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The Foundation of Modern Medicine is at Risk!
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - The discovery of antibiotics revolutionized medicine during World War 2 and have served as the foundation of almost every modern pillar of medicine that we take for granted, including organ transplantation, premature birth, chemotherapy, and infectious disease.  However, the pipeline of new antibiotic discovery has essentially stopped, and the rate of resistance development threatens the utility of these drugs in maintaining the health of animals, humans, and crops. This lecture will provide an overview of this issue and will discuss One Health approaches to mitigating this risk while optimizing the health and welfare of animals, humans, and crops.Dr. Paul Plummer is a Professor of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, the Anderson Chair in Veterinary Medicine, and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2023, Dr. Plummer was appointed chair of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria. Plummer also serves as the executive director of the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE). The national institute seeks to improve the understanding of antimicrobial resistance to reduce its societal impact. Based at Iowa State University, NIAMRRE seeks to improve health for people, animal, and the environment.

The Foundation of Modern Medicine Is at Risk!
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - Spring 2024 Sigma Xi Distinguished LectureThe discovery of antibiotics revolutionized medicine during World War 2 and have served as the foundation of almost every modern pillar of medicine that we take for granted, including organ transplantation, premature birth, chemotherapy, and infectious disease.  However, the pipeline of new antibiotic discovery has essentially stopped, and the rate of resistance development threatens the utility of these drugs in maintaining the health of animals, humans, and crops. This lecture will provide an overview of this issue and will discuss One Health approaches to mitigating this risk while optimizing the health and welfare of animals, humans, and crops.Dr. Paul Plummer is a Professor of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, the Anderson Chair in Veterinary Medicine, and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2023, Dr. Plummer was appointed chair of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria. Plummer also serves as the executive director of the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE). The national institute seeks to improve the understanding of antimicrobial resistance to reduce its societal impact. Based at Iowa State University, NIAMRRE seeks to improve health for people, animal, and the environment.This lecture has been recorded and can be viewed on the Available Recordings page.

A History of Activism Through Cookbooks
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Food has often been a way for activist communities to fundraise, connect, and spread the workl about their cause. Sarah Lohman will explore the origins of the link between food and activism with the abolitionist food writers of the Civil War; unpack suffrage cookbooks from the turn of the 20th century; share the earliest LGBTQ cooking pamphlets from the 1960s; and talk about how food is still used to connect and advocate for causes today.Sarah Lohman is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, where she began working in a museum at age 16, cooking historical food over a woodburning stove. She moved to New York in 2006 to work for New York Magazine's food blog, "Grub Street," and now works with museums and galleries around the city to create public programs focused on food. Lohman is the author of Eight Flavors and Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods.The ISU Book Store will be at the event selling copies of the speaker's book.This Lecture has been recorded and is available to view for those with an Iowa State login on the Available Recordings page.

Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - The United States boasts a culturally and ethnically diverse population that makes for a continually changing culinary landscape. Sarah Lohman's talk explores how American food is united by Eight Flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and sriracha. Lohman explains how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table. Sarah Lohman is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, where she began working in a museum at age 16, cooking historical food over a woodburning stove. She moved to New York in 2006 to work for New York Magazine's food blog, "Grub Street," and now works with museums and galleries around the city to create public programs focused on food. Lohman is the author of Eight Flavors and Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods.The ISU Book Store will be at the event selling copies of the speaker's book.This lecture has been recorded and is available to view for those with an Iowa State login on the Available Recordings page.

Fatphobia and Capitalism
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Ragen Chastain is a speaker, writer, researcher, Board Certified Patient Advocate, multi-certified health and fitness professional, and thought leader in weight science, weight stigma, health, and healthcare. Utilizing her background in research methods and statistics, Ragen has brought her signature mix of humor and hard facts to healthcare, corporate, conference, and college audiences from Kaiser Permanente and the Diabetes Education Specialists National Conference, to Amazon and Google, to Dartmouth, Cal Tech and IDEA World. Author of the Weight and Healthcare newsletter, the book Fat: The Owner's Manual, co-author of HAES Health Sheets, and editor of the anthology The Politics of Size, Ragen is frequently featured as an expert in print, radio, television, and documentary film. In her free time, Ragen is a national dance champion, triathlete, and marathoner who holds the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Woman to Complete a Marathon. Ragen lives in LA with her fiancée Julianne and a rotating cast of foster dogs. This lecture was recorded and can be viewed on the Available Recordings page.

Humanisms and Beyond: Past, Present, and Future of the Humanities
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - The humanities are often criticized as irrelevant or in decline, but defenders of the humanities contend they remain essential to fully understanding our modern world. Dr. Fabrizio Conti’s lecture will contextualize the humanities in the history of education in the Western world. This will help students better understand how the humanities can benefit them, now and in the future, even (or especially) at a “university of science and technology.”Fabrizio Conti received a dual Ph.D. in History and Medieval Studies from the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. He is a graduate in the Humanities (History) from the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” and has earned certificates from the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology in Rome and the School of the Vatican Secret Archive.Professor Conti arrived at John Cabot University in 2016. His teaching and research interests span the Antique/Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance periods, with an interdisciplinary approach to cultural and religious developments, with special focus on the history of magic and witchcraft. Professor Conti has worked in the catacombs of Rome as a docent and in the Vatican Secret Archive as an archivist. This lecture has been recorded and available for viewing on the Available Recordings page.

Leveraging Crisis Into Opportunity
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Christine Ervin’s career draws on public, private and nonprofit leadership roles to foster prosperous green markets and a healthy climate.  As first President and CEO of the U.S. Green Buildings Council, she led its evolution from a start-up into the highly influential coalition of industry leaders transforming the way buildings are designed, built and operated. Home to LEED and Greenbuild, Christine received USGBC’s leadership award in 2004 and 2014. As Assistant Secretary of Energy for President Clinton, Christine directed $1 billion in annual investments for clean and renewable energy technologies. Her portfolio included the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and innovations across building, industrial, transportation and utility/renewable energy sectors. Previously, she directed the Oregon Department of Energy and conducted research on energy policy and pollution prevention at the Conservation Foundation/World Wildlife Fund.   Christine has served on numerous fiduciary and advisory boards including nonprofits, venture capital firms and start-up companies and is an Ambassador for the federal-university C3E initiative promoting women in leadership positions in clean energy, science and education.  Her consulting practice is based in Portland Oregon.   This lecture has been recorded and is available for viewing on the Available Recordings page.

Endangered Language: Revitalization of an Afro-Creole in São Tomé and Príncipe
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - Ana Lívia Agostinho's research delves deeply into the intricate and multifaceted world of Creole languages spoken in Africa. These languages are a vital part of the linguistic landscape and cultural heritage of the continent, and her work promises to shed new light on their evolution, structure, and sociolinguistic implications. Her insights will not only enhance our comprehension of these languages but also contribute to the broader field of linguistic studies, allowing for a more comprehensive and inclusive understanding of the linguistic diversity present in Africa.Professor Agostinho is a professor of Linguistics in the Department of Vernacular Language and Literature at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil). She earned her Ph.D. in Philology and Portuguese Language from the University of São Paulo in 2014. Her extensive research encompasses phonology, creole languages, linguistic contact, linguistic description, fieldwork methodology, Brazilian Portuguese phonology, and language planning and policy in São Tomé and Príncipe. She was a visiting researcher in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where she held a prestigious CNPq Post-Doctoral Fellowship from 2019 to 2020. With an impressive publication record that includes more than 35 scholarly articles and four Gulf of Guinea Creoles textbooks, Dr. Agostinho is a prolific contributor to her field. She serves as the Supervisor of the Applied Phonetics Laboratory (FONAPLI) in the Department of Vernacular Language and Literature at UFSC. Her dedication to the field is further exemplified by her role as Secretary-General of the Brazilian Association of Linguistic Contact Studies (ABECS) and Coordinator of the Contact Linguistics Study Group at UFSC, a position she has held since 2017. Dr. Agostinho is also an active member of The Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics (SPCL) and contributes to the Varsul-UFSC Project, further underscoring her commitment to advancing linguistic scholarship and understanding.This lecture has been recorded and is avaible for viewing on the Available Recordings page.

Money Talks: Reaching for Financial Freedom
5:30 PM – 127 Curtiss - Mike Finley is a proud 26-year U.S. Army veteran and has taught financial literacy classes for over 35 years. He has helped thousands of people build a better relationship with their money through a better understanding of every dollar that enters their life. That education takes place in a classroom, in person, in a video and/or through a book. The key is starting and building on what you have learned.Mike is also an author of four books on the world of money and how one creates a better life with this newfound knowledge. There have been numerous television, radio and podcast invitations over the years that Mike has used to help people see the power from within, as he helps each individual see the power of their abilities and what can be accomplished with some education and plain ole grit.

Remembering Eden Montang: Raising Awareness about Dating Violence and Empowering You to Advocate for Healthy Relationships
7:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - On June 2, 2022, Iowa State student Eden Montang was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend in the parking lot of Cornerstone Church in Ames. Hear from Eden’s friend, Hannah Beth, as she shares her perspective on Eden’s story to bring awareness to the often unseen, but prevalent occurrence of dating violence. Connect with resources from across campus and in the Ames community through the resource panel, and be empowered to advocate for healthy relationships.February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Become an advocate for healthy relationships. Join us for the ADMYRE program, where you will recognize unhealthy patterns through an interactive simulation, identify helpful resources, and start conversations about healthy relationships. Contact pial@iastate.edu to sign up for the program simulation from 5:30-7pm the night of the lecture, and follow this link to learn more about ADMYRE! This lecture was recorded and can be viewed on the Available Recordings page.