The Power of Ideas Part I

Ideas - and the various processes of inventing, developing, critiquing, testing, transforming, rebutting, transmitting, and implementing them - are the heart and soul of the university. Each of this year's Scientia colloquia will present a set of 5-minute talks by faculty on the ideas that have most powerfully influenced and engaged them in their career and intellectual life.


2013 Spring Lecture Schedule

  • January 22

McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall

Mechanobiology
K. Jane Grande-Allen, Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering

Mind, Brain & Reality
James Pomerantz, Professor, Psychology

The Love of Wisdom and the Wisdom of Love
Marcia G. Brennan, Carolyn & Fred McManis Professor of Humanities, Professor of Religion and Art History

Saying Goodbye to Rube Goldberg
Yousif Shamoo, Vice Provost for Research, Professor of Biosciences, Wiess Career Development Chair

Video of all combined lectures is available here.

  • January 29 – BOCHNER LECTURE

McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall

Zionism, America, and the Creation of the State of Israel
Allen J. Matusow, PhD, Academic Affairs Director at the Baker Institute for Public Policy and William Gaines Twyman Professor of History

Video available here.

  • February 12

McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall

Atoms of Thought
Steven J. Cox, Professor, Computacional and Applied Mathematics

Discriminated Against
Michelle Hebl, Professor, Psychology and Management

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Unfinished Ethics
Matthias Henze, Professor in Biblical Studies

Life is Incredible
Janet Braam, Chair and Professor, Biochemistry & Cell Biology

Video of all combined lectures is available here.

  • March 12

McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall

Symmetries
Marjorie Corcoran, Professor, Physics and Astronomy

Who's Eating Who
Evan H. Siemann, Professor and Department Chair, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Standpoint
Rosemary Hennessy, Professor, English and Director, Center for the study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality

The Villain
Farès el-Dahdah, Architecture and Director, Humanities Research Center

Video of all combined lectures is available here.

  • April 9

Ray Courtyard, Rice Student Center

Modeling Individual Choice Behavior
Richard R. Batsell, PhD, Associate Professor of Marketing

Computational Thinking
Devika Subramanian, PhD, Professor, Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Beauty Premium and The Beauty Penalty
Rick K. Wilson, PhD, Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Political Science

Gender
Lora Wildenthal, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair, History Department

Video of all combined lectures is available here.

Scientia Institute - MS 08

Fondren Library 518
6100 Main St.
Houston, TX 77005

Phone: 713-348-4695
Email: scientia@rice.edu

Location

Duncan Hall

Traveling on Main Street, enter the Rice University campus at Entrance #2. Directly ahead is Lovett Hall (the building with the arch/Sallyport) and Duncan Hall (lecture site) is the first building to the right, across the street.

Parking

For the most current information on parking at Rice University, please visit https://parking.rice.edu/

Campus Maps

https://www.rice.edu/campus-maps