Science Lecture Series

Otterbein University is pleased to welcome Dr. Tina Henkin, from The Ohio State University, as the 2013 Science Lecture Series speaker. Dr. Henkin is an accomplished molecular microbiologist who was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2012 and shared the prestigious National Academies of Science Pfizer Prize in 2006 for her discovery of riboswitches, a novel form of gene regulation. Dr. Henkin earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Swarthmore College and her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin.  She then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University Medical School.  She is the current chair of the Department of Microbiology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Center for RNA Biology, the Biochemistry Program and the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Program at Ohio State.

The Information Revolution: Exploring the Possibilities Grasping the Consequences (1987)

Information serves as the essential raw material for our economy in the way that fuel and iron served the industrial economy. In converting this raw material into useful knowledge, we've come to see the many ways modern technology modifies us - the computer changes the way we use our brains just as the steam engine changed the use of our muscles.

We have also come to see the risks associated with great technological advances and are only beginning to understand our obligations to resolve them. This seminar focused on understanding the many and vast advances of the information age, and responding to its unexpected byproducts.

Seminar Leaders
Dr. Robert Dixtion, deputy director of the Instructional and Research Computer Center at The Ohio State University, has conducted the longest continuous search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the world.

Douglas Kiker, NBC national affairs correspondent, was one of the nation's most widely respected television reporters. As a political reporter, he covered presidential conventions since 1964, the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement and many White House stories including the Kennedy Assassination. While NBC's Rome correspondent, his story assignments took him from Poland to Bangladesh. And his work as a war correspondent took him to Vietnam, Northern Ireland, the Mideast and Iran.

Robert Ellis Smith, the nation's foremost authority on the "Big Brother" dangers of computers, has been called the Paul Revere of the Information Age because of his attention to the conflict between electronic data processing and individual rights. He is publisher of the Washington newsletter, Privacy Journal, and wrote Privacy: How to Protect What's Left of It and The Big Brother Book of Lists.

Richard Teresi is an award-winning writer and lecturer who specializes in science, technology and medical topics. He is a founding editor and current consulting editor of the successful science magazine OMNI and is in charge of its future-news sections.

Coordinators
Dr. Philip E. Barnhart, Chairperson , Physics and Astronomy Department
Dr. Jerry A. Jenkins, Professor, Chemistry

Funders
Westinghouse Educational Foundation
Edward Kraus Fund

The 3-Pound Universe: Exploring the Ultimate Frontier - The Human Mind (1988)
This two-day seminar investigated a variety of topics relating to the brain and its complexities. This second annual event devoted to science included an impressive group of presenters and consised of a series of workshops, keynote and opening speeches and a convocation.

Seminar Leaders
Dr. Stephen Laberge, acclaimed Stanford University sleep researcher, has made lucid dreaming -- the sleep state in which a person is aware that he or she is dreaming -- a science. His investigations uncovered a rapid eye movement pattern that indicated when subjects knew they were dreaming, and the studies virtually broke the communication barrier between dreams and waking life.

Dr. Jerre Levy, Professor of biopsychology at the University of Chicago, is a recognized authority in field brain studies involving hemispheric interplay -- how the left and right sides of the brain interrelate. In 1966, she began working with Nobel Prize winner Roger Sperry (renowned for his classic split-brain research) at Caltech.

Dr. Richard Restak, noted psychiatrist and neurologist, is at the forefront of the effort to integrate all that is known about the human mind. A respected writer who brings this "ultimate frontier" to popular attention with his best-seller, The Brain, Restak takes his audience on a fascinating tour of the mind's intricate inner workings.

Richard Teresi, author of The 3-Pound Universe which serves as topic of this Science 2000 seminar, was honorary chairman of the two-day event. The book is a fascinating and complete account of the latest discoveries in brain science.

Funders
Westinghouse Educational Foundation
St. Ann's Hospital

Longevity-The Myths & Realities of Aging (1989)
Emotional and complicated issues surround the phenomenon of aging. We continue to be curiously perplexed at the scientific, sociological and psychological causes of the aging process. As people live longer, concerns about the health and care of the elderly dominate the social, political and economic climates. This two-day seminar investigated the growing complexities of longevity through a series of workshops, keynote and opening speeches and a convocation. This third annual event devoted to science included an impressive group of presenters.

Seminar Leaders
Maggie Kuhn, Keynote Speaker, is credited with almost single handedly building The Gray Panthers, which embodies the philosophy of eradicating "ageism" through the young and the old working together and linking their individual perspectives. Noted for her writing, lecturing and activism on the part of the elderly, she has established a national profile.

Harry Lipscomb, M.D., Convocation Speaker, is a professor of family and community medicine at the Texas A & M University University of Medicine. He has published widely in the medical literature in endocrine physiology and biochemistry, the metabolic costs of manned space flight, biomedical engineering, medical ethics and geriatric medicine. Dr. Lipscomb was instrumental in the creation of specialized centers for the care of patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Richard Teresi is the former Director of New Magazine Development for Omni Publications Ltd. He was instrumental in the launch of Omni and Longevity magazines. He wrote the editorial plans for both publications and also served as Editor of both of them. He has been an editor on seven national magazines, including Good Housekeeping and Science Digest, where he was also editor-in-chief. He wrote or coauthored six books on science, medicine, or technology -- most notably The Three Pound Universe. He also collaborated with Arthur C. Clarke to produce a book entitled July 20, 2019, which is a vision of what life will be like in the twenty-first century.

Committee
Dr. Michael Herschler, Chairperson, Life and Earth Sciences
Dr. Jerry Jenkins, Professor, Chemistry
Dr. Robert Kraft, Professor, Psychology

Funders
Westinghouse Educational Foundation
Nationwide Insurance Companies
St. Ann's Hospital

The Origins of Life (1990)
The origins of life and extraterrestrial life are fascinating topics to most people. Scientists, in particular, have researched and explored the wealth of possibilities as we discover the mysteries of the universe. The fourth annual Otterbein University Science 2000 symposium addressed the issues surrounding the phenomena of life's origins and life in the universe. Anthropology, advanced medical technology, genetics and NASA's search for extraterrestrial life are among the stimulating subjects that were discussed in this two-day series of workshops, speeches and an opening convocation.

Seminar Leaders
Leonard Krishtalka, Convocation Speaker, is curator and editor of Scientific Publications at Carnegie Museum of National History in Pittsburgh, where he is also Assistant Director for Science. In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh where he teaches a number of courses in evolutionary biology. Krishtalka's research involves the origin and early evolution of the modern groups of mammals, which first appeared between 65 and 55 million years ago. He has been a member of five expeditions with Richard Leakey's research team at Lake Turkana, Kenya, and was a member of an international expedition to the Middle Awash, Ethiopia, that recovered skull remains of a "Lucy"-like hominid dated at more than 4 million years.

George Strait, Keynote Speaker, is ABC News Medical Correspondent. In addition to his news reporting for "World News Tonight With Peter Jennings," "The Health Show" and other ABC News programming, Mr. Strait is a member of numerous university and professional medical and health sciences. Since 1983, Mr. Strait has been ABC News' primary correspondent assigned to cover medical and health news. He contributes reports to the "American Agenda" series for "World News Tonight." He has earned the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club, as well as an Emmy nomination. Strait was an ABC White House correspondent and has received a number of awards for his broadcast coverage.

Jill Tarter is a research astronomer whose main focus is the implementation of high spectral resolution searches for extraterrestrial radio signals however and wherever possible. She serves as project scientist for NASA's SETI Microwave Observing Project. She has explored topics in biology, geophysics, chemistry, paleontology, and many other fields that relate to the question of the existence of life elsewhere in the universe. In September 1989 Tarter received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the field of exobiology, and in particular to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, by Women in Aerospace, a professional association in Washington, D.C.

Committee
Dr. Philip Barnhart, Chairperson, Physics and Astronomy
Dr. Donald Bulthaup, Academic Dean and Professor, Physics
Dr. Michael Herschler, Chairperson, Life and Earth Sciences
Dr. Jerry Jenkins, Professor, Chemistry
Dr. Robert Kraft, Professor, Psychology

Funders
The White Science Symposium Fund
Individual Supporters

Genetic Medicine: Accomplishments Prospects and Bioethics (1991)
The rapid-fire progress in genetic engineering technology has generated two exciting developments: Gene therapy, an attempt to correct genetic defects by inserting new genes into a patient, and the launching of the Human Genome Project - a 15 year $3 billion effort to identify the location and structure of all the genes in human chromosomes. The 1991 Otterbein University Science Lecture Series addressed the issues surrounding this technology. Terminology and theory, genetic engineering and gene mapping, as well as the bioethical implications, are among the stimulating subjects that were discussed.

Seminar Leaders
Benjamin J. Barnhart, Ph.D., is Acting Deputy Director of the Health Effects and Life Sciences Research Division for the U.S. Department of Energy. Research activities include the human genome program, radiation biology, chemical toxixology, cellular and molecular biology, and structural biology. Previously he served as program manager for the Department's human genome program. Prior to joining DOE he was a visiting associate professor of chemistry at the University of Missouri-Kansas city, section head of the Genetic Toxicology and Microbiology Section at the Midwest Research Institute, Kansas City, and a senior staff scientist and associate group leader of the Genetics Group of the Life Sciences Division at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where he also served as division program manager for the mutagenesis program.

George A. Kanoti, M.A., S.T.D., is Director of the Office of Bioethics at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation as well as Research Professor at Northeastern Ohio Universities University of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of the department of religious studies at John Carroll University. He serves as vice-president for the Society for Bioethics Consulation and Editor of the Society for Health and Human Values Bulletin. Current committee appointments include advisory boards at Case Western Reserve for the Center for Biomedical Ethics, and chair of the Bioethics Committee for the Cleveland Academy of Medicine.

Jerry B. Lingrel, Ph.D., is a 1957 Chemistory graduate of Otterbein University, a Distinguished University Professor, Director of Program Excellence in Molecular Biology of the Heart and Lung, and Chair of Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Cincinnati University of Medicine. His research is directed toward understanding how the genetic information of mammalian cells is expressed and regulated during development, and includes investigation of the hemoglobin genes and sodium, potassium-ATPase. Dr. Lingrel is a recipient of The George Rieveschi Award for Distingished Scientific Research.

Ronald G. Schoner, Ph.D., is Head of the Department of Diabetes Research at the Eli Lilly Company Research Laboratory in Indianapolis. He previously served as American Cancer Society Fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As a biochemist, Dr. Schoner's research is directed toward the development of expression factors for mammalian genes. Eli Lilly Company, in collaboration with Genentech Corp., introduced one of the first commercial successes of genetic engineering - human insulin.

Coordinators
Dr. Jerry A. Jenkins, Professor, Chemistry
Ms. Kathleen Morgan, Office of Grants and Special Projects

Funder
The GTE Foundation

Backyard Biosphere: Environmental Technology and Ethics in Everyday Life (1993)
The variety and complexity of environmental issues and the unfolding nature of "environmentalism." make it difficult for many to readily acquire and assimilate information useful in forming balanced views about the environment. Additionally, many concepts and issues that make up "environmental awareness" often are clouded in impassioned, imprecise rhetoric. Nevertheless, the importance of having informed citizens familiar and comfortable with their environment is uniformly acknowledged.

Seminar Leaders
Mary E. Clark, Ph.D. came to her all encompassing concern with the environment via her research on animal adaptation, which she was pursuing at the molecular level. She expanded her research and teaching to include global Issues, environmental concerns, economics, and politics. In Dr. Clark's 1989 book, Ariadne's Thread: The Search for New Modes of Thinking, she cuts across a dozen disciplines, exploring the causes of human violence and environmental destruction, and she proposes solutions that include decentralization, local self-sufficiency, and cultural diversity.

Jo Davison, is founder and current president and researcher director for Lambda Bioremediation Systems, Inc., a small, woman-owned business that exclusively offers bioremediation services. Lambda was founded in 1984 and has established itself as one of the top one hundred environmental firms in the country as a leader in biological treatment technology. Biological remediation is a multifaceted group of technologies that utilize living biological components to clean polluted water and soil. It encompasses multiple techniques to clean pollution by rebalancing the ecosystem involved.

The Honorable Richard C. Pfeiffer, Jr. serves with the environmental division of the Franklin County Municipal Court. He is the first judge of the Environmental Court that came into existence on January 8, 1992. In addition to performing the regular duties of a municipal court judge, Judge Pfeiffer has exclusive jurisdiction to render decisions in cases involving neighborhood environmental issues such as housing standards, building standards and health, sanitation, fire, safety, air pollution, and zoning issues.

Michael E. Renz is a senior hydrogeologist and vice president of EPSYS Corporation, an environmental engineering firm specializing in applied hydrology. He is a field-seasoned hydrogeologist, possessing a unique combination of technical, managerial, and communication skills. Best known for his practical approach to environmental problems, Mr. Renz presents numerous workshops for organizations including The U.S. Department of Defense, The Manufacturers Education Council, The Ohio Petroleum Marketers Association, and Washington State University.

David F. Ross is Endangered Species and Wildlife Diversity Coordinator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. He has been with the ODNR since 1974, where he has been involved in environmental impact analysis, electric generation and transmission facility siting, land use planning, litter prevention and recycling.

Richard C. Sahli is Executive Director of the Ohio Environmental Council. Founded in 1969, the OEC represents approximately 155 local environmental and conservation groups in Ohio and over 1000 individuals. The Council's work concentrates on researching and reporting on Ohio's unique environmental issues and, with its member groups, devising effective proposals for reform.

James Slavicek, Ph.D., U.S. Forest Service, is with a research work unit in Delaware, Ohio, entitled, Development of Biologically Based Controls for Forest Insect Pests and Diseases Through Molecular Technologies. Dr. Slavicek joined the Forest Service in 1988 as a staff scientist and became the unit's project leader in 1990.

Coordinator
Dr. Simon K. Lawrance, Acting Chair, Life and Earth Sciences

Funders
Battelle Memorial Institute
The White Science Symposium Fund

Health Care 2000: America Through the Looking Glass (1994)
Health care has been described as "the most challenging issue facing the American polity in the final decade of the 20th Century." Everyone agrees that the ramifications of how society addresses it will be felt for decades to come. Yet while the implications of health care affect all levels and sectors of society, there is little consensus about the parameters of American health care, the policies that govern it and the need for its reform.

Seminar Leaders
Robert J. (Jeff) Caswell, Ph.D., is an associate professor and vice chairperson in the Graduate Program in Health Services Management and Policy at The Ohio State University. Professor Caswell's research and publications are in a variety of areas including forecasting methods, nursing home costs, hospital utilization and economic performance, health care regulation, public health dentistry, and graduate medical education.

Gerald Dworkin, Ph.D., is an ethicist with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His special interests are ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law. He spent a year at the Harvard Law School as Liberal Arts Fellow in Law and Philosophy.

Jacqueline D. Fullerton, MBA, J.D., is Executive Director of the Ohio Health Care Board. She was responsible for House Bill 478, passed in 1992, that established the 16 member independent Board to set State policies and propose legislation to develop a health care system providing affordable, quality care to all Ohioans.

William D. Hayes, Ph.D., serves as Chief of Health Policy Unit for the Ohio Department of Health, Office of Health Policy and Analysis where he assists the Director of Health with development of health care cost and access reform initiatives as well as to track and analyze state and federal health care reform initiatives and the preparation of strategic health policy plan. He conducted research studies investigating the impact of various facets of the existing health financing and delivery system on children with special health care needs, including analysis on insurance underwriting practices and on managed care.

Richard M. Obertots, MBA, NREMT-P, is the founder and president of The Baker Street Group, Inc., a multi-media "edutainment" firm who's mission is: TO PRODUCE ENDORPHINS! Obertots has been a healthcare professional for more than 14 years and has functioned as nationally registers paramedic, healthcare system EMS/Trama coordinator, financial analyst, and physician/professional services specialist. As the founder of the med-rock-comedy-drama performance group "The Dysrhythmics," he currently performs and lectures full-time throughout the US and Australia and is the executive producer and writer of a variety of healthcare and business video programs. Timothy R. Sahr, is the Administrative Assistant and Researcher of the Franklin County Board of Health where he addresses various issues of local governmental health care reform. These issues include Franklin County's Nonsmoking Policy regulation and legislative challenges to the policy, the national debate on health and violence in cooperation with the cities of Washington and Baltimore, local pollution control, the Centers for Disease Control's Immunization Project, and issues relating to computer technology and public health record taking, among other community related topics.

Coordinator
Dr. Diane Jedlicka, Assistant Professor, Nursing

Funder
The White Science Symposium Fund

Cosmology: The Universe Around Us (1995)
The universe has always been a fascination to humans. Astronomers, astrologers, poets, and wizards have been captivated by its mystique. With today's technology, scientists are beginning to unlock some of the mysteries. From the Big Bang to newly discovered Black Holes, theories abound that attempt to create greater understanding of the cosmic environment.

Seminar Leader
Virginia L. Trimble, Ph.D., is a professor of Physics at the University of California, Irvine and a visiting professor of Physics at the University of Maryland. Dr. Trimble serves as a member of the Committee on Astronomy and Public Policy, the U.S. National Committee, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is vice-president of the International Astronomical Union. She also serves on several NASA and Hubble space telescope committees as well as panels for the Smithsonian Institution and the California Space Institute.

Coordinator
Dr. Michael S. Pettersen, Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy

Funder
The White Science Symposium Fund

Nature's Mind & the Human Body: Darwin in Contemporary Psychology (1996)
For centuries, we have pondered the complexities of the mind in its relationship to the human body. Contemporary science continues to unravel the mysteries of memory, perception, motivation, fear, desire, and their roots in human biology. Research into the mind/body relationship remains on the cutting edge of science.

Seminar Leaders
Michael S. Gazzaniga, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Neuroscience and Professor of Neurology and Psychology at the University of California at Davis. He serves as president of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, and associate editor of Cerebral Cortex (Oxford Press). Dr. Gazzaniga has presented numerous lectures, received many honors and awards, and has authored several books including The Cognitive Neurosciences, Mind Matters, Perspectives in Memory Research, The Social Brain, and Nature's Mind, the theme for this year's Science Lecture Series.

Carroll E. Izard, Ph.D., is Unidel Professor of Psychology at the University of Delaware. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology. He is currently consulting editor for Psychological Review, and series editor for Emotions, Personality and Psychotherapy (Plenum Press). His research has been featured on the Public Broadcasting System's NOVA series. His books include Human Emotions (New York: Plenum), Measuring Emotions in Infants and Children (New York: Cambridge University Press), and The Psychology of Emotions (New York: Plenum).

Randolph M. Nesse, M.D., is on the faculty of the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry, Professor and Associate Chair for Education and Academic Affairs, and Associate Director of the Anxiety Disorders Program. He is Chair of Publications Committee and Associate Editor for Liaison with HBES for Ethology and Sociobiology. He has extensivly researched the neuroendocrinology of stress and anxiety and behavioral treatments for anxiety disorders. In 1984, he joined six other faculty to create the University of Michigan Evolution and Human Behavior Program. In 1988, he initiated the organization of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society and served as its president from 1988-90. Dr. Nesse is co-author with George Williams of The Dawn of Darwinian Medicine, and Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine (Time Books, and paperback by Vintage Press).

Coordinator
Cynthia Laurie Rose, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Psychology

Funders
Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories
Otterbein University Honors Program
Otterbein University White Science Symposium Fund

Educating for Community: Science and the Community (1997)
The theme for the Science Lecture Series this sesquicentennial year was Science and the Community. The objectives were to examine the ways in which science helps to define our community and the ways in which our community helps to define the direction and values of science. As Steven Shapin (The Scientific Revolution, 1996) reminds us, "There is as much 'society' inside the scientist's laboratory, and internal to the development of scientific knowledge, as there is 'outside.'" Examination of the topic Science and the Community occurred within the context of a wider discussion on campus of Educating for Community. Otterbein University has a long and distinguished history of encouraging and empowering community-minded professionals, including science graduates, to help shape society. This symposium celebrated our graduates' achievements in science as well as society. Distinguished alumni from all science and mathematics departments participated in the Science Lecture Series. Each discussed his or her work and reflected upon what it means to be a scientist in today's community.

Seminar Leaders
Kay Ball, R.N., M.S.A., C.N.O.R., a 1983 Nursing graduate of Otterbein University, is a perioperative nurse consultant/educator. In 1994, she received a three-month appointment at the White House as an assistant for healthcare reform activities. She has served as Director of Education for the United Medical Network, Director of the Laser Service Program at Mount Carmel Health, and Administrative Director of the Laser Center at Grant Medical Center.

Mary Ann Ricard Bender, Ph.D., a 1973 Life and Earth Sciences graduate of Otterbein University, is currently with the Department of Psychology in Education at the University of Pittsburgh where her most recent position has been with the School of Medicine as senior research associate. She is the recipient of a NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship (University of Pittsburgh), the F.G. Novy Predoctoral Honors Fellowship (University of Michigan), and a Genetics Training Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.

Thomas R. Bromeley, M.S., is a 1951 Physics and Mathematics graduate of Otterbein University, a 1953 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, and 1988 recipient of an Otterbein University Honorary Doctor of Science in Business Administration. He is Chairman and CEO of Allegheny Bradford Corporation and Top Line Process Equipment Company in Bradford, Pennsylvania where he is also involved in radio broadcasting. Mr. Bromeley currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Otterbein, a member of the executive committee of the University of Pittsburgh - Bradford Advisory Board, the Bradford Educational Foundation, and the Chautauqua Foundation.

William L. Evans, a 1956 Mathematics and Computer Science graduate of Otterbein University, is retired from Battelle Memorial Institute and serves as a member of the Otterbein Board of trustees. Following graduation he worked for Westinghouse Electric Corporation for five years as an engineer involved in both refrigeration and aerospace industries. In 1961, he joined Battelle where he managed an information technology research section and scientific computing facilities. He served the last 16 years at Battelle as Director of Information Management with ultimate responsibility for Battelle's worldwide information technology hardware, software, and telecommunication resources.

Steven J Johnston, a 1982 Mathematics graduate of Otterbein University, currently is Assistant to the President at State Auto Insurance Company. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Jerry B. Lingrel, Ph.D., a 1957 Chemistry graduate of Otterbein University, is Distinguished Research Professor. Director of Program Excellence in Molecular Biology of the Heart and Lung, and Chair of the Department of molecular Genetics. Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Cincinnati University of Medicine. His current research is directed toward understanding how the genetic information of mammalian cells is expressed and regulated during development, and investigating hemoglobin genes, sodium, potassium-ATPase, and the biochemical and functional characterization of a new lung-specific transcription factor.

Noreen E. Neary, D.V.M., a 1987 Equine Science Graduate of Otterbein University, is a veterinarian at the Equine Specialty Hospital in Mantua, Ohio, near Cleveland. From 1987 to 1992, while completing the requirements for veterinary college and working on a Master's degree, she participated in ongoing canine, bovine, and equine research projects, and served as laboratory manager of the Theriogenology (Reproductive) Unit at The Ohio State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She was awarded the Hermenn Meyer Veterinary Anatomy award for outstanding work in veterinary anatomy classes dealing with all species. She also spent several months at the Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital in Australia, participating in ongoing research and assisting with the daily surgery, care, and treatment of equine patients.

Paul B. Paulus, Ph.D., a 1966 Psychology graduate of Otterbein University, is currently a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has conducted extensive research in environmental psychology, focusing on the effects of spatial and social density on prison inmate populations. He has also conducted considerable research in social psychology, recently examining group influences on creativity.

Coordinator
Michael A. Hoggarth, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Life and Earth Sciences

Funders
Ross Products Division - Abbott Laboratories
Otterbein University White Science Symposium Fund

Animals in Society: Exploring the Human-Animal Bond (1998)
The Objective of the day's program is to examine and reflect upon the many ways that human beings and animals interact and the impact that animals have on different facets of our lives. Animals play a significant part in our daily living and animals have a notable place in many different cultures around the world. Animal references are widespread throughout history, religion, science, language, and art. This year's program has an interdisciplinary view of humans and animals, including a presentation on the Lakota Indian family structure as it relates to the story of creation, a talk concerning our emotional bond to companion animals and their value in therapy programs, and a lively presentation about wildlife conservation and endangered species with animals from The Columbus Zoo. There will be a panel discussion on the current issues facing scientists, teachers, students, and the general public concerning animal welfare and animal rights. The panel include experts from the areas of companion animals, research, veterinary medicine, laboratory animal management, and the American Humane Association.

Seminar Leaders
Christine M. Hill is a Delta Certified Animal Evaluator and Special Education Teacher. Her area of expertise is early childhood special education, with an emphasis on language development. She has been teaching children for twenty years, but says she has learned the most about herself, her teaching, and human nature from her dogs. In addition to her teaching, Ms. Hill shows German Shepherd dogs for Framheim Kennels and has worked as Director of Training for All Breed Training Club of Akron. She is also an active member of Delta Society and their Pet Partners Program which trains volunteers and screens their pets for visiting animal programs in nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and schools.

Michael E. Kaufmann, is Director of Education with the American Humane Association which he joined in 1991 as National Coordinator of Education. He supervises AHA's Regional Training Centers and develops comprehensive training programs to further the highest standards of competence among animal care and control professionals. He is involved with the link between animal abuse and human violence, is a renowned lecturer on animal assisted activities in education and therapy, and in an experienced human educator. He was the Director of Education with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York City, served as chairman of the Humane Education Advisory Council and the Harrison Memorial Veterinary Hospital in Denver. Mr. Kaufmann is a founding board member and committee chair for the Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association.

David S. Kronfeld is the Paul Mellon Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has served as a Diplomat to both the American University of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the American University of Veterinary Nutrition. His books include Vitamins and Mineral Supplementation for Dogs and Cats: A Monograph and Diat and Disease in Dogs. His research has included investigations in the areas of exercise physiology and nutrition of horses and sled dogs, nutrition, growth, and stress in foals, and metabolism and nutrition in cows and sheep.

Diane E. McClure is an assistant professor with The Ohio State University Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and is a Diplomat of the American University of Laboratory Animal Medicine. Her area of specialization in comparative cardiovascular-respiratory physiology, comparative medicine focusing on captive wildlife, and the psychological well-being of captive animals. Her current research focuses on comparative microvascular physiology through collaborative efforts with the Thoracic Surgery Department and the Division of Nephrology, OSU School of Medicine. Her advisory responsibilities include the OSU Student Chapter of the International Association of Aquatic Animal Medicine, the Student Chapter of the Association of Human Animal Bond Veterinarians, and the OSU Pet Loss Support Hotline.

Albert White Hat, Sr. is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Indian Tribe. He received his A.A. in Lakota Studies from Sinte Gleska University in Rosebud, South Dakota, where he currently is an instructor. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at Proctor Academy in New Hampshire and attends state and national Indian Education Conventions where he gives presentations on the Lakota language. He has been involved with committee work to standardize the Lakota alphabet and is a past Director of the Bilingual Teacher Training Program at Sinte Gleska University, where he was President of the Board of Directors. He served as a Rosebud Tribal Council Representative and received the Gamahiel Chair for Peace and Justice Award. He assisted with translation and language expertise to the productions of Sun of Morning Star and Dances with Wolves and is the author of Lakota Ceremonial Songs and Lakota Language: The Encyclopedia of the American Indian.

A representative from The Columbus Zoo gave a presentation about small exotic animals, some of which are endangered. The Zoo is committed to environmental education, conversation, and research, and reaches a broad audience locally, nationally, and internationally. The Zoo's mission is to promote awareness and understanding of the interdependence of the natural world and to present information to the community through interactive, participatory, and educational events and exhibits. The Columbus Zoo strives to achieve its mission by teaching and practicing conversation both on and off-sight to contribute to the knowledge of the biological, environmental, and animal sciences and to instill in all who participate a sense of adventure and discovery about themselves and the world around them.

Coordinator
Lynn E. Taylor, PH.D. Assistant Professor, Equine Science

Funders
Ross Products Division - Abbott Laboratories
Animal Clinic of Westerville, Inc.
Central Ohio Kennel Club
Leo's Choice Treats, Inc.
Otterbein University White Science Symposium Fund

DNA Microchips: A Revolution in Nucleic Acid Diagnostics (1999)
DNA analysis using microchip-based arrays is a rapidly emerging technology that promises to revolutionize nucleic acid analysis. This fascinating field combines photolithographic technology from the semiconductor industry with DNA hybridization to allow rapid analysis of large amounts of genetic information. The impact of this technology will be enormous, ranging from detection of gene expression and disease diagnostics to the Human Genome Project.

Keynote Speaker
Dr. H. Holden Thorp is Associate Professor of Chemistry, Vice Chair for Undergraduate Studies and a Member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Thorp is also Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, Scientific Consultant, and Founder of Xanthon, Inc., a research firm in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina specializing in the development of electrochemical technology for the detection of nucleic acids and proteins. He obtained his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and conducted post-doctoral studies at Yale University. He has been awarded two patents entitled Process of Cleaving Nucleic Acids with Oxoruthenium (IV) Complexes and Electrochemical Method of Detecting DNA Hybridization. He is on the UNC Faculty Council and serves as a mentor for the UNC Johnston Scholars Program.

Coordinator
Dean H. Johnston, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Funders
Ross Products Division - Abbott Laboratories
Ashland Chemical Company
Otterbein University White Science Symposium Fund

Women in Science: Lessons in Leadership (2000)
Throughout the twentieth century women have continued to expand their participation in all areas of science, often against strong opposition. At the beginning of a new century women now play a leading role in charting new directions for scientific inquiry and research. Otterbein University is devoting its 2000 Science Lecture Series to exploring the history of women in the scientific world, examining current scholarly endeavors and professional activities of women scientists, creating a dialogue on new avenues of participation, and providing advice to a new generation of young women scientists.

Seminar Leaders
Helen R. Churella retired from Ross Products Division, Abbott Laborites following 38 years in research and development, she currently is a consultant for pediatric nutrition. She has received patents for providing selenium in a nutritional product and for her nutritional product for infants with chronic lung disease. Dr. Churella has served as a mentor to students for the B-WISER (Buckeye Women in Science, Engineering, and Research) Institute.

Raquel Diaz-Sprague, is Director of Ethics and Women in Science Programs at The Ohio State University, Biochemistry Department. She is a biomedical communicator and translator and also teaches and mentors medical students and students in Independent Studies at OSU. Diaz-Sprague is Executive Director of the Association for Women in Science of Central Ohio (AWISCO). Under her leadership, AWISCO is involved in programs to recruit, retain, recognize, and reward women and minorities in science and in the promotion of gender-wise and interculturally competent approaches in science education.

Helen Murray Free has taught management at Indiana University for 20 years and has spent her entire scientific career at Bayer. She is a 50-year member of the American Chemical Society in which she served as president in 1993 and currently represents Region II on the board of Directors. Dr. Free is a recipient of the ACS Garvan Medal for distinguished service to chemistry by a woman.

Joan Huber was an instructor of German from 1945-47 at Penn State. She taught at the University of Notre Dame from 1967-71 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1971-83 where she also served as the first director of Women's Studies and as head of the Department of Sociology. In 1984 she was named Dean of the University of Social and Behavioral Sciences at OSU and from 1992-93 served as Senior Vice President and Provost. She has been retired since 1994. Her primary focus in the numerous books and articles written over the years has been on sex stratification.

Nancy J. Lane is a scientist in the field of cell biology at Cambridge University, England where she currently is the project director of the University's Initiative for Women in Science. She is a Senior Research Associate with the Zoology Department of Cambridge and is an Official Fellow and lecturer in cell biology at Girton University. She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Biology, where she serves as vice-president of the Council of the Zoological Society of London. She is recognized as an international authority on the ways in which the cells of invertebrate organisms interact with one another. She has ongoing collaborative research activities with King's University, London, the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., and with Italy's Padova and Siena Universities. Dr. Lane has been actively involved in efforts to improve the role and status of women in science. In recognition of her outstanding contributions, she was awarded an Order of the British Empire in 1994 for her service to science.

Jeanne L. Narum is Director of the Independent Universitys Office (ICO) and the founding Director of Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), an informal national alliance of educators, administrators, and other interested parties working to strengthen undergraduate programs in mathematics, engineering, and science. As PKAL Director, she coordinates the volunteer efforts of a cadre of change agents, persons in colleges and universities across the country taking the lead in transforming the learning environment for students. The experience of these change agents shapes PKAL workshops and publications, illustrating best practices tin the work of reform. A key part of PKAL is the Faculty for the 21st Century network, a group of faculty who are demonstrating capacity for local and national leadership in the coming decades. Narum serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the National Council on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

Maria G.V. Rosenthalx is a Senior Scientific Information Analyst at Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) in the Editorial Operations Division. She is involved in database Production in the areas of polymer chemistry and material science. As a member of the American Chemical Society, she currently serves the Columbus Local Section as Alternate Councilor, as Chair of the Education Committee, and as the ACS Communications contact.

Coordinators
Diane Jedlicka, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Nursing
Cynthia Laurie Rose, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Psychology

Funders
Ashland Chemical Company
Chemical Abstracts Service
Ohio Health
Ross Products Division - Abbott Laboratories
Kate Winter Hanby Women's Studies Festival
Otterbein University Humanities Fund
George W. and Mildred K. White Science Seminar Fund

NASA: Experimentation and Exploration in Space (2001)
Since the beginning of civilization, both curiosity and necessity have driven people to investigate the world around them. Within the last century, exploration and experimentation have moved beyond the confines of Earth to the vastness of the Universe. The 2001 Science Lecture Series examines the impact of the space program and the International Space Station on a variety of present and future endeavors. The most tangible benefits include those that directly impact our lives: medical research, materials and product manufacturing, and new technological developments. More indirectly, but equally important, the permanent orbiting science institute known as the International Space Station also represents a hope for a new era of international cooperation, with 16 nations working together towards mutual goals. Looking into the future, current activities of the space program may well mark the beginning of the expansion of human civilization into space. Featured speakers for the program will consider these aspects of experimentation and exploration in space.

Seminar Leaders
Dr. Robert Zubrin, an internationally renowned astronautical engineer and a former senior engineer at Lockheed Martin, is the founder of Pioneer Astronautics, a space exploration research and development firm. He is the current Chairman of the executive committee of the National Space Society and the President of the Board of Directors of the Mars Society. Dr. Zubrin is the author of The Case for Mars and several other books as well as more than one hundred articles on space propulsion and exploration. He is widely regarded as the nation's leading theorist of Mars travel.

Dr. John Dunning, earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Case Institute of Technology. His 33 year NASA career has included positions in fluid mechanics instrumentation, high power lasers, and energy programs. The positions span from bench research to supervision including managing the space station electric power system-working group, the development of the space station electric power system. Currently, he is the manager of Space Station support activities and the On-Board Propulsion Technology Program at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Dr. Dunning has earned the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his Space Station Electric Power System work and the Exceptional Achievement Medal for Space Station Redesign activities.

Mr. Martin Kress, earned his BA from the University of Norte Dame, his MPA from Northeastern University, his MSM from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. coursework at Georgetown University. He joined Battelle as the NASA Relationship Manager in July, 1999, and in August 2000, he was appointed the Vice President and General Manager of the NASA Market Sector. Prior to joining Battelle, Mr. Kress held a series of senior management positions with the US Senate and NASA for over 20 years, including, Senior Majority Staff, Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space; Deputy Director of the NASA Space Station Freedom Program; and Deputy Director of the NASA Glenn Research Center. Mr. Kress has won several awards from NASA including the Outstanding Leadership Award.

Nature and Nurture in Child Development
Is child development merely the unfolding of inherited genetic characteristics or are children products of their surroundings? These questions have occupied psychological researchers and theorists - not to mention philosophers and parents - for millennia. The debate has been traditionally titled the Nature vs. Nurture question, hence framed as a conflict between two opposing views.

More recently, however, a new movement has emerged in developmental psychology, and beyond, based on a growing recognition that both nature and nurture contribute significantly to development. The new approach seeks to illuminate the mechanisms by which nature and nurture interact to produce developmental paths and outcomes in children. It is marked by a more nuanced and sophisticated consideration of the concepts of 'environment' and 'genetics.' The child's environment is increasingly viewed as a multi-layered system in which proximal (i.e., family unit) and distal (i.e., the culture) dimensions interact in complex ways to shape development. Moreover, the structure and processes of environments such as family or culture - and children's movement in them - are strongly informed by genetics. Genes, too, are not as simple as we once thought and are now increasingly understood as predisposing - rather than deterministic - agents, the expression of which is intimately linked to environmental conditions.

It is also becoming clearer that development is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, and that the interplay of genes and environment may have to be considered anew depending on which developmental phenomenon we seek to explain. The challenge for the new approach is to synthesize our increasing knowledge of both genes and environment into coherent and powerful explanatory models of development.

Seminar Leaders
Dr. Eric Turkheimer received his B. A. from Haverford University in 1975, and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1986. He completed a clinical internship at the University of California San Francisco, and since 1986 has been at the University of Virginia Department of Psychology, where he his now Professor of Psychology. He has wide-ranging interests in theoretical and quantitative clinical psychology, including the genetics of behavior and basic processes in person perception and personality assessment.

Dr. Theodore Wachs is a professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from George Peabody University and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. Professor Wachs is on numerous journal editorial boards including International Journal of Behavioral Development and the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. He has authored over 100 research articles and book chapters and has authored or edited 8 books, the most recent Temperament in Context (2001). His research interests are in two major areas: the role of early physical and social environments upon subsequent development and the relation of nutritional deficits to infant and toddler development.

G3: Gratifying the Globe Through Green Chemistry
The power of Green is evident in modern society. It is the color of money and vegetation; it describes the environmental movement, business and industry, politics and science. But it's not easy being Green. Choosing not to be Green, however, may come at a cost to all living things.

Green chemistry is the use of chemistry for pollution prevention. Green chemists, rather than assume pollution is an unavoidable consequence of doing chemistry, take a more proactive approach. More specifically, green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.

Green chemistry is preventative medicine for the environment. Green chemistry applies innovative scientific solutions to real-world environmental situations. These situations will involve you throughout your lifetime. They affect the water you drink, the food you eat and even the clothes you wear.

Chemists around the world are working to improve the environmental impacts of chemical products and processes so that we can all move toward an environmentally and economically sustainable society. What motivates green chemists, however, is not only the economic sense of enviro-safe practices, but also the desire to make the world safer.

It's not easy being Green; but somebody needs to do it.

Seminar Leaders
Dr. Paul Anastas is the Assistant Director for Environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He has responsibility for issues including climate change, Green Chemistry, oceans, sustainability, mercury, air quality, water and ecosystems, toxins, and environmental indicators. Prior to joining the White House in October of 1999, Anastas served as the Chief of the Industrial Chemistry Branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 1989. During that period he was responsible for regulatory review of industrial chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act and the development of rules, policy and guidance. Prior to joining the U.S. EPA, he worked briefly as an industrial consultant to the chemical industry in the development of analytical and synthetic chemical methodologies. Anastas received his M.A. and Ph.D in Organic Chemistry from Brandeis University and his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Dr. Terry Collins is the Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, where he directs the Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry. Collins is an Honorary Professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and an Associate Editor of the journal Green Chemistry. Collins holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of New Zealand. After postdoctoral work at Stanford, he joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology in 1980 and the faculty of Carnegie Mellon in 1987. Among his research awards are the 1998 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, the 1997 Award of the Japanese Society for Pure and Applied Coordination Chemistry, a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and an Alfred P. Sloan fellowship. Collins has written and lectured widely on the possibilities for chemists to develop vibrant new economies to promote sustainability.

Dr. Mary Kirchhoff is Assistant Director of the Green Chemistry Institute at the American Chemical Society. She received her B.A. in chemistry from Russell Sage University, her M.S. in chemistry from Duquesne University, and her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of New Hampshire. Kirchhoff served as a faculty member for nine years at Trinity University in Washington, DC. She spent three years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Chemistry program as an AAAS Fellow and visiting scientist. Kirchhoff has been involved in the development of green chemistry educational materials including the American Chemical Society's laboratory book "Greener Approaches to Undergraduate Chemistry Experiments."

Funders
Roxanne Laboratories
Nestle
The George W. and Mildred K. White Science Seminar Fund
Scotts

Got Nano? The Next Big Thing is Small
For improvement of the human condition several servings of nanotechnology just can’t be beat. How important is nanotechnology to you? Imagine a world without pollution, societies without AIDS or cancer, economical and safe space travel. Do you dream of a safe and secure homeland and world peace? Advanced nanotechnologies are crucial to the human condition, the future of the Earth’s environment, economic productivity and social change. Nanotechnology is expected to touch almost every aspect of our lives, right down to the water we drink and the air we breathe. And, nanoscale science and technology will be cost efficient. The bulk production technologies that we use today will be a process of the past. This is good news for all of us.

Nanotechnology is a term applied wherever scientists are grappling with the fundamental building blocks of matter, atoms and molecules. Simply put, nanotechnology is building something "atom by atom." It is the rearrangement of matter with atomic precision.

Advancements in nanotechnology will be an interdisciplinary effort involving but not limited to frontiers in materials science, chemistry, molecular biology, medicine and computer technology. The 2004 science lecture series at Otterbein University will provide an opportunity for you to become aware of the future of nanotechnology and how the application of this science will affect your personal and professional life.

Seminar Leaders
Dr. Joe Fox is a Research Fellow for Ashland Specialty Chemicals in Dublin, Ohio. He works in Global Technology in support of Ashland’s Specialty Polymers and Adhesives business unit. His research at Ashland has focused on novel adhesives, new binder technology and nanomaterials. Joe received his Ph.D. in organometallic chemistry from Penn State. He has been with Ashland for ten years.

Dr. James ("Jim") E. Hutchison is Director of the University of Oregon Materials Science Institute and an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oregon. His research interests include molecule-based nanoscience, surface chemistry and coordination chemistry; nanoparticle synthesis, functionalization and assembly; molecular thin films; and green chemistry and green nanoscience. He has received the NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship (1992-94), the NSF CAREER Award (1997), the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (1999), and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1999).

Dr. Hutchison earned his B.S. in 1986 from the University of Oregon; his Ph.D. in 1991 from Stanford University, with James P. Collman; and his Postdoctoral Fellow in 1992-94 with Royce W. Murray from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Mark Ratner is a materials chemist, whose work focuses on the interplay between molecular structure and molecular properties. This includes such aspects as molecular electronics, molecular optoelectronics, molecular systems design and biomolecular behavior, as well as quantum and classical methodologies for understanding and predicting molecular structure and response. The major focus of his research for the last three decades has been the understanding of charge transfer and charge transport processes based on molecular structures.

His professional history involves undergraduate work at Harvard, graduate work at Northwestern, postdoctoral work at Aarhus and Munich, and faculty positions at New York University and Northwestern. He has very active international collaborations, particularly in Denmark, Israel and the Netherlands. He has been awarded the Feynman Prize, the Langmuir Award of the American Chemical Society, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences, and takes an annual canoe trip which puts all things back into perspective.

Dr. Eric Werwa is a legislative assistant in U.S. Representative Mike Honda's Washington D.C. office, where his responsibilities include science and technology policy issues (including nanotechnology policy), the House Science Committee, energy, environment, and agriculture. He joined the office as the 2001-2002 Materials Research Society/Optical Society of America Science and Technology Policy Fellow, and became a permanent staff member following the conclusion of his fellowship year. Prior to joining Mr. Honda's staff, Eric spent four years as an Assistant Professor of Physics at Otterbein University in Westerville, OH. During this time he was chair of the Materials Research Society's Materials MicroWorld Task Force, which was charged with developing a plan and securing funding for a traveling science museum exhibition on materials (now known as Strange Matter). He holds a PhD in Electronic Materials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he did his thesis research on the optoelectronic properties of silicon nanoparticles, and BS in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he did undergraduate research on fullerenes.

Funders
Ashland
Roxanne Laboratories
Scotts
The George W. and Mildred K. White Science Seminar Fund
Scotts

Big Bang Boom: Einstein’s Universe
Rewind 14 billion years. Hot, formless quark soup emerges from the Big Bang.

Fast forward to 1905. A young Albert Einstein scores a triple in his "miraculous year"; he proves the existence of atoms, sets physics on the road to the quantum and lays out the Special Theory of Relativity, with its unexpected new vision of space and time.

Advance to 1915. Einstein finishes his General Theory of Relativity, a radical new theory of space, time and gravity that encompasses the structure of the entire universe, from the Big Bang to the present and beyond. Weird new phenomena from the bending of light by gravity to black holes to the cosmic echoes of the Big Bang are predicted and eventually observed. Enter the Dark Side in 2005. By the 21st century, stunning advances in technology allow cosmological theories to be tested with unprecedented accuracy. Einstein's universe is thought to be full of dark matter, dark energy, black holes, cosmic strings, gravitational waves and other exotica, but his basic vision of the fabric of the cosmos endures. It is perhaps his greatest legacy.

New developments in our conception of the cosmos as a whole continue to excite and intrigue stargazers, philosophers and scientists from Peru to Norway to Hawaii. We live in a Golden Age of cosmology, where observations and theory combine to stimulate new insights and pose new mysteries regarding the origin, structure, and ultimate fate of our universe.

A century after his miraculous year, Albert Einstein remains a world icon for science, philosophy and humanism. "I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive." Join us on September 26, 2005 for a guided tour of our universe, and to find out why "It's Albert's world. We just live in it."

Big Bang Boom: Einstein's Legacy in the 21st Century will feature lectures by two renowned scientists, physicist Michael S. Turner of the University of Chicago and the National Science Foundation, and astronomer Robert Kirshner of Harvard University. In addition, distinguished novelist and science writer Alan Lightman will join us to provide a perspective from the crossroads of science, the humanities and the arts. There will be audience opportunities for interaction and discussion with our guests.

Seminar Leaders
Dr. Michael S. Turner is the Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at The University of Chicago. He also holds appointments in the Department of Physics and Enrico Fermi Institute at Chicago. For more than 20 years he was member of the scientific staff at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Turner received his B.S. in Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1971, and his Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford University in 1978. His association with The University of Chicago began in 1978 as an Enrico Fermi Fellow, and in 1980 he joined the faculty. Turner is a Fellow of the APS and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Turner has been honored with the Helen B. Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society, the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society, the Halley Lectureship at Oxford University, and the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at Chicago. He has served on or chaired many advisory committees for the NRC, DoE, NSF and NASA, and since 1984 he has been involved in the governance of the Aspen Center for Physics, serving as President from 1989 to 1993. From 1998-2003 he served on the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Math and Science Academy. Turner's transparencies were featured in a one-man show at the CfPA Gallery.

Turner is a cosmologist whose research focuses on the earliest moments of the universe. He has made important contributions to inflationary universe theory, understanding of dark matter and the origin of structure. Turner and Edward Kolb helped to establish the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at Fermilab and wrote the monograph, The Early Universe.

Turner has recently been appointed Assistant Director for Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Robert Kirshner is Clowes Professor of Science at Harvard University. He is also Master of Quincy House, one of Harvard's undergraduate residences. He graduated from Harvard University in 1970 and received a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 1975. After a postdoc at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan for 9 years before moving to the Harvard Astronomy Department in 1986. He served as Chairman of the Astronomy Department from 1990-1997 and as Associate Director for Optical and Infrared Astronomy at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics from 1997-2003.

Professor Kirshner is an author of over 200 research papers dealing with supernovae, the large-scale distribution of galaxies, and the size and shape of the universe. His work with the High-Z Supernova Team on the acceleration of the universe was dubbed Science Breakthrough of the Year for 1998 by Science Magazine. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1998 and to the American Philosophical Society in 2004. He was elected President of the American Astronomical Society in 2003. Kirshner is a frequent public lecturer on science and is the author of a popular-level book, The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos.

Dr. Alan Lightman, a Professor in the Writing and Humanistic Studies Program at MIT, focuses on the intersection of the arts and sciences by exploring the many ways good writing informs and strengthens both worlds. Lightman has been highly recognized for his academic writings by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been elected a fellow of both organizations. He has also twice been a juror for The Pulitzer Prize in the fiction and non-fiction categories.

Lightman's accomplishments in the scientific realm have been matched by equal success in the world of arts and literature. He is the author of a dozen books, including the critically-acclaimed novel Einstein's Dreams, an international bestseller which was runner up for the 1994 PEN New England/Winship Award and was a selection for National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation Book Club. It has become one of the most widely used books on college campuses and has been selected for Common Book programs at a dozen major universities. His novel The Diagnosis was voted one of the 10 best of the year by Booksense independent booksellers and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2000. Lightman's 2005 collection of writings, A Sense of The Mysterious, occasioned The New York Times to proclaim him "a scientist in love with words, one who can write clearly and appealingly about his subject for a lay readership."

Lightman received his undergraduate degree from Princeton and his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology. From 1976 to 1989, he taught astronomy and physics at Harvard University where he received international recognition for his research in astrophysics and had a number of articles published in the leading journals of physics.

Funders
LakeShore
Roxanne Laboratories
The George W. and Mildred K. White Science Seminar Fund
Scotts

Through the Looking Glass: The Meaning of Quantum Mechanics
Quantum mechanics is undoubtedly the most accurately tested and successful scientific theory in history, yet its conceptual foundations remain controversial. Taken at face value, the theory implies that objects do not have definite physical properties – position, speed, and so on – independently of the act of observation of these properties. The implications for our conception of the nature of reality are profound.

Rather than being merely “philosophical,” the quantum view has real consequences that can be tested in experiment. However, questions about the ultimate nature of quantum reality remain. Join Professor Anthony Leggett for a discussion of these foundational questions, including the most popular interpretations of quantum theory and the current and future experimental situation.

Seminar Leader
Sir Anthony Leggett, D.phil. is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois. He is widely recognized as a world leader in the theory of low-temperature physics, and his pioneering work on superfluidity was recognized when he received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences (foreign member), and is a Fellow of the Royal Society (U.K.), the American Physical Society, and the American Institute of Physics. He is also as Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics (U.K.) and was knighted (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 “for services to physics”.

Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species
Two hundred years after Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150 years after the publication of his On the Origin of Species, scientists are studying evolution at the molecular level.

Seminar Leader
Dr. Sean B. Carroll, widely recognized as the leading public voice of evolutionary science in the U.S. today, will discuss foundational questions of evolutionary biology in his lecture, "Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species." The lecture is Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7:00 p.m. in Riley Auditorium at Otterbein University. It is free and open to the public. Regarding his newest book, Remarkable Creatures, Dr. Carroll states:

“I like to tell stories at the intersection of natural history with molecular biology, where we can explain how some aspect of a remarkable creature evolved. The natural history of some creature is what first engages me or my audiences, but we now have the means to know not just what exists, but to understand how it came to be. That power makes for a deeper and much more complete understanding of evolution and the history of life.”

Dr. Carroll is a very popular speaker at venues like the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum in Chicago. His lecture at Otterbein coincides with the opening of the newly renovated Science Center and is the 19th Science Lecture Series, created in 1987. Through annual seminars, national leaders in science and technology share their insights about the future of scientific endeavor. Past lectures have included quantum mechanics (2008), nanotechnology (2004), green chemistry (2003) and the origins of life (1990).

The series is sponsored by the White Science Seminar Fund and coordinated by a committee, chaired by the Office of Academic Affairs, comprised of the Science Outreach Coordinator and representatives from the Science Division.

Sean Carroll is Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Wisconsin. His research has centered on the genes that control animal body patterns and play major roles in the evolution of animal diversity. Major discoveries from his laboratory have been featured in TIME, US News & World Report, The New York Times, Discover, and Natural History. Dr. Carroll is the author of Remarkable Creatures (2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), The Making of the Fittest (2006, W.W. Norton) and of Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo (2005, W.W. Norton).

Andrea M. Ghez, professor of Physics & Astronomy, is one of the world’s leading experts in observational astrophysics, whose work sheds light on how our Milky Way Galaxy, our Sun, and our Earth came to be. She earned her B.S in Physics from MIT in 1987, her PhD from Caltech in 1992 and has been on the faculty at UCLA since 1994.


Working in the field of high resolution imaging, Professor Ghez  has used the Keck telescopes to provide compelling evidence for the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, with a mass four million times that of our sun.   Her findings not only supply us with the best verification yet that these exotic objects really do exist, but they also give us a wonderful opportunity to study what role this black hole has played in the formation and evolution of our Galaxy.  She has also discovered that most, if not all, stars shortly after birth have companion stars and that in most cases the separations of these companion pairs are smaller than the size of our solar system.


 For her research at Keck, Professor Ghez was named in Discover magazine's 20th anniversary issue (2000) as one of the top 20 scientists in the country under 40, who "have demonstrated once-in-a-generation insight" and "will likely change our fundamental understanding of the world and our place in it."   Her work on the center of our Galaxy was also selected by the journal Science as one of the top 10 science results for 2002.
 
 Professor Ghez is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including a MacArthur Fellowship, election to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Aaronson Award from the University of Arizona, the Sackler Prize from Tel Aviv University, the American Physical Society’s Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award, the American Astronomical Society’ Newton Lacy Prize, a Sloan Fellowship, a Packard Fellowship, and teaching awards from both Caltech and UCLA.
 
Professor Ghez has served on numerous national committees and boards.   Currently, her service work includes membership on the National Research Council’s Board on Physics and Astronomy, the Thirty-Meter-Telescope’s Science Advisory Committee, the Keck Telescope Science Advisory Committee, and the Research Strategies Working Group of the UC Commission on the Future.

Steven Pinker was born in 1954 in the English-speaking Jewish community of Montreal, Canada. He earned a bachelor's degree in experimental psychology at McGill University and then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1976, where he has spent most of his career bouncing back and forth between Harvard and MIT. He earned his doctorate at Harvard in 1979, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT, a one-year stint as an assistant professor at Harvard, and in 1982, a move back to MIT that lasted until 2003, when he returned to Harvard. Currently he is Harvard College Professor and the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology. He also has spent two years in California: in 1981-82, when he was an assistant professor at Stanford, and in 1995-96, when he spent a sabbatical year at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Pinker is an experimental psychologist who is interested in all aspects of language and mind. Much of his initial research was in visual cognition, the ability to imagine shapes, recognize faces and objects, and direct attention within the visual field. But beginning in graduate school he cultivated an interest in language, particularly language development in children, and this topic eventually took over his research activities. Aside from his experimental papers in language and visual cognition, he wrote two fairly technical books early in his career. One outlined a theory of how children acquire the words and grammatical structures of their mother tongue. The second focused on one aspect of this process, the ability to use different kinds of verbs in appropriate sentences, such as intransitive verbs, transitive verbs, and verbs taking different combinations of complements and indirect objects. For the next two decades his research focused on the distinction between irregular verbs like bring-brought and regular verbs like walk-walked. The reason is that the two kinds of verbs neatly embody the two processes that make language possible: looking up words in memory, and combining words (or parts of words) according to rules. He has also studied language development in twins and the neuroimaging of language processes in the brain, and has recently begun lines of research on the nature of reminding and on the function of innuendo and other forms of indirect speech.

In 1994 he published the first of five books written for a general audience. The Language Instinct was an introduction to all aspects of language, held together by the idea that language is a biological adaptation. This was followed in 1997 by How the Mind Works, which offered a similar synthesis of the rest of the mind, from vision and reasoning to the emotions, humor, and art. In 1999 he published Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language which presented his research on regular and irregular verbs as a way of explaining how language works in general. In 2002 he published The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, which explored the political, moral, and emotional colorings of the concept of human nature. The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, published in 2007, discussed the ways in which language reveals our thoughts, emotions, and social relationships. His most recent book is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, published in 2011. Pinker frequently writes for The New York Times, Time, The New Republic, and other magazines on subjects such as language and politics, the neural basis of consciousness, and the genetic enhancement of human beings.

Pinker is the Chair of the Usage Panel of The American Heritage Dictionary and has served as editor or advisor for numerous scientific, scholarly, media, and humanist organizations, including the American Association the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Psychological Association, and the Linguistics Society of America. He has won many prizes for his books (including the William James Book Prize three times, the Los Angeles Times Science Book Prize, and the Eleanor Maccoby Book Prize), his research (including the Troland Research Prize from the National Academy of Sciences, the Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association, and the Henry Dale Prize from the Royal Institution of Great Britain), and his graduate and undergraduate teaching. He is also a Humanist Laureate, the 2006 Humanist of the Year, recipient of the 2008 Innovations for Humanity Award from La Ciudad de las Ideas in Mexico, the 2008 Honorary President of the Canadian Psychological Association, and the recipient of six honorary doctorates.

Pinker lives in Boston and in Truro with Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. The other authors in the family are his sister Susan Pinker and Rebecca’s daughter Yael Goldstein Love.