Search For Lectures
Past Events
Wednesday, 6 Apr 2011
Hybrid Pioneer - Film and Discussion with Featured Artist Brent Houzenga and Filmmaker Kristian Day
7:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer is a documentary about Des Moines mixed media artist and musician Brent Houzenga. The film chronicles the enterprising spirit of do-it-yourself artistry and the struggle to carve and maintain a successful creative career. It is the first film in Modern American Cinema's Made in Iowa documentary series, which tells the stories of the people, places and ideas that have influenced Iowa's culture. Kristian Day is a filmmaker with Modern American Cinema, an independent production company based in Des Moines that specializes in full-feature narratives and educational documentaries. Day and Houzenga will take questions from the audience immediately following the screening.
Leaks, Leakers and the Law - Jeffrey Hunt
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Jeffrey Hunt is a First Amendment attorney in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an Iowa State alumnus. He regularly represents national and local media companies in state and federal courts and counsels clients on defamation, privacy and First Amendment rights. He serves as local counsel for two national television networks and in 1992 founded the Utah Freedom of Information Hotline, which provides free legal assistance to the public and journalists. Hunt earned his BA in Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa State in 1983. During the four years following, he was a Copy Editor for the Des Moines Register, and a reporter for the Quad-City Times and Deseret News. Hunt is an adjunct professor at the University of Utah S. J. Quinney College of Law. Part of the First Amendment Day Celebration.
Advanced Biofuels and Clean Cars: How to Cut Our Nation's Oil Dependence in Half - Jeremy Martin
6:00 PM – Cardinal Room, Memorial Union - Jeremy Martin is a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists Clean Vehicles Program. He evaluates the impact of biofuels and fuel policy. Martin has researched and published on a range of topics, including biofuels lifecycle accounting, greenhouse gas emissions in biofuels production, semiconductor manufacturing and polymer physics. Prior to his work with UCS, he worked in research, development and manufacturing of computer chips at Advanced Micro Devices. He earned a PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Part of the Live Green! Sustainability Series.
Tuesday, 5 Apr 2011
A Dialogue on the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process - David Makovsky, John Murray and James McCormick
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - David Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute and director of its Project on the Middle East Peace Process. Before joining The Washington Institute, Makovsky was a journalist based in Israel for many years covering the peace process. He is the former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post, was diplomatic correspondent for Israel's leading daily, Haaretz, and served for eleven years as the U.S. News and World Report Jerusalem correspondent. His many publications include Making Peace with the PLO: The Rabin Government's Road to the Oslo Accord and Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.
John Murray, who since 2002 served as external adviser to the Palestinian Negotiation Support Unit, a legal and policy unit supporting the Palestinian negotiating team. He was previously associate director of the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts at The Maxwell School, Syracuse University. Murray taught international law and negotiation at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, during the 1990s, and from 1973-82 served three terms as an Iowa State Senator from the Ames district.
James McCormick, Professor and Chair of the Iowa State Political Science Department, will moderate.
Part of the World Affairs Series.
Biology and Medicine: Systems Approaches Transforming Health Care - Leroy Hood
5:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Biologist Leroy Hood is widely recognized for his invention of five instruments that now constitute the technological foundation for modern molecular biology and genomics. They include DNA and protein sequencers and synthesizers and the ink-jet oligonucleotide synthesizer used for deciphering the various types of biological information, such as DNA, RNA, proteins and systems. Hood's DNA sequencer, in particular, has revolutionized genomics by allowing the rapid automated sequencing of DNA, which was crucial to the mapping of the human genome. He is also coauthor of a popular book on the human genome project, The Code of Codes. Hood is the William Gates Chair of the Department of Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Washington and president and cofounder of the Institute for Systems Biology. He has an M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series.
Monday, 4 Apr 2011
Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking - Chris Young
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Chef Chris Young has earned a reputation for applying science and technology in the kitchen. He opened the experimental kitchen at The Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire, England, working under world-famous chef Heston Blumenthal and overseeing development of the restaurant's most innovative dishes. Young completed degrees in mathematics and biochemistry at the University of Washington and left behind his doctoral work for a job as chef at one of Seattle's top restaurants. He has written extensively on the science of food and cooking for The Fat Duck Cookbook and has published scholarly research in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and Food Science. He is coauthor of the forthcoming Modernist Cuisine, a comprehensive, illustrated six-volume set dedicated to the science and technology of cooking. Part of the National Affairs Series on Innovation.
Who Do You Say I Am? Jesus Christ as Seen through His Closest Relationships - Anne Clifford
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Anne Clifford is the Msgr. James A. Supple Chair of Catholic Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State. Her talk explores Jesus Christ's most intimate relationships in response to one of the core questions he raised in the Gospels, "Who do you say I am?" She uses contemporary biblical scholarship to show how Jesus invited his closest companions to leave conventional wisdom behind and live by an alternative wisdom, one that challenged the cultural customs and societal patterns of his day. Clifford is the author of Introducing Feminist Theology and coeditor of Christology: Memory, Inquiry, Practice. She earned her PhD from the Catholic University of America. The Msgr. James A. Supple Chair Lecture.
Science and Children: A Natural Fit - Karen Worth
7:00 PM – Reiman Ballroom South, Alumni Center - Karen Worth is a faculty member at Wheelock College, where she teaches early childhood and elementary education with a focus on science education. For many years, she directed Wheelock's Boston Public School Collaborative Programs. She has also served as an advisor to the PBS programs Curious George and The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That. Worth worked for twenty-five years as a senior research scientist at the Education Development Center, where she was the principal investigator for a range of programs focused on curriculum development, professional development, and systemic reform. They included Tool Kit for Early Childhood Science Education and the NSF-funded Connecting Science and Literacy Program. She earned her BS in biology from Radcliffe and a Master's degree from Bank Street College of Education in New York City. The Barbara E. (Mound) Hansen Lecture Series
Sunday, 3 Apr 2011
Free Expression, the Arts, and Federal Funding - Jeff Fleming
7:00 PM – 2019 Morrill Hall - As First Amendment Day approaches ask yourself, should museums be safe and welcoming for all, or places where challenging ideas are explored? The issue becomes more heated when museums receive Federal funding. Jeff Fleming, director of the Des Moines Arts Center, will discuss the nature of free expression in the visual arts, including a personal experience where he came under scrutiny for curating a controversial exhibit. Part of the First Amendment Day Celebration.
Thursday, 31 Mar 2011
Politics, Policy and the Reality of Leadership - Gwen Ifill
7:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Gwen Ifill is moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and senior correspondent for The PBS Newshour. She is also the author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Ifill reports on a wide range of issues, from foreign affairs to U.S. politics and policies, interviewing national and international newsmakers. She has covered six presidential campaigns and moderated the vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008. Before joining PBS, she worked as the chief congressional and political correspondent for NBC News and covered the White House and politics for The New York Times. The Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics and part of the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday Celebration.