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Roman Shipwrecks and a Maritime Bottleneck in the Aegean Sea
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dan Davis is an associate professor of Classics at Luther College. He earned his PhD in Classics from the University of Texas at Austin and specializes in maritime archaeology. He has served as a marine archaeologist for expeditions of Robert Ballard's E/V/ Nautilus, senior staff archaeologist for the Caesarea City and Harbor Exploration Project, and Scientific Recovery Expert for the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency. He has published on Mediterranean and Black Sea shipwrecks, navigation, and economic history. Professor Davis will discuss two Roman shipwrecks that were discovered and remotely documented in deep water in the southeast Aegean by the E/V Nautilus expedition. These shipwrecks shed light on the distribution of Rhodian wine in the early Roman Empire as well as a treacherous maritime corridor. Dr. Davis’ research shows how scientists, engineers, and humanists can work together to make important discoveries. We anticipate that his lecture will appeal to a broad cross-section of the ISU community, and especially to those with an interest in Roman culture, seafaring, archaeology, and economic/food systems.

An Evening with Allyson Felix
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Innovation Speaker Series How the most decorated American track and field Olympian of all time turned inspiration in motherhood and advocacy into social innovation Allyson Felix is an 11-time Olympic medalist, mom, business owner, and recently retired professional athlete who will share stories of adversity, triumph, and advocacy through her presentation and extended question and answer period. Felix will also participate in a limited meet and greet with photos immediately following the lecture in the Great Hall. This lecture will not be recorded. Card scanning is available for extra credit.

Indian Contributions to Modern Science and Technology
6:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Nilesh Oak holds BS and MS in Chemical Engineering and Executive MBA. He has written 3 books, 500+ blog articles, and 1000+ lectures on Indian civilization. His original research includes the dating of ancient historical events and the exploration of ancient sciences and technologies in the areas of astronomy, agriculture, domestication of animals, navigation, philosophy, and medical sciences. Nilesh helps individuals become aware of the deep wisdom and antiquity of Indian civilization so that they truly comprehend, present or defend the grand narrative of this civilization unlike most other Indic researchers because he builds it through scientific acumen and logical reasoning.

The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Speaker: Amitav Ghosh A Pearl Hogrefe Lecture Award Winning Author, Environmentalist & Climate Advocate, Amitav Ghosh will read from and discuss The Nutmeg’s Curse. A powerful work of history, essay, testimony, and polemic, The Nutmeg’s Curse traces our contemporary planetary crisis back to the discovery of the New World and the sea route to the Indian Ocean. The history of the nutmeg is one of conquest and exploitation—of both human life and the natural environment. In Ghosh’s hands, the story of the nutmeg becomes a parable for our environmental crisis, revealing the ways human history has always been entangled with earthly materials such as spices, tea, sugarcane, opium, and fossil fuels. Writing against the backdrop of the global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests, Ghosh frames these historical stories in a way that connects our shared colonial histories with the deep inequality we see around us today. Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta and grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria and is the author of The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, and The Ibis Trilogy, consisting of Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire. The Great Derangement; Climate Change and the Unthinkable, a work of non-fiction, appeared in 2016. Gun Island, was released in September 2019. Ghosh’s first-ever book in verse, Jungle Nama: A Story of the Sundarban, was published February 2021. His latest book, The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis, was released in October, 2021. Special pre-event: The Great Derangement: Writing and Researching Climate Change Narratives From 2-3pm in Room 3560, join this this moderated conversation about craft, Amitav Ghosh will discuss his process of writing and researching the complex topics contained in his works, including his award-winning environmental novels and his two recent works of research nonfiction, The Great Derangement and The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis. Moderated by Debra Marquart, ISU professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment. The ISU Book Store will be at the evening event selling copies of Ghosh's book.

Human Origins: Adam, Eve, and Evolution
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Speaker: Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass Evolutionary science teaches that humans, arose from a population, sharing common ancestors with other animals. Most readers of the book of Genesis in the past understood all humans descended from Adam and Eve a couple specially created by God. These two teachings seem contradictory, but is that necessarily so? In a conversation with Dr. Ingebritsen, Dr. Swamidass will explain his scientific hypothesis: What if the traditional biblical account is somehow true, with the origins of Adam and Eve taking place alongside evolution? Building on well-established but overlooked science, Swamidass explains how it's possible for Adam and Eve to be rightly identified as the ancestors of everyone. This work opens new possibilities for understanding Adam and Eve, consistent both with the current scientific consensus and with traditional readings of Scripture. S. Joshua Swamidass, MD, PhD, is a computational biologist, physician, academic and author. He is Associate professor in the Laboratory and Genomic Medicine Division at Washington University in St Louis. He uses artificial intelligence to explore science at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and medicine. He has published over 150 articles. Dr. Swamidass is a Christian who is a rising star in the faith and science area with his Peaceful Science blog (Peaceful Science) and his recent book, The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry (2019). Thomas S. Ingebritsen, PhD is an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology at Iowa State University. He received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Indiana University in 1979. He has been teaching an Honors Seminar entitled Christianity and Science for the last 23 years.

Inflation: The Fed's Efforts to Control an Economic Monster
5:30 PM – 3580 Memorial Union - Fiscal and monetary policies have stretched the boundaries of policy prudence for over a decade. They have caused a misallocation of resources, contributed to asset inflation, and more recently contributed to persistent inflation in goods and services. The federal government continues to spend freely, adding to the national debt and, until recently, the Federal Reserve has enabled the government to run deficits by monetizing them. Now, finally, the Federal Reserve has determined to renew its commitment to low and stable inflation – goods, services, and asset inflation. It is attempting to do so without causing a recession or financial crisis. However, its delay in policy actions has made that more difficult, causing heightened economic uncertainty. What will it take to get the U.S. economy back on track? Can the Fed do it alone?

Artificial Intelligence: What Does It Mean to Be Human?
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass Evolutionary science teaches that humans, arose from a population, sharing common ancestors with other animals. Most readers of the book of Genesis in the past understood all humans descended from Adam and Eve a couple specially created by God. These two teachings seem contradictory, but is that necessarily so? In a conversation with Dr. Ingebritsen, Dr. Swamidass will explain his scientific hypothesis: What if the traditional biblical account is somehow true, with the origins of Adam and Eve taking place alongside evolution? Building on well-established but overlooked science, Swamidass explains how it's possible for Adam and Eve to be rightly identified as the ancestors of everyone. This work opens new possibilities for understanding Adam and Eve, consistent both with the current scientific consensus and with traditional readings of Scripture. S. Joshua Swamidass, MD, PhD, is a computational biologist, physician, academic and author. He is Associate professor in the Laboratory and Genomic Medicine Division at Washington University in St Louis. He uses artificial intelligence to explore science at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and medicine. He has published over 150 articles. Dr. Swamidass is a Christian who is a rising star in the faith and science area with his Peaceful Science blog (Peaceful Science) and his recent book, The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry (2019). Thomas S. Ingebritsen, PhD is an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology at Iowa State University. He received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Indiana University in 1979. He has been teaching an Honors Seminar entitled Christianity and Science for the last 23 years.

Blood at the Root: A Discussion of Forsyth County, GA
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Author Patrick Phillips will discuss his search for the truth about his own hometown, where in 1912 hundreds of local white people used arson, lynching, and mob violence to drive out the entire Black population—and then kept them out for nearly a century. Having been raised in America’s most notorious “white county,” Phillips will talk about his awakening from the willful ignorance of white supremacy, and how he joined the struggle for racial justice. Patrick Phillips is the author of Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America, which won the American Book Award, and was named a best book of the year by the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Smithsonian. He has also written four books of poems, including Elegy for a Broken Machine, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. The recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Carnegie Foundation, Phillips is currently a Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library. He lives in San Francisco and teaches writing and literature at Stanford.

Bicycling, Birding, and #BLM Across America in a Summer of Chaos
7:00 PM – Curtiss Hall Room 0127 - Speaker: Dr. Scott V. Edwards Dr. Scott V. Edwards is the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and the Curator of Ornithology at Harvard's associated museum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology. More lecture details to come.

The Unplugging: (Re)Writing the Apocalypse
5:00 PM – Webex (see link below) - In this online event, Yvette Nolan will discuss her creative work as a playwright and theatrical director. Ms. Nolan’s play, The Unplugging, tells the story of two women who are exiled from their village in a post-apocalyptic world, after passing child-bearing age. They rely on their traditional wisdom to survive. But when a stranger from their village seeks their help, the women must decide if they will use their knowledge of the past to help the society that rejected them. Ms. Nolan's talk will be followed by a Q&A moderated by ISU playwright and creative writing professor, Charissa Menefee. Webex Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m47efe5857ba7fb28f7acdbce186948b7