Demystifying AI: What Adoption Success Looks Like for Humans
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Olivia Gambelin is a world-renowned expert in artificial intelligence ethics and product innovation whose experience in utilizing ethics-by-design has empowered hundreds of business leaders to achieve their desired impact on the cutting edge of AI development. Gambelin works directly with product teams to drive AI innovation through human value alignment, as well as executive teams on the operational and strategic development of responsible AI.Olivia is the author of the book Responsible AI: Implement an Ethical Approach in Your Organization with Kogan Page Publishing. Responsible AI guides readers step-by-step through the process of establishing robust yet manageable ethical AI initiatives for any size organization, outlining the three core pillars of building a responsible AI strategy: people, process and technology. It provides the insight and guidance needed to help leaders fully understand the technical and commercial potential of ethics in AI while also covering the operations and strategy needed to support implementation.As the founder of Ethical Intelligence, the world’s largest network of responsible AI practitioners, Gambelin offers unparalleled insight into how leaders can embrace the strength of human values to drive holistic business success. She is the creator of The Values Canvas, co-founder of Women Shaping the Future of Responsible AI (WSFR.AI), founding Editorial Board member for Springer Nature’s AI and Ethics Journal, and sits as an advisor for the Ethical AI Governance Group (EAIGG) and The Data Tank. She has advised various organizations from Fortune 500 to Series A startups across the healthcare, financial, and media sectors in utilizing ethics as a decision-making tool for success in artificial intelligence.Gambelin splits her year between San Francisco where she is an active member of Silicon Valley’s ecosystem of startups and investors, and Brussels where she advises on AI policy and regulation.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.

Dragons & Rayguns: Book Reading with the Iowa Poet Laureate
5:00 PM – Christian Petersen Art Museum, 1017 Morrill Hall - Vince Gotera is the Poet Laureate of Iowa and Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Northern Iowa, where he taught for almost 30 years. He was editor of the North American Review (2000-2016) and Star*Line, the print journal of the International Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (2017-2020). His poetry awards include a Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Global Filipino Literary Award in Poetry, The Mary Roberts Rinehart Award in Poetry, and an Academy of American Poets Prize, among others. Poetry collections include "Dragonfly," "Ghost Wars," "Fighting Kite," "The Coolest Month," and "Dragons & Rayguns."Recent poems appeared in Dreams & Nightmares, The Ekphrastic Review, Failed Haiku, The MacGuffin, Philippines Graphic (Philippines), Rattle, Rosebud, The Wild Word (Germany), Yellow Medicine Review, and the anthologies Multiverse (UK), Dear America, and Hay(na)ku 15. Of his most recent publication, "Dragons & Rayguns," the esteemed poet Bryan Thao Worra, past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, writes, “Witty and profound, playful and inviting, these poems are a delight, whether dealing with rocket ships and super science to alien shores, Filipino myth, and human loss and wonder.”Note: This lecture will not be recorded. 

From Global Experience to National Transformation: A Call to Lead and Inspire
6:00 PM – Advanced Teaching Research Building (ATRB) 1302 - Ghana's Independence Day Celebration and LectureManasseh Azure Awuni is an author and investigative journalist whose work has resulted in the passage of a law by Ghana’s parliament, cancellation of government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and prosecution and jailing of persons. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Estate, a non-profit, public-interest journalism project founded by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).Manasseh was named Ghana’s Journalist of the Year for 2011 (a year after graduating from journalism school) by the Ghana Journalists Association. In 2018 and 2020, the Media Foundation for West Africa named him West Africa Journalist of the Year. He was adjudged the overall best journalist at the 2023 Norbert Zongo African Prize for Investigative Journalism (PAJI-NZ). Manasseh is the author of four nonfiction books: Voice of Conscience (2016), Letters to My Future Wife (2017), The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound (2019), Investigative Journalism in Africa: A Practical Manual (2023), and The President Ghana Never Got (2024). Manasseh was a Nieman Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University for the 2023-2024 academic year.This lecture is part of the Ghana Students Association’s Maiden Ghana Independence and Cultural Celebration at ISU campus. Participation in this event is free. Note: This lecture is not available for card scanning and will not be recorded.

Artist Josh Simpson and Astronaut Cady Coleman Discuss Science, Art, and Space Exploration
2:00 PM – Brunnier Art Museum, 295 Scheman Building - Astronaut Cady Coleman, a veteran of two shuttle missions and a six-month Space Station expedition, is the author of Sharing Space. A popular speaker and media advisor, she coached Sandra Bullock from the ISS for her role in Gravity and is featured in the Sundance-premiering documentary Space: The Longest Goodbye.Inspired by the story of Apollo astronauts seeing the earth "hanging like a blue marble in space." Josh Simpson began creating his own fanciful marble-sized planets in the mid-1970s. This early artistic exploration, combined with his intense interest in physics, cosmology, astronomical phenomena, and all things mechanical, inform and inspire his work to this day. Josh Simpson is a contemporary glass artist who uses old techniques. Each planet is hand shaped with wooden blocks and other traditional tools at his Western Massachusetts studio.Note: This lecture will not be recorded.

Textural and Timbral Influences on Storytelling Narrative in Pop/Rock Music
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - The prototypical modern pop/rock song has grown out of a long tradition of verse/chorus form that often features delineated sections where verses and pre-chorus/choruses are juxtaposed in a way to aid in the narrative of the song. The sections are contrasting, with the verses exhibiting a sparse texture and timbre that makes the listener feel privy to a deep thought or private conversation, while a chorus generally has a thickening of the texture and more reverberant timbres to feel the openness of the “sing-along” moment of the chorus.But this presentation explores other subsets of the ways that texture and timbral narratives can play out over the course of the song, ones that encompass and enhance the entire story, not just narrated verses interspersed with a catchy chorus, but ones that follow the narrative arc of the whole song.Dr. Kati Meyer is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Music’s Theory Area, where her diverse teaching strategies and individualized relationship-building cultivate a unique learning experience for UI’s music students.Meyer’s extensive research on popular music and music theory pedagogy has led to multiple opportunities to present throughout the area. Most recently, she presented on “Teaching Music Theory Like A (Pro)fessor” at the Iowa Music Educators Association’s 2022 conference. She enjoys helping students to understand theoretical concepts through popular and Western Art music analysis and composition, as well as using baked goods as an incentive to participate in class.Dr. Meyer has held teaching positions at Morningside University, San Jacinto College, Briar Cliff University, the University of Iowa, and Northwestern University. She is also an accomplished pianist, having performed multiple concerti and solo recitals, and serves as a collaborative pianist for UI soloists/ensembles and area high schools.Kati Meyer earned a BA in Piano Performance from the University of Minnesota, Morris before earning an MM from Northwestern University and a PhD from the University of Iowa, both in Music Theory.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.

Archimedes and the Dial of Destiny
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - Nicholas Nicastro is an American writer, filmmaker, and film critic, born in 1963 in Astoria, New York. He holds a BA in English from Cornell University, an MFA in filmmaking from New York University, an MA in archaeology and a PhD in psychology from Cornell. Nicastro has had a diverse career, working as a film critic, hospital orderly, newspaper reporter, library archivist, college lecturer, animal behaviorist, and advertising salesman. He has published short fiction, travel, and science articles in notable publications like The New York Times and The New York Observer. His writings include historical novels such as Empire of Ashes and The Isle of Stone, which explore the darker sides of popular historical exploits. He also authored a biography of Eratosthenes and a biography of Archimedes in the "Great Lives of the Ancient World" series.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.

Hearing the Will of the People in the Vote: The Mathematics of Quantifying Gerrymandering
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - The US political system requires redrawing districts every ten years based on the census, often manipulated for partisan gain through gerrymandering. Identifying and understanding gerrymandering involves questions of fairness, proportional representation, and geopolitical influences. This interdisciplinary issue involves lawyers, mathematicians, and policy advocates, prompting new computational methods and mathematical research. Upcoming analyses aim to be proactive, considering communities of interest and incumbency. Mattingly's journey began with an undergraduate project in 2013, leading to significant legal testimonies and collaborative research, making these concepts accessible to students and the public.Jonathan Christopher Mattingly grew up in Charlotte. He graduated from the NC School of Science and Mathematics and received a BS is Applied Mathematics with a concentration in physics from Yale University. After two years abroad with a year spent at ENS Lyon studying nonlinear and statistical physics on a Rotary Fellowship, he returned to the US to attend Princeton University where he obtained a PhD in Applied and Computational Mathematics in 1998 under the supervision of Yakov Sinai. After 4 years as a Szego assistant professor at Stanford University and a year as a member of the IAS in Princeton, he moved to Duke in 2003. In 2019 he was named a James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics and a Professor of Statistical Science. In 2023 he was named the Kimberly J. Jenkins Distinguished University Professor of New Technologies.The Memorial Union parking ramp is located on the south side of the Memorial Union, adjacent to Lincoln Way. After parking in the ramp, enter the building from any level through the stairwell or elevator in the northeast corner of the ramp. Navigate to building level 2 and follow the cardinal and gold wayfinding signage along Floor 2 to the Sun Room. Before leaving the building after the event, pay for parking at the pay station found on Floor 2, then take the elevator or stairs to your parking level.

Sustainability in Ames and the Climate Action Plan
6:00 PM – Garden Room, Reiman Gardens - Over the past several years, the City of Ames responded to climate changes by setting a target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and rethinking how the city supports community and energy needs responsibly. The city's Sustainability Coordinator Nolan Sagan will share information about the plan, sustainability efforts in Ames, and resources for citizens and businesses about reducing GHG's and/or addressing climate impact.Note: This event will not be recorded.

One Way Back
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Christine Blasey Ford is a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University and a clinical professor and consulting biostatistician at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Time magazine included Ford on its shortlist for Person of the Year in 2018. In 2019, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in Time  100, nominated by then-Senator Kamala Harris. In 2019, she won the inaugural Christine Blasey Ford Woman of Courage Award, and the ACLU's Roger Baldwin Courage Award.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.