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The Wall and the Bridge: Fear and Opportunity in Disruption’s Wake
5:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - IW Arthur LectureFree-market economists often have noted that there are winners and losers in a competitive capitalist world. The question of how to deal with the difficult real-life consequences faced by the losers, however, has largely been ignored. Populist politicians have tried repeatedly to address the issue by creating walls—of both the physical and economic kinds—to insulate communities and keep competition at bay. While recognizing the broad emotional appeal of walls, economist Glenn Hubbard argues that because they delay needed adaptations to the ever-changing world, walls are essentially backward-looking and ultimately destined to fail. Taking Adam Smith’s logic to Youngstown, Ohio, as a case study in economic disruption, Hubbard promotes the benefits of an open economy and creating bridges to support people in turbulent times so that they remain engaged and prepared to participate in, and reap the rewards of, a new economic landscape. Hubbard is the director of the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business at Columbia Business School. Hubbard is a specialist in public economics, managerial information and incentive problems in corporate finance, and financial markets and institutions. He has written more than 100 articles and books on corporate finance, investment decisions, banking, energy economics and public policy, including two textbooks, and has authored The Wall and the Bridge and coauthored Balance; The Aid Trap; and Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. The Economics Department has arranged a livestream of this lecture, available here.

Civic Engagement in Diverse Latinx Communities: Learning from Social Justice Partnerships in Action
7:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - Dr. Mari Castañeda will discuss approaches to university-community partnerships within Latinx communities. Such partnerships highlight the importance of developing collaborative higher education pedagogies that recognize Latina/o/x communities as specific sites of creative and dynamic civic engagement. The lecture will provide a context to explore community-university projects that bring together faculty, students and local community partners in efforts to learn from and bear witness to the lived experiences and cultural wealth of Latine communities in the United States.Dr. Castañeda is the dean of Commonwealth Honors College and professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the recipient of the UMass System President’s Public Service Award, the Antonia Pantoja Award for community-engaged scholarship, and the UMass Amherst Distinguished Academic Outreach Award. Dr. Castañeda's fields of study include civic and community engagement, cultures of care in academia, global communications, and Latina media/cultural production. 

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.

Incorporating and Engaging Native Histories on Public Lands
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - Many concepts of Manifest Destiny and the American West continue to permeate non-native communities across the Midwest. As a result, Native American historical interpretations and perspectives are often purposely left out or forgotten. As public history becomes more professionalized and part of the local community, Native peoples are finding new opportunities and benefits to return to their traditional homelands and share their own histories. Not only are Native peoples able to directly share their own history within the non-native community, but also influence the non-native institutions and communities to remedy the past to heal and unravel cultural trauma.Historian Broc Anderson builds upon the work of other historians by exploring the social, economic, and political relationships between the Lakota from Pine Ridge and non-natives in northwest Nebraska during the late nineteenth century.   Anderson is the director of Historic Sites for the Nebraska State Historical Society. He graduated from Chadron State College with a bachelor degree in social science education and received a master's in History from the University of Nebraska, Kearney.This lecture was recorded and can be viewed on the Available Recordings page.

The Next Pandemic Could Strike at Any Time: Are We Prepared?
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Spring 2025 LAS Dean's Distinguished LectureAssociate Professor of Mathematics Claus Kadelka will discuss how refined infectious disease models can better predict and mitigate future outbreaks, bridging a variety of disciplines from mathematics and statistics to sociology, biology, and public health. Using compelling examples from his extensive research, Kadelka will demonstrate how multi-disciplinary insights can lead to more accurate, real-world epidemic models and ultimately guide effective public health interventions. He became passionate about this work because it merges his deep interest in mathematical biology with a commitment to safeguarding community health, ensuring that both scientific innovation and public welfare move forward together.Kadelka received both his masters and doctorate in mathematics from Virginia Tech, and he has been at Iowa State University since 2018.The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is offering a livestream of this lecture, available here. This lecture was recorded and can be viewed on the Available Recordings page.

Vietnam 50 Years Later: Insurgency, Genocide, Dissent & Peace Through Agriculture
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Ambassador Kenneth Quinn is a distinguished diplomat and humanitarian. He served as the 10th United States Ambassador to Cambodia from 1995 to 1999 under President Bill Clinton. Before his ambassadorship, he had a 32-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, including roles such as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and a member of the National Security Council staff at the White House.Quinn is widely recognized for his work in Southeast Asia, particularly his efforts to combat the genocidal policies of the Khmer Rouge. He is fluent in Vietnamese and served as an interpreter for President Gerald Ford. His contributions to international relations and humanitarian efforts have earned him numerous awards, including the State Department's Award for Heroism and Valor.During the Vietnam War, Ambassador Quinn served as a Foreign Service Officer in South Vietnam from 1968 to 1974. His assignments included leading combat missions, such as midnight ambushes and helicopter rescues, and spearheading the campaign to "win hearts and minds." He was the only civilian during the Vietnam War to earn the U.S. Army Air Medal for his bravery and service,After retiring from the State Department, Quinn became the President of the World Food Prize Foundation, where he led the organization for 20 years, transforming it into a prestigious global award often referred to as the "Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture". Under his leadership, the foundation raised over $30 million to restore the historic Des Moines Public Library, now known as the World Food Prize Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Hall of Laureates.Ambassador Quinn retired from the World Food Prize Foundation in 2020 but continues to be involved as a special consultant. His dedication to improving global food security and his extensive diplomatic career have left a lasting impact on both the international community and humanitarian efforts. In conversation with Ambassador Quinn is Amy J. Rutenberg, associate professor of History at Iowa State, specializing in U.S. History at the intersection of war, gender, activism, and civil-military relations. She is the author of Rough Draft: Cold War Military Manpower Policy and the Origins of Vietnam-Era Draft Resistance (Cornell University Press, 2019). Her current book project, tentatively titled Mission and Condition, explores the relationship between peace activists and manpower in the era of the all-volunteer force. Her work has appeared in Cold War History, The New York Times, and The Atlantic.This lecture was recorded and can be viewed on the Available Recordings page.

EVENT CANCELED - One Way Back
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. 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.

Hearing the Will of the People in the Vote: The Mathematics of Quantifying Gerrymandering
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - The Miller Family Endowed Mathematics Lecture SeriesThe U.S. political system requires redrawing districts every 10 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. Jonathan Mattingly, a professor at Duke University, focuses his research on gerrymandering's implications on fairness and representation. Mattingly has a PhD in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University. 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.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 Memorial Union parking ramp entrance is located on the southeast 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.

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.

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 recording is not available.

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.

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.