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Is God a Conservative?
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Award-winning novelist of crime and suspense, conservative speaker Andrew Klavan will discuss how God provides morality. He posits "John Adams said our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. Do we have to have faith if we want to be free?" Nominated five times, two of his books have won the Edgar Award. Klavan also has a podcast on The Daily Wire.

Living in the Future's Past
6:00 PM – Pioneer Room - Living in the Future's Past is a film narrated by Jeff Bridges and directed by Susan Kucera. It was awarded the Gold World Medal by the United Nations for its efforts in the field of climate change and sustainability and Best Documentary by the Arizona International Film Festival. The documentary will challenge students to think about environmental issues and their place within this movement. A discussion will follow the film.

Ancient Indian Science in the Modern World-Dr Subhash Kak
6:00 PM – 127 Curtiss - Dr. Kak is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Oklahoma State University. His research is in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and history of science. Dr. Kak will discuss the current research in the disciplines of neuroscience, physics, and computer science and indicate parallels with ancient Indian texts. He will highlight how consciousness studied as a part of the ancient Indian science is relevant in our times.

Symphony of Diversity - Adrian Anantawan
7:30 PM – Stephens Auditorium - Join the Iowa State University Orchestra as they celebrate a world that is a Symphony of Diversity. Bringing uncommon artists and uncommon composers to the concert hall to highlight the many cultures and peoples that make up America, the performance features the Iowa State University Symphony Orchestra under its conductor, Jonathan Govias, along with special guest Adrian Anantawan, violin. Doors open at 6:45pm. This event is free and open to the public.

Reconnecting Landscapes for Nature and People - Dr. Nick Haddad
5:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dr. Nick Haddad is a Professor of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station, where he is Director of their long-term Ecological Research Program. He studies biodiversity conservation in working landscapes. He also studies conservation of the rarest butterflies in the world, conservation by reconnecting habitat with landscape corridors, and conservation of habitat diversity in agricultural landscapes. His work is characterized by decades-long, landscape-scale experiments.

Gorge: My 300-Pound Journey Up Kilimanjaro - Kara Richardson-Whitely
8:15 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Kara's message of body acceptance, body love and health at every size are a vital message for everyone. Her life story with her eating disorder is one many people connect to emotional eating; using food as a way to escape daily stressors; hiding food behaviors and ashamed of the person whom they have become. Hearing her process up the mountain and finding herself is awe inspiring. Body Image and Eating Disorder Awareness Week Speaker

Indigenous Peoples in Children's and Young Adult Literature - Dr. Debbie Reese
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Dr. Debbie Reese is an independent scholar of Indigenous children’s literature and the teaching of Indigenous peoples and history in K-12, editor of American Indians in Children’s Literature. In this lecture, Dr. Reese will examine depictions of Native peoples in children's books, past and present, and provide suggestions for how to become more skilled in selecting and presenting information about Indigenous peoples to children. 2019-2020 Helen LeBaron Hilton Chair Series

The Power of One - Erin Brockovich
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - It's been almost 20 years since Julia Roberts starred in the Oscar-winning biopic Erin Brockovich. The film turned this unknown legal researcher into a 20th century icon by showcasing how her dogged persistence was the impelling force behind the largest medical settlement lawsuit in history. Erin’s exhaustive investigation uncovered that Pacific Gas & Electric had been poisoning the small town of Hinkley, California for over 30 years. It was because of Erin’s unwavering tenacity that PG&E was exposed for leaking toxic Chromium 6 into the ground water. This poison affected the health of the population of Hinkley. In 1996, as a result of the largest direct action lawsuit of its kind, spearheaded by Erin and Ed Masry, the utility giant was forced to pay out the largest toxic tort injury settlement in US history: $333 million in damages to more than 600 Hinkley residents. Today, Erin consults on numerous environmental projects all over the world and encourages people to believe in their personal power to affect change. 2020 Symposium on Sustainability Keynote

The Future of Human-Robot Interaction - Dr. Kate Darling
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Dr. Kate Darling is a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab. Her interest is in how technology intersects with society. Dr. Darling’s current work looks at the near-term effects of robotic technology, with a particular interest in law, social, and ethical issues. She has also explored economic issues in intellectual property systems. She runs experiments, holds workshops, writes, and speaks about some of the more interesting developments in the world of human-robot interaction, and where we might find ourselves in the future. Engineers’ Week Keynote

The Traveling Feast: On the Road and At the Table with My Heroes - Rick Bass
8:00 PM – Gallery Room, Memorial Union - Author and environmental activist, Rick Bass is the author of over two dozen books of fiction and nonfiction including Why I Came West, Ninemile Wolves, The Watch: Stories, All the Land to Hold Us, and The Traveling Feast: On the Road and At the Table with My Heroes. His nonfiction has been anthologized in Best American Spiritual Writing, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Science Writing, and he has received fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation. His fiction has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, and his work been excerpted in and received commendations from many magazines including O, The Oprah Magazine, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. In 2017, Bass was awarded The Story Prize for his short fiction collection, For a Little While. His stories and articles have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including the Paris Review, the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Narrative, Men’s Journal, Esquire, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Harper’s, and Orion. Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writers Series.