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Putin's Russia and the Ideology of Glamour - Olga Mesropova
7:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Olga Mesropova, associate professor of Russian Studies in the Department of World Languages & Cultures, researches popular culture in the post-Soviet Union, including Russian film, comedy, and popular performance. She is particularly interested in Russian standup comedy from its early days to the post-Perestroika era, focusing on humor and satire under Yeltsin and Putin. Mesropova is the author of the cinema-based textbook, KINOTALK: Cinema for Russian Conversation. She is currently working on a book on Russian standup comics and another on images of women in post-Soviet Russian film and television as well as coediting a collection of essays entitled "Uncensored? Reinventing Humor and Satire in Post-Soviet Russia." Mesropova earned a PhD in philology from Russian State Hertzen University. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Fall Dean's Lecture.

Understanding Islam: The Message of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad - Dr. Sabeel Ahmed
2:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Dr. Sabeel Ahmed is the Director of the GainPeace Project, an outreach project of the Islamic Circle of North America. The Islamic Circle of North America is one of the largest, non-profit, independent, grass roots organizations of Muslim Americans. It has twenty-five chapters and affiliates with the mission to promote understanding of Islam and Muslims. GainPeace.com conducts many of those outreach projects in Chicago and other cities, and Dr. Sabeel has given numerous presentations and workshops on dawah, the Arabic word for "outreach." Before working with the GainPeace Project, Dr. Sabeel completed his medical education and worked in that field.

Free Markets, Sound Money and Non-Intervention - Ron Paul
7:00 PM – Benton Auditorium, Scheman Building, Iowa State Center - Ron Paul is a physician, eleven-term Republican congressman from Texas, and former presidential candidate. He has devoted his political career to limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. Paul's latest book, End the Fed, challenges the role of the Federal Reserve in American economic policy. His other publications include The Revolution: A Manifesto, Pillars of Prosperity, and A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship. Ron Paul founded the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty as an extension of his 2008 presidential campaign and the grass roots support it generated. Since there are multiple events scheduled at the Iowa State Center complex, please enter parking lot from Beach Ave. or South 4th St. Traffic attendants will be available to direct guests to the appropriate parking lot.

The Superstition Bash - Performance and Interactive Displays
7:00 PM – Memorial Union - Nathan Allen, the Maniac of Magic, will open the evening with a performance that is part magic, part comedy, and totally dysfunctional. NO rabbits, NO tuxedos, and NO sparkly boxes, just a combination of a twisted sense of humor, sleight-of-hand magic skills, and hilarious audience participation. During the reception following the performance, audience members will have an opportunity to interact with displays about common superstitions and enjoy appetizers, desserts, and hot cider and cocoa. Part of the Atheist and Agnostic Society 10th Anniversary Celebration.

DEAR JACK: A Screening with Corey Moss
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Corey Moss codirected, wrote and produced this 78-minute feature documentary Dear Jack about the Jack's Mannequin/Something Corporate singer Andrew McMahon and his bout with leukemia at the age of 22. Moss is an executive producer at Yahoo! Originals, where he created "Primetime in No Time," the highest-rated show on the Web. He has also written and directed short films starring Jackie Chan, Brett Ratner and Jamie Kennedy. He graduated from Iowa State with a journalism degree.

Mississippi River Water Quality: Policy, Farm Landscapes and Hypoxia - R. Eugene Turner
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - R. Eugene Turner is a Distinguished Research Master in the Coastal Ecology Institute and Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University. A hybrid oceanographer and wetland ecologist, he is active in the scientific aspects of coastal environmental management. In particular, his work addresses hypoxic zones, or Dead Zones, in which water oxygen levels are reduced to a level that can no longer support living aquatic organisms. Turner works regularly with The Land Institute and the Green Lands, Blue Waters Project on land use issues within the Mississippi River watershed. A reception will precede the lecture in the South Ballroom at 7:00 pm. The Dennis Keeney Distinguished Lecture.

Cooking, Fishing and Jogging through Phase Space: A Practical Guide to Discovering and Understanding New Materials - Paul Canfield
8:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Paul Canfield, Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Robert Allen Wright Chair in Physics, has spent over has spent over a score of years in condensed matter physics, earning an international reputation for discovering and developing new materials. His work combines physics, chemistry, and metallurgy and is specifically focused on the properties of conducting and magnetic materials. In this lecture he will outline the basic philosophy and techniques needed to search for novel materials. These include a combination of intuition, experience, compulsive optimism and a desire to share discovery. The lecture will be general and include side comments, mildly slanderous asides and references to philosophers living and dead. Sigma Xi Lecture.

My Hollywood Career - Corey Moss
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Corey Moss codirected, wrote and produced a 78-minute feature documentary Dear Jack about the Jack's Mannequin/Something Corporate singer Andrew McMahon and his bout with leukemia at the age of 22. He is an executive producer at Yahoo! Originals, where he created "Primetime in No Time," the highest-rated show on the Web. He has also written and directed short films starring Jackie Chan, Brett Ratner and Jamie Kennedy. debuted in front of the cameras on MTV and was their resident American Idol expert for several year. He later appeared on Fuse's "Videos that Rocked the World," "10 Great Reasons" and "Live Through This." Moss, who graduated from Iowa State with a journalism degree, is also an entertainment journalist who has been published in Spin, Rolling Stone and Vibe. A screening of DEAR JACK will follow at 8 p.m.

Engineering In The Coming Era of Insufficient Plenty - John Voeller
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - John Voeller, a member of the corporate management team at Black & Veatch, is a ASME White House Fellow in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. He is the principal architect of POWRTRAK, the automated engineering system of Black & Veatch that was used to build over 500 power facilities around the world. Voeller also serves as CEO and president of Data Discovery, Inc., which sells his recursive, search technology; CEO and president of General Integration Corp., specializing in highly collaborative environments; and CEO and president of Nuhands Corp., a firm specializing in products for aiding senior citizens and the handicapped. He holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Part of the Engineering Thematic Year on Sustainable Infrastructure and the Globalization, Technology, and Culture Series.

American Intelligence and the Continuing Threat from al-Qaeda: Strategic and Ethical Implications - Tom Twetten
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Tom Twetten served thirty-four years in clandestine services for the Central Intelligence Agency before retiring in 1995. He worked under diplomatic cover in such locations as Libya, Ghana, India, and Jordan, and was Chief of the CIA's Near East and South Asia Division during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. He served nearly six years as the CIA's Deputy Director for Operations, commanding the agency's worldwide clandestine network. During this time he directed intelligence resources in support of new democracies in Eastern Europe, supported a coalition of allied forces in the Gulf War following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, and placed new emphasis on fighting international narcotics trafficking, terrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Twetten received his bachelor's degree from Iowa State, a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University, and served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Part of the World Affairs Series