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Past Events

Thursday, 9 Apr 2009

Exploring the Deep Sea with Robots - Dana Yoerger
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Dana Yoerger is a senior scientist in applied ocean physics and engineering at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His research interests are in robotics, specifically in applying principals of automation to remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles to add capability and ease of use. These vehicles include the full-ocean depth Jason remotely operated vehicle, the Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE), and a variety systems for use in the US Navy and offshore oil, nuclear and commercial inspection industries. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Wednesday, 8 Apr 2009

Protect Yourself! - Ray Rodriguez and Yong Chin Pak
6:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Ray Rodriguez will provide information and prevention tips. He is the Student Health Center staff advisor for the Students 2 Students Peer Education Program, students who provide health outreach and education to other students. Yong Chin Pak will demonstrate a series of self-defense moves. He has been instructing students in the martial arts -Hapkido, Judo and Tae Kwon Do - at Iowa State University since 1973. He graduated from Yongin University with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, coached in both the Pan-Am and Goodwill Games, and authored a textbook, Tae Kwon Do. Part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Tuesday, 7 Apr 2009

Poverty Awareness Week Keynote Speaker - Oladele A. Ogunseitan
8:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Oladele Ogunseitan's research focuses on the connection between environmental quality, human health, and international policy. Besides providing his insights on global health issues, he will also discuss his own experiences growing up in Nigeria. Ogunseitan is a professor and chair of the Department of Population Health & Disease Prevention and professor of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. He is also the Director of the Lead Campus in Green Materials, Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program. Part of Poverty Awareness Week.

Monday, 6 Apr 2009

Secrets of Successful Women: A Workshop - Suzanna de Baca
12:00 PM – Gold Room, Memorial Union - Suzanna de Baca is Vice President of Affluent and Segment Strategies at Ameriprise Financial in Minneapolis. Participants will examine the paths of several accomplished women - CEOs, celebrities, entrepreneurs - and determine some of the common characteristics that led to their success. This process will include leadership and entrepreneurship assessment and discussion of strategies that will help participants build on their strengths to achieve success. Suzanna deBaca worked on Wall Street before returning to the midwest. She has an MBA from Harvard and an undergraduate degree from Iowa State. Part of the Women's Leadership Series

Sunday, 5 Apr 2009

Confronting Global Poverty: A Panel Discussion
7:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Iowa State faculty Mark Bryden, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Ebby Luvaga, Department of Economics; Leah Keino, Department of Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Management; and Mark Westgate, Director of Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods, will discuss how different disciplines work to improve the quality of life throughout the world. The cooperation of different disciplines to help alleviate poverty will also be explored. Part of Poverty Awareness Week.

Thursday, 2 Apr 2009

Make IT Matter: We Can Be Clever and Make a Difference - Gregory Abowd
12:00 PM – Lee Liu-Alliant Energy Auditorium, Howe Hall - Gregory Abowd is Distinguished Professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is a member of the School of Interactive Computing and the GVU Center and director of the Ubiquitous Computing Research Group. His research interests lie in the intersection between software engineering and human-computer interaction. He currently serves as the interim director of the Health Systems Institute, a Georgia Tech-Emory University joint research institute investigating the impact of technologies on healthcare delivery. It is an extension of his own work over the past decade on information technologies and autism. Abowd has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Notre Dame. He was a Rhodes Scholar and earned an M.Sc. and D.Phil. in computation from the University of Oxford Computing Laboratory. The Emerging Technologies Conference Keynote Speaker.

Wednesday, 1 Apr 2009

Damned Lies and Statistics - Joel Best
8:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Joel Best has written three books related to understanding statistics—Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Lies from Media, Politicians, and Activists, More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues, and Stat-Spotting: A Field-Guide to Identifying Dubious Data. A professor of sociology at the University of Delaware, he is a leading scholar of social problems and an advocate for statistical literacy. Dr. Best’s work on statistics focuses on the origin and life-course of statistical claims about social issues, how these claims are used by the media, politicians and activists, and how the public can better understand and evaluate these claims.

President Obama's First 100 Days - A Forum with Arnie Arnesen and Steffen Schmidt
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Iowa State Political Science Professor Steffen Schmidt is perhaps best known as "Dr. Politics," the longtime commentator and cohost of WOI Radio's weekly political call-in show. He is also a CNN en Espanol election analyst. Schmidt will be joined by political commentator and former New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Arnie Arnesen. Arnesen hosts the New Hampshire television show "Political Chowder," was a regular commentator on WBUR's "Greater Boston" with Emily Rooney and on SBS TV Australia. She is also a frequent guest with Schmidt on "Talk@12," on Iowa Public Radio.

Tuesday, 31 Mar 2009

Tolerance: Vice or Virtue? Otto H. Selles
8:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Otto H. Selles will provide an overview of how the concept of tolerance developed in the West, particularly during the Enlightenment, and will examine the place of tolerance in contemporary society, both globally and locally. He is professor of French at Calvin College and has been a member of the Faculty Steering Committee for the Festival of Faith and Writing there. He has also served as chair of the French Department, and directed Calvin College's French study abroad program, based in Grenoble, France. He received his B.A. and M.A. from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and completed his Ph.D.in 1994 from University of Paris-IV Sorbonne, France. Part of the Areopagus Lectures Series

The Impossible Takes A Little Longer: Reflections on Teaching Science as a Liberal Art - Dudley R. Herschbach
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dudley R. Herschbach is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard and recipient of the Nobel Prize in chemistry. His research on the crossed molecular beam technique is one of the most important advances within the field of reaction dynamics and has allowed scientists to better understand how chemical reactions take place. Herschbach has authored more than four hundred scientific papers, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, and has been honored with numerous awards. He received his Ph.D. in chemical physics at Harvard. He is currently engaged in several efforts to improve K-12 science education and the public's understanding of science. The 2009 President's Lecture in Chemistry.