Professorial Lectures
Connecting the Dots…Finding the Patterns…Revealing the Science
Teresa Bals-Elsholz, Ph.D. (Department of Geography & Meteorology)
Atmospheric science, as for many sciences, often relies on patterns for many kinds of data analysis especially when using weather maps for forecasting and research. Historically, maps are filled with…
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My Wintry Random Walk with Students: Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Craig Clark, Ph.D. (Department of Geography & Meteorology)
During the halcyon childhood days of 1976, a foot of snow in early November cancelled school, brightened my day, and fostered a lifetime fascination with Great Lakes snowfall and its…
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Reconstructing Sacred Space in the Post-Soviet Milieu: New Churches, New Ideologies?
Nicholas Denysenko, Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy & Theology)
During the most vicious periods of Soviet persecution of religion, relics were vandalized, icons were destroyed, and significant church buildings were demolished in the republics of the Soviet Union. In…
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It’s All About Optimization
Aysegul Yayimli, Ph.D. (Department of Computing & Information Sciences)
The Internet. We all use it, but very few of us ask what it takes to keep it all together, what makes it so robust, and what is the science…
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The Law of Unintended Consequences in Epidemiology
Daniel Maxin, Ph.D. (Department of Mathematics & Statistics)
One goal of mathematical modeling of infectious diseases is to predict the outcome of an epidemic and to simulate the effect of various intervention measures: vaccination, treatment or quarantine. In…
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German Cultural Memory and Gender in the Work of Günter Grass
Timothy Malchow, Ph.D. (Department of World Languages & Cultures)
The Nobel laureate Günter Grass (1927-2015) was at once an authoritative figure at the heart of German cultural life and the object of valid feminist criticism, largely due to his…
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From Light to Color: A Scientific Explanation of Poetry
Carlos Miguel-Pueyo, Ph.D. (Department of World Languages & Cultures)
Since the origins of civilization, humans have viewed the concept of “light” as paving the way to a higher dimension, whether spiritual or artistic. Ever since we became conscious of…
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An Unorthodox Analysis of Monetary and Fiscal Policy
Daniel Saros (Department of Economics)
Mainstream economic analysis omits references to social classes and class conflict. This omission shapes its interpretation of capitalist economies and the types of policies that mainstream economists favor. By contrast, I…
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A Whimper and a Bang: Finding Novel Ways to Study the Past and Future of the Universe
Todd Hillwig (Department of Astronomy)
Our understanding of the universe around us continues to grow at an amazing pace. Today we hear terminology such as “Dark Matter,” “Dark Energy,” and “Accelerating Universe” in relation to…
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The Academic Roots of Martin Luther King’s Moral Vision
Aaron Preston (Department of Philosophy)
Martin Luther King’s moral vision had many sources, but he identified only one of these as his “basic philosophical position”: a now largely forgotten view called “Personalism,” which he learned…
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