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A Translation of the Bhagavad Gita - Mani Rao
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Mani Rao will present her translation of the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient philosophical text central to modern Hinduism. The author of eight books of poetry, Mani Rao's work has appeared in various journals internationally as well as in such anthologies as Harper Collins Anthology of Poetry by Indians and The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets. She worked in television and advertising in India, Hong Kong and New Zealand for twenty years before turning to literary and scholarly interests full time. She was a visiting fellow at the Iowa International Writing Program in 2005 and 2009, and the 2006 University of Iowa International Program's writer-in-residence. She has an MFA in poetry from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and is currently a PhD student in religious studies at Duke University. Her translation of the Bhagavad Gita is published by Autumn Hill Books.

Evaluating Student Writing and Speaking: Can Linguistics Help? Bernard Mohan
6:30 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Bernard Mohan was Chair of Linguistics at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin before becoming a professor in Language Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada, where he worked extensively with immigrant learners in Vancouver's schools. Now an emeritus professor at UBC, he is Research Fellow at King's College, London University, and took part in EUCIM-TE, an eight-nation research study in 2010-2011 that recommended changes in teacher education across the European Union to benefit immigrant language learners. Well known for his pioneering work on language learning and content learning, he is a functional linguist who sees language as a resource for meaning and regards language as the primary means of learning about the world. The 2012 Quentin Johnson Lecture in Linguistics.

Post-Election Analysis - Candy Crowley
7:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Candy Crowley was the first woman in two decades to moderate a nationally broadcast presidential debate on October 16. She will analyze the results of the election and provide insight from her career covering national politics. CNN's chief political correspondent, Crowley leads their coverage of presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races and major legislative developments on Capitol Hill. She is the anchor of State of the Union with Candy Crowley, a political hour of newsmaker interviews and weekly analysis. Crowley has worked as a White House correspondent for the Associated Press, a correspondent for NBC News, and a congressional correspondent for CNN. She earned a prestigious Gracie Allen Award in 2009 for coverage of Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House. Fall 2012 Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics and part of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women & Politics 20th-Anniversary Celebration. No audio recording available for download.

American Job Prospects in a Globalized World - Christine Romans
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Iowa State graduate Christine Romans is the host of Your Bottom Line, CNN's Saturday morning personal finance and lifestyle program. In addition, she reports on the economy, politics and international business for CNN's morning shows. Her reporting is also regularly featured on CNN International. Romans served previously as a correspondent for Moneyline and Lou Dobbs Tonight. Prior to joining CNN, she reported for Reuters and Knight-Ridder Financial News in the futures trading pits of Chicago. She is the author of two books: How to Speak Money and Smart Is the New Rich. Part of the Technology, Globalization & Culture Series.

Muslim Footprints in Iowa: The Story of Emir Abdelkader - John W. Kiser
6:00 PM – Oak Roam, Memorial Union - How did a town in northeast Iowa - Elkader - come to be named after Emir Abdelkader in 1846? Why did the Emir's exemplary life and moral leadership in war, in prison, and in exile bring him worldwide acclaim during the 19th century from Abraham Lincoln, Pope Pius the IX, Queen Victoria, Emir Shamil, and a county lawyer in Dubuque? John Kiser, the author of Commander of the Faithful . . . The Life and Times of Emir Abdelkader: A Story of True Jihad, will discuss the relevance of this warrior and scholar for today.

Rewiring the Brain - Michael Merzenich
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Dr. Michael Merzenich is a leading pioneer in brain plasticity and Emeritus Professor at the University of California at San Francisco, where he retired as Francis A. Sooy Professor and co-director of the Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience in 2007. In the late 1980s, Dr. Merzenich was on the team that invented the cochlear implant. In 1996 he was the founding CEO of Scientific Learning Corporation, which markets and distributes software that applies principles of brain plasticity to assist children with language learning and reading. In 2004 he became cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer of Posit Science, a company which helps people throughout their lives by providing brain training software clinically proven to improve cognitive performance. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999 and to the Institute of Medicine. Watch this presentation online: click here.

Geometry: From Riemann to Einstein and On to String Theory - Shing-Tung Yau
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - String theory says we live in a ten-dimensional universe, but that only four dimensions are accessible to our everyday senses. According to theorists, the missing six are curled up in bizarre structures known as Calabi-Yau manifolds. Shing-Tung Yau is the man who mathematically proved that these manifolds exist. He is the Graustein Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. He has won many awards, including the Fields Medal, the National Medal of Science, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Crafoord Prize, Wolf Prize and the Veblen Prize. In 1993 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. His list of publications includes twenty books, including The Shape of Inner Space, in which he argues that geometry is fundamental not only to string theory but also to the very nature of our universe.

Rebuilding the GOP after Watergate - Suzanne O'Dea
12:00 PM – 2256 Memorial Union Multicultural Center - Bring your lunch and join author Suzanne O'Dea for a discussion of her new book, Madam Chairman: Mary Louise Smith and the Republican Revival after Watergate. For much of her career Mary Louise Smith stood alone as a woman in a world of politics run by men. After devoting over two decades of her life to politics, she eventually became the first, and only, woman to chair the Republican National Committee. Suzanne O'Dea examines Smith's rise and fall within the party and analyzes her strategies for gaining the support of Republican Party leaders. O'Dea's other books include Legislators and Politicians: Iowa's Women Lawmakers. Part of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Our Black Year in America's Racially Divided Economy - Maggie Anderson
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Maggie Anderson is the author of Our Black Year: One Family's Quest To Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy, the story of her Chicago family's experiment in conscious consumerism. The experience led her to found of The Empowerment Experiment Foundation, and she has become the leader of a self-help economics movement that supports quality black businesses and urges consumers, especially other middle and upper class African Americans, to proactively and publicly support them. She received her BA from Emory University and her JD and MBA from the University of Chicago. She lives in Oak Park, Illinois, with her husband, John, and their two daughters. She will discuss her "Empowerment Experiment," and look at some of the challenges African American entrepreneurs face. Part of the National Affairs Series.

Learning to Think Like Scientists: Does Our Future Depend on It? Suzanne Hendrich
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Suzanne Hendrich, a University Professor and current president of the Faculty Senate, will engage the audience in a discussion about thinking like a scientist both in our daily lives and in solving some of our greatest global challenges, such as food security, poverty, and building community. She emphasizes the need to clearly define problems, seek evidence, make evidence-based decisions, consider the broad impacts of decisions, and seek multiple perspectives. Hendrich teaches in the areas of food-borne toxicants and nutrition and conducts research on the effects of dietary and botanical constituents on gut health and inflammation. She joined the Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition in 1987 and is a Lura M. Lovell Fellow working on dietary supplement safety education. Part of the Sigma Xi Lecture Series and the Women in STEM Series.