The Colleges of Letters, Arts and Science presents
The Distinguished Lecture Series 2009-10
"New Intersections"

The new Colleges of Letters, Arts and Science (CLAS), which includes the Colleges of Fine Arts, Humanities, Science, and Social and Behavioral Sciences, proudly presents a lecture series that explores the exciting interdisciplinary research enhanced by CLAS. All lectures are from 12-1:30 PM at the Arizona Inn.

Thank you to our sponsor, The University of Arizona Foundation

LOCATION: Arizona Inn
TIME: 12 - 1:30PM on dates listed below
COST: $35 per ticket
TO REGISTER: please call 520-621-4090
INCLUDED: lunch and lecture
PAYMENT: credit card (MC, VISA, AMEX) or by personal check by filling out a form and sending it to:

Distinguished Lecture Series
The College of Science
PO BOX 210077
Tucson, AZ 85721-0077

Our Lecture Series events are as follows:

Jan 21
LouAnn Gerken
Professor, Psychology and Linguistics; School of Mind, Brain and Behavior
"Why Babies Are Smarter Than You Are"

Human infants begin their lives able to perceive and learn about a much broader range of possible environments than the ones that we ultimately occupy as adults. Development in the first several years of life is characterized by the rise of expertise in perceiving particular aspects of the environment, such as the language and music systems used in a community, the facial characteristics of people seen frequently, and the properties of frequently encountered objects. This rise in expertise is achieved by a loss of ability to perceive and learn about less typical environmental properties.

Professor Gerken, who helped form the new UA School of Mind,Brain and Behavior, will share several examples of infants’ growing expertise as well as some applications of our growing understanding of infant development. Gerken directs the UA’s Tweety Language Development Lab and the Cognitive Science Program.

Feb 18
David Raichlen
Assistant Professor, School of Anthropology
"Walking Before We Ran: A Natural History of Human Locomotion”

The evolution of upright bipedal walking has long defined the origins of the human lineage. More recently, the use of endurance running marks the divergence of our genus from other hominids. Understanding why our unique gait evolved may hold the key to explaining the origins of our species. This talk will examine research in biomechanics, paleontology and neurobiology to tell the story of human evolution through our footsteps.

Professor David Raichlen is a broadly trained biological anthropologist who is interested in the origins and evolution of the human lineage. He received a B.S. from Duke University in 1998.  He received his M.A. in 2000 and his Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on the evolution of human and nonhuman primate locomotion, evolutionary physiology, and the evolution of the human brain.

Mar 25
Alison Deming
Professor, Creative Writing; Department of English
"To See Beyond Earth’s Noise"

Poet and essayist Alison Hawthorne Deming will read from her new work and talk about the intersection of art and science in settings including an experimental forest, the Central Park Zoo, and the search for life beyond Earth.
 
Professor Deming has published more than 10 books, most recently a collection of poems titled ROPE (Penguin, 2009). Her work has been widely published in magazines and anthologies, including The Norton Book of Nature Writing and Best American Science and Nature Writing. Her awards include the Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships.

Apr 8
Jonathan Overpeck
Professor, Geosciences and Atmospheric Sciences, Institute of the Environment
"The Climate Challenge, Our Environment, and the Growing Preeminence of The University of Arizona"

Challenges to our environment and to the sustainability of our economy and quality of life are mounting as the influence of climate change and a myriad of other factors grow in our state, region, nation and beyond. In Arizona, threats to water supplies and healthy ecosystems are already outstripping similar change in other parts of the United States, and projections for the future indicate that much larger changes could become a reality.

Professor Jonathan Overpeck, an internationally recognized climate expert and co-director of the UA’s new Institute of the Environment, will provide an update on the climate and environmental challenges of our time, and how The University of Arizona has become one of the top universities in the nation working to meet these challenges.