Gardens - Nearly 11% of Iowans and 15.4% of Iowa children face food insecurity, and that percentage increases to more than 30% of Iowa State students. Reiman Gardens’ Grow and Give food donation program for Story County has been fighting hunger in Ames and surrounding communities for two decades. Staff will share an inside view of how Reiman Gardens, volunteers, and local food pantries work together to address the needs of Story County. Whether you are a home or community gardener, a volunteer, a food bank employee, or a community member interested in supporting fresh food collection in Story County, join us to learn more!Note: This event will not be recorded.