Enjoy videos from our free public lecture series. Harvard faculty and other noted scholars share their research and the excitement of tackling big questions in the sciences, humanities, and the arts.
- How Beer Made Kings in Early Egypt
October, 14, 2021
Matthew Douglas Adams, Director, Abydos Archaeology; Senior Research Scholar, Institute of Fine Arts, New York UniversityMatthew Douglas Adams, Director, Abydos Archaeology; Senior Research Scholar, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
The remains of a 5000-year-old brewery found in the ancient Egyptian city of Abydos are providing insights into the relationship between large-scale beer production and the development of kingship in Egypt. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Abydos brewery produced beer on a truly industrial scale—something unparalleled in early Egypt. Matthew Adams will share findings from recent excavations at the brewery and will consider it in context as part of a broad pattern of royal activity at the site that served to define the very nature of kingship at the beginning of Egypt’s history.
About the Speaker
Matthew Douglas Adams, Senior Research Scholar at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, holds a dual PhD in Anthropology and Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania and has directed fieldwork at Abydos for more than thirty years. His most recent publications include “The Origins of Sacredness at Abydos,” in Abydos: The Sacred Land at the Western Horizon (2019), I. Regulski, ed., BMPES 8, pp. 25–70.
- Panel Discussion: In Search of Thoreau’s Flowers
November 17, 2022
Charles Davis, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology & Curator of Vascular Plants, Harvard University Herbaria
Marsha Gordon, Professor, North Carolina State University
Emily Meineke, Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis
Leah Sobsey, Artist, Curator, Associate Professor of Photography, and Director of the Gatewood Gallery, University of North Carolina
Robin Vuchnich, Artist, UX Designer, Assistant Professor of the Practice, North Carolina State University
Moderated by Elena Kramer, Bussey Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Interim Director, Harvard University Herbaria, Harvard UniversityHow can an imaginative fusion of art and science help us reach a meaningful understanding of the relationship between our actions, climate change, and diminishing biodiversity? This panel features the artists and scientists who collaborated in developing In Search of Thoreau’s Flowers, an exhibition now on view at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. The inspiration for this project was a set of 648 plant specimens in the Harvard University Herbaria that were collected by Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond. Utilizing photography, botanical data, and digital art, the exhibition explores and visualizes the richness of plant diversity in eastern Massachusetts and reflects on how climate change continues to impact this diversity.
- Rethinking Maya Heritage: Past and Present
October 20, 2022
2022 Gordon R. Willey Lecture
Richard M. Leventhal, Professor, Department of Anthropology and Executive Director, Penn Cultural Heritage Center, Penn Museum, University of PennsylvaniaThe story of Maya culture as a once-great civilization that built towering pyramids in the jungles of Central America was developed and popularized by national governments, anthropologists, and archaeologists. Previously unable to control the story of their own culture, Maya communities today are actively reframing their heritage and centering their most recent history—not the distant past—to regain power and self-determination. Richard Leventhal will discuss the importance and role that the nineteenth-century Caste War—one of the largest and most successful Indigenous rebellions—is playing in the Maya’s contested heritage.
About the Speaker
Richard M. Leventhal is Executive Director of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center of the Penn Museum as well as Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania. He serves as Curator in the American Section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology where he formerly served as the Williams Director. Prior to coming to Penn, he was the President of the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Leventhal received his PhD from Harvard University. He is one of the Directors of the Tihosuco Heritage Preservation and Community Development Project focused upon the nineteenth-century Caste War rebellion in the Yucatan. He has written extensively about the Maya and about cultural heritage preservation.
- The “Mummy Portraits” of Roman Egypt: Status, Ethnicity, and Magic
October 06, 2022
Lorelei H. Corcoran, Professor of Art History; Director, Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology University of MemphisIn ancient Egypt, one of the final steps in the mummification process was to equip the body with a permanent face covering that helped to protect the head and also to ritually transform the deceased into a god. The earliest examples of these were stylized masks, later replaced by more realistic-looking, painted portraits. Using evidence from the archaeological record and the Book of the Dead—a series of spells meant to guide the dead as they sought eternal life— Lorelei Corcoran will discuss the production and function of the “mummy portraits” that were popular throughout Egypt in the Roman period and what these images reveal about the religious beliefs and multi-layered ethnicities of their subjects.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture in collaboration with the Harvard Art Museums
Related exhibition at the Harvard Art Museums: Funerary Portraits from Roman Egypt open through December 31, 2022
About the Speaker
Lorelei H. Corcoran is Professor of Art History (Egyptian art and archaeology) and Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology at the University of Memphis, TN. She earned a BA in Classical Studies at Tufts University and a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (Egyptology) at the University of Chicago. Her publications include Herakleides: A Portrait Mummy from Roman Egypt (Getty, 2010) with Marie Svoboda and Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt (1-IVth Centuries AD) with a Catalog of Portrait Mummies in Egyptian Museums (Chicago, 1995), as well as contributions to the multi-disciplinary studies, Dress in Mediterranean Antiquity: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Portrait of a Child: Historical and Scientific Studies of a Roman Egyptian Mummy (Northwestern, 2019).
Professor Corcoran’s research interests have focused in depth on the funerary traditions of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt but also include the complementarity of text and image in Egyptian art and the role of color in Egyptian art. In 2016, she published the results of her identification of the earliest use of the manmade pigment Egyptian blue on a predynastic bowl in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (“The Color Blue as an Animator in Ancient Egyptian Art,” in Global Color History: Interpreting the Ancient Spectrum [Gorgias Press, 2016]). Her work in museums has taken her around the globe and her fieldwork experience in Egypt includes participation as a staff member for the University of Chicago’s Epigraphic Survey and the University of Memphis’ excavation of KV-63 in Luxor, Egypt. She has been invited to lecture at, among other institutions, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the University of Chicago, Brown University, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the British Museum and has been interviewed by the New York Times, the BBC, and NPR.
- Testosterone: The Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us
September 16, 2022
Carole Hooven, Lecturer, and Codirector of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
In conversation with:
Daniel Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard UniversityWhile most people agree that sex differences in human behavior exist, they disagree about the reasons. But the science is clear: testosterone is a potent force in human society, driving the bodies and behavior of the sexes apart. As Carole Hooven shows in her book T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us (Henry Holt & Company, 2021), it does so in concert with genes and culture to produce a vast variety of male and female behavior. And, crucially, the fact that many sex differences are grounded in biology provides no support for restrictive gender norms or patriarchal values. In conversation with Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, Hooven will discuss why an understanding of testosterone can lead to a better understanding of ourselves and one another—and can help build a fairer, safer society.
Evolution Matters Lecture Series
Series supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan SuitTo join the program, you will need to download the free Zoom app in advance. If you already have Zoom, you do not need to download it again. For details on how to improve your Zoom experience, visit the How to Attend an HMSC Program webpage
About the Speakers
Carole Hooven, PhD, is lecturer and codirector of undergraduate studies in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. She earned her PhD at Harvard, studying sex differences and testosterone and has taught there since then. Hooven has received numerous teaching awards and her popular Hormones and Behavior class was named one of Harvard Crimson’s “top ten tried and true.”
Daniel Gilbert is Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of Stumbling on Happiness, a New York Times bestseller and winner of a Royal Society Prize for Science Books. He has won numerous awards for his research and teaching, including the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology. In 2008 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- Why Sharks Matter: Shark Science and Conservation
September 6, 2022
Speaker: Dr. David Shiffman, Marine Conservation Biologist, Arizona State UniversitySharks are some of the most fascinating, most ecologically important, most threatened, and most misunderstood animals on Earth. Join award-winning marine conservation biologist Dr. David Shiffman, author of the new book Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator, for a conversation about what’s new and what’s next in the world of shark science and conservation.
About the Speaker
Dr. David Shiffman is a Washington, DC based marine conservation biologist who studies sharks and how to protect them. An award-winning writer, educator, and public speaker, his words have appeared in National Geographic, Scientific American, the Washington Post, and a monthly column in SCUBA diving magazine. He is the author of the new book Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive With the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator. Follow him on social media @WhySharksMatter where he’s always happy to answer any questions anyone has about sharks.
- Restoring Ecosystems in a Time of Ongoing Global Change
March 23, 2022
David Moreno Mateos, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Affiliate of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard UniversityHow long does it take for an ecosystem to recover after it is disturbed or destroyed by human activities? How do we know when an ecosystem has recovered? In this lecture, restoration ecologist David Moreno Mateos will discuss the traditional methods used to assess the recovery of terrestrial ecosystems—such as changes in biodiversity or soil carbon levels—and highlight their limitations. He will make a case for more comprehensive and long-term approaches to understanding and measuring ecosystem recovery and highlight their potential for enhancing environmental policies and large-scale restoration strategies.
This program is supported by the Michael V. Dyett Lecture Fund.
About the Speaker
David Moreno Mateos is a restoration ecologist interested in understanding the long-term recovery of ecosystems degraded by human development. His research aims to estimate how long it takes for ecosystems to recover their less resilient attributes such as the interactions among soil organisms and plants. Better understanding these processes will enable the development of new tools that increase the currently limited performance of ecosystem restoration and increase ecological understanding of landscape architecture. He works on areas degraded by human activities, agricultural fields or mines, abandoned centuries ago. Some of these field sites are the forests of New England, recovering from European settlement agriculture for about 200 years, and Southwest Greenland, where Norse sites have been recovering from ancient agriculture for more than 650 years.
David holds a PhD from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Alcalá, both in Madrid with honors (equivalent to summa cum laude) in 2008. After this, he spent three years at the University of California at Berkeley, two years at Stanford University, and one year at the Centre National de la Recherché Scientific (CNRS) in Montpellier, France. During the last five years, he was at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) near Bilbao, Spain, as an Ikerbasque and Ramon y Cajal research fellow. David has authored more than forty papers in scientific journals and books, including papers in Nature Communications, Nature, PLOS Biology, and Nature Ecology and Evolution. He is associate editor in Journal of Applied Ecology (British Ecological Society) and Ecological Restoration (Society for Ecological Restoration). - Lessons from Plants
February 23, 2022
Beronda L. Montgomery, Foundation Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University
In conversation with Brenda Tindal, Executive Director, Harvard Museums of Science & CulturePlants are essential to humans and the environment: they provide food, absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, serve multiple ecosystem functions, and beautify landscapes. In Lessons from Plants (Harvard University Press, 2021) Beronda Montgomery invites us to appreciate our interdependence with plants and the many lessons that can be gained from a better understanding of the ways in which plants grow, adapt, and thrive. In this conversation with Brenda Tindal, she will address what plants can teach us about relating to one another, building diverse communities and being resilient.
Visit the Harvard University Press website to purchase Lessons from Plants.About the Speaker
Beronda L. Montgomery is MSU Foundation Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the American Society of Plant Biologists, she was named one of Cell’s 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America, and was the winner of the 2021 Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award.
- We Dance: An Exploration of Movement, Foodways, and Environments
February 17, 2022
Thaddeus Davis, Codirector Wideman Davis Dance; Associate Professor, Departments of Theatre and Dance and of African American Studies, University of South Carolina
Tanya Wideman-Davis, Codirector Wideman Davis Dance; Associate Professor, Departments of Theatre and Dance and of African American Studies, University of South Carolina
In conversation with Sarah Clunis, Director of Academic Partnerships and Curator of African Collections, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & EthnologyFrom the world-renowned Wideman Davis Dance Company and award-winning filmmakers Ethan Payne and Brian Foster, We Dance is a love story, deconstructed and distilled into its most elemental ingredients. Dreams. Memories. Family. Environments. In this 12-minute film, Tanya Wideman-Davis and Thaddeus Davis take us from Chicago, Montgomery, and New York to the point where their lives meet and become one. Along the way, they honor and signify on Black American art, poetry, and literature. In this conversation with Sarah Clunis, they will discuss the film and delve into the importance of movement and migration to Black American identity, lived experience, and consciousness. And show how all of our stories are kept—in the places we’ve been, in the food we eat, and in the dreams that we so steadfastly chase.
Presented in collaboration with the Theater, Dance & Media Program, Harvard UniversityTo join the program, you will need to download the free Zoom app in advance. If you already have Zoom, you do not need to download it again. For details on how to improve your Zoom experience, visit the How to Attend an HMSC Program webpage.
About the Speakers
Tanya Wideman-Davis is the codirector of Wideman Davis Dance and is on faculty as an associate professor at the University of South Carolina in the Department of Theatre and Dance and of African American Studies. With an extensive career as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, she completed her Master of Fine Arts from Hollins University/ADF (2012). Tanya has danced with many world-renowned companies, including Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theater, Ballet NY, and as guest artist with Ballet Memphis, Cleveland San Jose Ballet, and Quorum Ballet Amadora, Portugal. Wideman-Davis has received multiple honors and grants for her work including: 2021 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellow, 2021 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Grant, 2019 South Arts Momentum Grant, 2019 Alternate Roots Artistic Assistance: Project Development Grant, 2018 NEFA National Dance Project Grant, 2017 University of South Carolina Provost Grant, 2013 Map Fund Grant, and Jerome Robbins New Essential Works Grant (2011). She has received international acclaim as Best Female Dancer of 2001-2002 by Dance Europe magazine. Tanya’s academic, choreographic research and lectures examine race, gender, femininity, identity, and location. She has recently contributed a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet titled “Dance Theatre of Harlem: Radical Black Female Bodies in Ballet.”
Thaddeus Davis is the coartistic director of Wideman/Davis Dance and associate professor in the Departments of Theatre and Dance and of African American Studies at the University of South Carolina. Through the lens of the African American Experience, he questions notions of spaces and environments that affect the interaction of gender, class, race, technology, and media’s ability to shape our perceptions. His research findings are exhibited in the creation of original dance works, films and essays. Davis has received multiple honors and grants for his work including: 2018 National Dance Project Grant, 2017 Provost Grant to support the creations of a research team for the development of Migratuse Ataraxia, 2013 Map Fund Grant to support the research and development of Ruptured Silence: Racist Signs and Symbol, Jerome Robbins New Essential Works Grant (2011), University of South Carolina Arts Institute, Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Reading/Dance Collaboration. Balance: Homelessness Project (2009), Canvas: The Master Class (2010), Cultural Envoy to Portugal, U.S. Department of State.
As a Fellow of the 2016 South Carolina Collaboration on Race and Reconciliation, Davis is committed to being an active participant in South Carolina’s efforts to improve community relations and support conversations on race and reconciliation.
Sarah Clunis is originally from Kingston, Jamaica and received her PhD in art history in 2006 from the University of Iowa. She is Director of Academic Partnerships and Curator of African Collections at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology. Prior to this role, she was director of the Xavier University Art Gallery, where she supervised the Art Collection team, and was also assistant professor of art history. Dr. Clunis has taught art history for over twenty years at public universities and historically Black colleges and universities. Her research and classes have focused on the history of African art and the display of African objects in Western museum settings. She also studies the influence of African aesthetics and philosophy on the arts and religious rituals and cultural identities of the African diaspora. Her work examines gender, race, and migration in multiple contexts. She has published in both national and international magazines and journals.
- “Light this Candle!” Sixty Years of Americans in Space
May 05, 2021
Matthew H. Hersch, Associate Professor of the History of Science, Harvard UniversityOn May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space, following cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s mission three weeks earlier. With the United States trailing the Soviet Union in spaceflight, President John F. Kennedy closely watched the launch of Freedom 7, eager for proof that America could match Soviet achievements. In his flawless performance, Shepard—whose position in the space program owed much to the work of Harvard-trained physicians— became the archetype of the American astronaut. In this talk, marking the 60th anniversary of the first American in space, Matthew Hersch will recount the events of Shepard’s flight and offer a discussion of astronaut selection, then and now.
About the Speaker
Matthew Hersch is an associate professor of the History of Science at Harvard University, specializing in the history of aerospace technology. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he received his law degree from New York University and his doctorate in the History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania where he later taught concurrently in the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He has held fellowships in history and space technology at the Smithsonian Institution, NASA, the Huntington, the University of Southern California, and Columbia University, and is the author of Inventing the American Astronaut (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), co-author (with Ruth Schwartz Cowan) of the second edition of A Social History of American Technology (Oxford, 2017), and most recently, co-editor (with Cassandra Steer) of War and Peace in Outer Space: Law, Policy, and Ethics (Oxford, 2020). Professor Hersch is currently completing a book manuscript for MIT Press entitled Dark Star: A New History of the Space Shuttle.
- Performance and Ritual in Ancient Egyptian Funerary Practice
April 29, 2021
Mariam Ayad, Associate Professor of Egyptology, The American University in Cairo Visiting Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Near Eastern Religions Research Associate of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program (2020-21) Harvard Divinity SchoolOne of the best documented Egyptian rituals—occurring in both cultic and funerary contexts—is known as the Opening of the Mouth ritual. Performing this ritual was believed to animate statues and temples, while also restoring the senses of the deceased, thus ensuring that they could eat, drink, and breathe in the afterlife. Textual and iconographic references to the ritual are found in different time periods, from the Old Kingdom through the Roman Period. In this lecture, Mariam Ayad uses the Opening of the Mouth ritual as a case study to illustrate the power of imagery and the efficacy of the spoken word as performative aspects of Egyptian funerary practice.
About the Speaker
Mariam Ayad is an Associate Professor of Egyptology at The American University in Cairo. She studied Egyptology at The American University in Cairo (BA), the University of Toronto (MA), and Brown University, where she obtained her PhD in 2003. From 2003 to 2010, Ayad served as Assistant Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at the University of Memphis (Tennessee), where she was an Assistant, then a tenured Associate Professor of Egyptology and Art History. At the American University in Cairo, Ayad teaches Middle Egyptian grammar (Egyptian hieroglyphics), Egyptian Literature (read in translation), and Coptic, as well as graduate seminars on Egypt in the first millennium BC, Nubian cultures and society, and ancient Egyptian women in temple ritual. For the 2020–21 academic year, Ayad is Visiting Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Near Eastern Religions and Research Associate in Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. She is currently exploring the impact of class and gender on ancient Egyptian conceptions of death, revival, and the afterlife.
- What Spiders Have to Say
April 28, 2021
Paul Shamble, John Harvard Distinguished Science Fellow, Harvard UniversityConsider the spider: eight legs, eight eyes, and a brain the size of a poppy seed. These are some of nature’s most amazing and charismatic creatures, and yet we know so little about their worlds. Paul Shamble will discuss the lives, habits, and marvelous morphologies of these animals—from sensory structures and cognition to locomotion and behavior. Understanding these creatures helps us better understand evolution and diversity—and leads us to ask what it means that even tiny animals inhabit complex lives.
Evolution Matters Lecture Series
Series supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit
About the Speaker
Paul Shamble is a John Harvard Distinguished Science Fellow at Harvard University where his work explores cognition, locomotion, and sensory perception in jumping spiders. Shamble received his BA in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley (2008) followed by a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University (2015). He has worked with spiders from across Europe and all over the United States including the Great Plains, the Great Lakes, the Mountain West, and New England. His work at Harvard uses novel experimental approaches (high-speed cameras, 3D printing, etc.) to explore the behavior, brains, and biology of these animals.
- Earth Week: Ecology and Spirituality: A Roundtable with Harvard Divinity School Students
April 23, 2021
Natalia Schwien, Sakiko Isomichi, jessica young chang, Quinn Parker MatosThis informal roundtable features four Harvard Divinity School graduate students coming together to speak about the intersection of ecology and spiritual practice. From providing practical ways to connect with nature in urban spaces and thinking about mindfulness in waste reduction to learning how to pause with tea, they will explore how their belief systems engage with the natural world and how that impacts their daily lives.
About the Panelists
Natalia Schwien (she/her) is a Master of Theological Studies candidate at Harvard Divinity School studying ecology and spiritual practice. She is a practicing herbalist, wildlife rescuer and rehabilitator, and environmental advocate.
Sakiko Isomichi (she/her) is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School studying ethnography, waste, and the Arabic language.
jessica young chang (she/her) is a second-year Master of Divinity student who is excited about growth and transformation in individuals and communities through creative, embodied, mystical, and collective spiritual practices. Originally from the Midwest, jess studies the intersections of mystical and embodied spirituality in Christianity and non-dual Tantra, and she currently serves the HDS community as one of three chaplain interns. jess is considering a call to chaplaincy and spiritual direction, and pursuing ordination in the United Church of Christ.
Quinn Parker Matos (they/them) is a first-year Master of Theological Studies candidate at the Harvard Divinity School studying medical and ritual traditions in the Americas and the African Diaspora. Their work and practice involves finding ways to synthesize and work between different medical approaches to adapt and respond to life in urban environments.
- Recovering the Histories of Seven Enslaved Americans
April 21, 2021
Gregg Hecimovich, Professor and Chair, Department of English, Furman University
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard UniversityFor seven seasons, award-winning Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. has uncovered the ancestral stories of celebrity guests on his hit-television series, Finding Your Roots. In this program, Gates will be joined by Dr. Gregg Hecimovich to discuss the process of unearthing the histories of formerly enslaved people. The focus will be on Alfred, Delia, Drana, Fassena, Jack, Jim, and Renty, seven Black men and women who were photographed against their will in Columbia, South Carolina in 1850. These controversial photographs are the subject of a new book, To Make Their Own Way in the World (Peabody Museum Press/Aperture, 2020).
To Make Their Own Way in the World: The Enduring Legacy of the Zealy Daguerreotypes is available at www.aperture.org.
About the Speakers
Gregg Hecimovich is the author of four books including the forthcoming Life and Times of Hannah Crafts (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2022). Hecimovich was a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University (2014–15). He also served as the Josephus Daniels Fellow at The National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (2015–16). Additionally, Hecimovich held a Public Scholar Fellowship appointment from The National Endowment for the Humanities (2015–16).
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. An Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has also authored or coauthored more than twenty books and created more than twenty documentary films, including The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, Black in Latin America, Black America since MLK: And Still I Rise, Africa’s Great Civilizations, Reconstruction: America after the Civil War, The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song, and Finding Your Roots, his groundbreaking genealogy series now in its seventh season on PBS. The recipient of fifty-eight honorary degrees, Gates was a member of the first class awarded “genius grants” by the MacArthur Foundation in 1981, and in 1998, he became the first African American scholar to be awarded the National Humanities Medal. A native of Piedmont, West Virginia, Gates earned his BA in History, summa cum laude, from Yale University in 1973, and his MA and PhD in English Literature from Clare College at the University of Cambridge in 1979. He also is an Honorary Fellow, Clare College, at the University of Cambridge. A former chair of the Pulitzer Prize board, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and serves on a wide array of boards, including the New York Public Library, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Aspen Institute, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Library of America, and the Brookings Institution. In 2011, his portrait, by Yuqi Wang, was hung in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
- Body Builders: How Animals Regenerate New Parts
April 14, 2021
Mansi Srivastava, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences, Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard UniversityRegeneration is a remarkable phenomenon in which an animal can regrow parts of its body that are lost or damaged by injury. Humans, for example, can repair some organs, but some animals can rebuild their entire bodies from small pieces of tissue. How do these animals accomplish this feat? And why is it that humans cannot regenerate as well as these animals can? Studies of how regeneration works at the molecular and cellular level are beginning to answer the first question. To answer the second question, we have to understand how regeneration has evolved. Mansi Srivastava will highlight major insights about regeneration based on her team’s research on the three- banded panther worm, a marine invertebrate species that enables us to study how regeneration works and how the process has evolved.
Evolution Matters Lecture Series
Series supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit
About the Speaker
Mansi received her AB in Biological Sciences from Mount Holyoke College, where she became fascinated by the process of regeneration and wrote her honors thesis on regeneration in segmented worms. She studied animal evolution using comparative genomics for her PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. For her postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mansi returned to her interest in regeneration and developed the three-banded panther worm as a new research organism for studying the evolution of regeneration. In 2015, Mansi joined the faculty of the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Department at Harvard University and became a curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Mansi’s research group uses panther worms to develop new approaches studying both the mechanisms and evolution of regeneration.
- Black Is Queen: The Divine Feminine in Kush
March 25, 2021
Solange Ashby, Adjunct Professor, Department of Classics and Ancient Studies, Barnard CollegeThe prominence of powerful goddesses and queens in the Nubian Kingdom of Kush (now Northern Sudan) highlights the unusually high status of women in this ancient African society and serves as a fitting focus for the study of female power in the ancient world. Using temple inscriptions found in Egypt and Nubia, the rich funerary goods found in royal burials, and temple and tomb imagery, Solange Ashby will discuss how ancient Africans of the Nile Valley understood female power and presence. Songs from Beyoncé’s recent production “Black Is King” will be woven into this presentation on Kushite queens to emphasize the power and centrality of the African queen mother in her royal family and kingdom.
About the Speaker
Solange Ashby holds a Ph.D. in Egyptology with a specialization in ancient Egyptian language and Nubian religion from the University of Chicago. She has conducted research in Egypt at the Temple of Philae and participated in an archaeological excavation in El-Kurru, Sudan (royal Kushite cemetery). Her first book, Calling Out to Isis: The Enduring Nubian Presence at Philae, is published by Gorgias Press. Her current research explores the roles of women in traditional Nubian religious practices. Dr. Ashby is working on the first monograph dedicated to the history, religious symbolism, and political power of the queens of Kush. Dr. Ashby teaches in the Department of Classics and Ancient Studies at Barnard College.
- The Intentional Museum
March 21, 2021
Christy Coleman, Executive Director, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Makeda Best, Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography, Harvard Art Museums, Harvard University
Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History Harvard University
Moderated by Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Dean, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School; Professor of History, Harvard UniversityAmerican historian Christy Coleman is the distinguished lecturer for the 2021 Seminar in Innovative Curatorial Practice. Coleman is renowned for creating innovative, engaging, and inclusive museum exhibitions and programs that tell a comprehensive story of American history. In this program, she will discuss the power that museums have to genuinely engage with communities around what matters most to them. While expertise within the museums is invaluable, it is wasted if not used to help communities address their issues and aspirations.
The Seminar in Innovative Curatorial Practice
Established in 2014 this is a partnership between the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture and the Harvard Art Museums. The program engages renowned scholars whose innovative and interdisciplinary practice challenges traditional approaches to exhibitions. These innovators share their work with the broader public through a lecture, and with Harvard students and faculty, through discussions focused on rethinking ways to integrate the university’s art, natural history, science, and social science collections with the teaching and research mission of the university.
Presented in collaboration with the Harvard Art Museums and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, as part of the presidential initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery.
About the Speakers
With a career spanning over thirty years, Christy S. Coleman has served as the chief executive officer of some of the nation’s most prominent museums. She is a tireless advocate for the power of museums, narrative correction, diversity, and inclusiveness. Ms. Coleman is an innovator and leader in the museum field having held leadership roles at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the American Civil War Museum, and now as Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. She has written numerous articles, is an accomplished screenwriter, public speaker, and has appeared on several national news and history programs. Most recently, she served as Historical Consultant for the film Harriet and Showtime’s Good Lord Bird miniseries. She has also been a featured public historian for several documentaries, most recently the acclaimed miniseries Grant. Ms. Coleman is the recipient of numerous awards including honorary doctorates from William and Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of the South for her decades of impact. In 2018, Time Magazine named her one of the 31 People Changing the South and in 2019, Worth Magazine named her one of the 29 Women Changing the World.
Sven Beckert researches and teaches the history of the United States in the nineteenth century, with a particular emphasis on the history of capitalism, including its economic, social, political and transnational dimensions. He just published Empire of Cotton: A Global History, the first global history of the nineteenth century’s most important commodity. The book won the Bancroft Prize, the Philip Taft Prize, the Cundill Recognition for Excellence, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times named it one of the ten most important books of 2015. His other publications have focused on the nineteenth-century bourgeoisie, on labor, on democracy, on global history and on the connections between slavery and capitalism. Currently he is at work on a history of capitalism. Beckert teaches courses on the political economy of modern capitalism, the history of American capitalism, Gilded Age America, labor history, global capitalism, and the history of European capitalism. Together with a group of students he has also worked on the historical connections between Harvard and slavery and published Harvard and Slavery: Seeking a Forgotten History. Beckert is co-chair of the Program on the Study of Capitalism at Harvard University and co-chair of the Weatherhead Initiative on Global History (WIGH). Beyond Harvard, he co-chairs an international study group on global history, is co-editor of a Princeton University Press book series, America in the World, and has co-organized a series of conferences on the history of capitalism. He is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. He also directs the Harvard College Europe Program.
Makeda Best is the Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Harvard Art Museums. Her exhibitions include: Time is Now–Photography and Social Change in James Baldwin’s America (2018), Winslow Homer: Eyewitness, and Crossing Lines, Constructing Home: Displacement and Belonging in Contemporary Art (2019). Her fall 2021 exhibition is Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography Since 1970. Prior to joining Harvard, she held professorships at the University of Vermont and the California College of the Arts. She has written for numerous catalogs and journals, most recently for the National Gallery of Poland, Kunsthalle Mannheim, The Archives of American Art Journal, The James Baldwin Review and the Rhode Island School of the Design’s Manual. Her most recent book is Elevate the Masses–Alexander Gardner, Photography, and Democracy in Nineteenth Century-America (Penn State Press, 2020). She is coeditor of Conflict, Identity, and Protest in American Art (2016). Her current book projects explore the intersection between photography, gender, race, and ecological issues. At Harvard, she teaches courses in curatorial practice, and in the history and theory of photography. She holds an MFA in studio photography from the California Institute of the Arts and a PhD from Harvard University.
Tomiko Brown-Nagin is dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and professor of history in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She is an award-winning legal historian, an expert in constitutional law and education law and policy, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Law Institute, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. She has published articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics, including the Supreme Court’s equal protection jurisprudence, civil rights law and history, the Affordable Care Act, and education reform. Her 2011 book, Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement (Oxford), won six awards, including the Bancroft Prize in U.S. History. In her new book (Pantheon, forthcoming January 2022), Brown-Nagin explores the life and times of Constance Baker Motley, the pathbreaking lawyer, politician, and judge. In 2019, Harvard president Lawrence Bacow appointed Brown-Nagin chair of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, anchored at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Brown-Nagin has previously served as faculty director of Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute and as codirector of Harvard Law School’s law and history program, among other leadership roles. She earned a law degree from Yale University, where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal; a doctorate in history from Duke University; and a BA in history, summa cum laude, from Furman University. Brown-Nagin held the 2016–2017 Joy Foundation Fellowship at Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
- Troubling Images: Curating Collections of Historical Photographs
February 26, 2021
Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph A.B.P. and Principal Fellow Decolonising Photography at University of the Arts London
Makeda Best, Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography, Harvard Art Museums
Ilisa Barbash, Curator of Visual Anthropology, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
David Odo, Director of Academic and Public Programs, Division Head, and Research Curator, Harvard Art MuseumsHistorical photography collections sometimes contain images that can be deeply troubling to contemporary viewers. What should be done with collections that include photographs of colonial violence, enslaved subjects, racist stereotypes, or other difficult imagery?
Join moderator David Odo and photography curators Mark Sealy, Makeda Best, and Ilisa Barbash for a conversation about the challenges and possibilities of curating legacy collections of photographs today.
Presented in partnership with the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture
Support for the lecture is provided by the M. Victor Leventritt Fund, which was established through the generosity of the wife, children, and friends of the late M. Victor Leventritt, Harvard Class of 1935. The purpose of the fund is to present outstanding scholars of the history and theory of art to the Harvard and Greater Boston communities.
- Reimagining Museums: Disruption and Change
February 25, 2021
Chris Newell, (Passamaquoddy), Executive Director and Senior Partner to Wabanaki Nations, Abbe Museum
Jane Pickering, William & Muriel Seabury Howells Director, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University
Lorén Spears, (Narragansett), Executive Director, Tomaquag Museum
Moderated by Castle McLaughlin, Museum Curator of North American Ethnography, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University
Responding to keen interest in last fall’s Reimagining Museums event, we have invited the speakers to return and continue the conversation.As museums acknowledge their legacy as colonial institutions, many are reimagining their mission as agents of decolonization and social justice. The pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other community issues continue to create opportunities for reflection and growth. How can American museums—especially those that have strong relationships with Indigenous communities—respond to current national conditions of social unrest and political turmoil? How have New England museums fared and what is likely to happen over the next two to three years?
Visit the Harvard University Press website to purchase Lessons from Plants.Presented in collaboration with the Harvard University Native American Program
About the Speakers
Chris Newell is Executive Director and Sr. Partner to Wabanaki Nations for the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. He was born and raised in Motahkmikuhk (Indian Township, Maine) and is a proud citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township. Chris is a co-founder of Akomawt Educational Initiative, an educational consultancy working with schools, universities, museums, and all areas of education to incorporate Native perspectives in a culturally competent manner. He is an award-winning museum educator dedicated to expanding the presence of Native content and making a better, more informed world for all peoples.
Jane Pickering was appointed as the William and Muriel Seabury Howells Director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology in 2019. Prior to that she was Executive Director of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, a partnership of six museums. She has thirty years’ experience working in university museums, including administrative positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University. During her career she has focused on the unique opportunities available to university museums for public engagement, through multiple exhibition projects and informal education initiatives. In 2016 she was appointed by former president Barack Obama to the National Museum and Library Services Board.
Lorén M. Spears (Narragansett), Executive Director of Tomaquag Museum, holds a Masters in Education and received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from the University of Rhode Island. She is an author, artist, and shares her cultural knowledge with the public through museum programs. She has written curriculum, poetry, and narratives published in a variety of publications such as Dawnland Voices, An Anthology of Indigenous Writing of New England; Through Our Eyes: An Indigenous View of Mashapaug Pond; The Pursuit of Happiness: An Indigenous View, and From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution. Recently, she co-edited a new edition of A Key into the Language of America by Roger Williams.
- Freud’s Drawings and the Visual Origins of Psychoanalysis
February 17, 2021
Caroline Jones, Professor of Art History, and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Joseph Koerner, Victor S. Thomas Professor of the History of Art and Architecture; Senior Fellow, Society of Fellows; Harvard University
Andreas Mayer, Senior Researcher, Centre Alexandre Koyré, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS); Professor, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Diane O’Donoghue, Director, Program for Public Humanities, Tufts University; Visiting Professor of Public Humanities, Brown University
Moderated by
Peter Galison, Joseph Pellegrino University Professor and Faculty Director, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University
Elizabeth Lunbeck, Professor of the History of Science in Residence, Harvard University
Nimrod Reitman, Exhibit Guest Curator; Visiting Fellow, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University; Researcher, Department of Literary Studies, GhentIn this panel discussion, marking the opening of the online exhibition The Interpretation of Drawings: Freud and the Visual Origins of Psychoanalysis, noted Freud scholars explore the role of Freud’s drawings and art collection in the development of his psychoanalytic theories and provide new insights into the man and mind behind some of the most influential and debated therapeutic techniques ever developed.
- From Conquest to Colony: The Early Colonial Period in Peru
February 04, 2021
Jeffrey Quilter, Associate, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & EthnologyPeru’s early colonial history is generally viewed from the perspective of the Europeans who invaded the region and documented their conquests. Recent archaeological studies, however, are revealing new insights into the experiences of Indigenous and other peoples who lived during this turbulent period. Archaeologist Jeffrey Quilter will discuss findings of the first in-depth archaeological and historical study of a colonial Peruvian town documented in his new book, Magdalena de Cao (Peabody Museum Press, 2021) highlighting how they are advancing our understanding of encounters between Spaniards, Andeans, and others. Discoveries at Magdalena de Cao include everyday clothing, Chinese porcelains, playing cards, a letter written in a lost language, and the earliest human remains of an enslaved African in South America.
About the Speaker
Jeffrey Quilter served as Director of Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology from 2012 to 2019. He was also Director of Pre-Columbian Studies and Curator of the Pre-Columbian Collection at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. (1995–2005) and a professor at Ripon College, Wisconsin (1980–1995). His archaeological research has focused mostly on Peru and Costa Rica. He has written six books, including Magdalena de Cao, and edited twelve.
- Reimagining Museums: Disruption and Change
November 18, 2020
Chris Newell (Passamaquoddy), Executive Director and Senior Partner to Wabanaki Nations, Abbe Museum
Jane Pickering, William & Muriel Seabury Howells Director, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University
Lorén Spears (Narragansett) Executive Director, Tomaquag Museum
Moderated by Castle McLaughlin, Museum Curator of North American Ethnography, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard UniversityAs museums have acknowledged their legacy as colonial institutions, many have reimagined their mission as agents of decolonization and social justice. The pandemic disruption, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other community issues are driving still more rapid and drastic changes and providing opportunities for reflection and growth. How can American museums—especially those that have strong relationships with Indigenous communities—respond to current national conditions of social unrest and political turmoil? How have New England museums fared and what is likely to happen over the next two to three years?
Presented in collaboration with the Harvard University Native American Program and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.
About the Speakers
Chris Newell is Executive Director and Sr. Partner to Wabanaki Nations for the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. He was born and raised in Motahkmikuhk (Indian Township, Maine) and is a proud citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township. Chris is a co-founder of Akomawt Educational Initiative, an educational consultancy working with schools, universities, museums, and all areas of education to incorporate Native perspectives in a culturally competent manner. He is an award-winning museum educator dedicated to expanding the presence of Native content and making a better, more informed world for all peoples.
Jane Pickering was appointed as the William and Muriel Seabury Howells Director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology in 2019. Prior to that she was Executive Director of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, a partnership of six museums. She has thirty years’ experience working in university museums, including administrative positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University. During her career she has focused on the unique opportunities available to university museums for public engagement, through multiple exhibition projects and informal education initiatives. In 2016 she was appointed by former president Barack Obama to the National Museum and Library Services Board.
Lorén M. Spears (Narragansett), Executive Director of Tomaquag Museum, holds a Masters in Education and received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from the University of Rhode Island. She is an author, artist, and shares her cultural knowledge with the public through museum programs. She has written curriculum, poetry, and narratives published in a variety of publications such as Dawnland Voices, An Anthology of Indigenous Writing of New England; Through Our Eyes: An Indigenous View of Mashapaug Pond; The Pursuit of Happiness: An Indigenous View, and From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution. Recently, she co-edited a new edition of A Key into the Language of America by Roger Williams.
- Does Food Have a Gender?
November 12, 2020
Barbara Haber, Food Historian
Lydia Shire, Chef, Restaurateur, and Entrepreneur
Moderated by Louisa Kasdon, CEO, and Founder of Let’s Talk About FoodFood is an indispensable part of culture and a symbol of profound social and political realities. Using Virginia Woolf’s essay A Room of One’s Own as a jumping point, Barbara Haber and Lydia Shire will discuss the connections among culinary history, women’s history, and social history, highlighting how food and cooking have been—and continue to be used—to mark gender roles.
Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology in collaboration with Let’s Talk About Food
About the Speakers
Barbara Haber is the former curator of books at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, where she developed a large collection of cookbooks and books on the history of food. She both writes and speaks publicly on the subject on the history of food.
Lydia Shire has launched six acclaimed restaurants including BIBA, Pignoli, Excelsior, Blue Sky, and Scampo. She has won three James Beard awards, most recently “One of America’s Top Five Chefs” and has been named “One of America’s Top Ten Chefs” by Food & Wine Magazine. Shire’s kitchens have been a training ground for some of Boston’s finest culinary talent, such as Jody Adams, Dante de Magistris, Gordon Hamersley, Amanda Lydon and Susan Regis. A powerful creative force, Lydia Shire’s passion for excellence and culinary talent is evident in all that she does.
Louisa Kasdon is a journalist with over 500 published articles and several books on food, business and health for national, regional, and international publications. She is CEO and Founder of Let’s Talk About Food. In this capacity, Louisa has created over fifty food- and health-based public events in Boston that bring the public and experts together to deepen their understanding of the role of food in our world. Kasdon was the food editor of the Boston Phoenix for fifteen years, and a senior editor at Natural Health and Boston Magazine.
- Diving with a Purpose: A Fifteen-Year Odyssey
October 22, 2020
Jay Haigler, Master Scuba Diver Trainer, Professional Association of Diving Instructors; Scientific Diver and Diving Safety Officer, National Association of Black Scuba Divers, Foundation; Board Member and Lead Instructor, Diving with a Purpose
Albert José Jones, Professor Emeritus, Marine & Environmental Science, University of the District of Columbia; Founder of Underwater Adventure Seekers Scuba Diving Club; Cofounder of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers
Erik Denson, Chief Electrical Engineer, NASA Kennedy Space Center
Ayana Omilade Flewellen, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside.Diving with a Purpose is an organization dedicated to the documentation and protection of African slave trade shipwrecks and the maritime history and culture of African Americans. Jay Haigler and Albert José Jones will share the organization’s work and recent discoveries. They will discuss the importance of submerged heritage resources in advancing the fields of maritime archaeology and ocean conservation and the need for a better understanding of the transatlantic slave trade and its global, cultural, and social-economic impact on society.
About the Speaker
Jay Haigler is a director with Diving with a Purpose (DWP), a volunteer underwater archaeology program which began under a partnership with the National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS) and the National Park Service (NPS) in Biscayne National Park located in Homestead, Florida. DWP performs extensive underwater archaeological documentation of shipwrecks; surveys their condition; and develops detailed maps of the wreck sites. Haigler is also the Diving Safety Officer for the Scientific Diving Program of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers Foundation. He was formally a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientific diver. A graduate of the Catholic University of America, with a BA in Electrical Engineering, Haigler mentors and trains new divers and encourages their exploration of such meaningful diving pursuits as DWP and Youth DWP. He received his initial Open Water training in 2005 through the Underwater Adventure Seekers (UAS), the founding club of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS) (www.nabsdivers.org). In 2010, he became an Open Water Scuba Instructor. He continued his dive education by becoming certified as a Master Scuba Diver Trainer by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). He was formally a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Scientific Diver and in this capacity trained scientists, engineers, and technicians to perform a variety of underwater tasks in support of NOAA missions.
Dr. A. José Jones is a director with Diving with a Purpose (DWP). Dr. Jones’s career as an educator and scientist spans thirty-seven years. For twenty-five years he taught at the University of the District of Columbia as a professor of marine biology and environmental science. He also served as chairman of the department of environmental science, dean for the College of Life Sciences, and provost and vice president of the university. Dr. Jones holds a master’s degree from Howard University in aquatic biology and a PhD from Georgetown University in marine biology. He was a three-time fellow of the National Science Foundation. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied marine biology at the University of Queensland, Australia and dove the Great Barrier Reef for two years. Dr. Jones began his diving career while serving in the U.S. Army. While in college, he formed the Underwater Adventure Seekers (UAS) of Washington, D.C. in 1959. UAS is one of the oldest dive clubs in the world and it predates most national certifying organizations. As a master scuba instructor, Dr. Jones has amassed more than 6,000 dives in more than fifty countries where he has spread his message of swimming and diving safety. Dr. Jones is a spearfishing champion, scuba rodeo champion, and an underwater photographer/ videographer. Jones is co-founder, former president, and current chair of the Science & Education Committee of the National Association of Black Scuba divers (NABS). Through UAS and NABS, Dr. Jones and his team have trained and certified over 2,000 divers free of charge. In forty-five years he has taught over five thousand people to swim. Dr. José Jones serves as a role model and mentor for many people of all ages, creeds, and backgrounds. His leadership and standards for excellence have shaped many divers and emerging leaders.
Ayana Omilade Flewellen (she/her) is a Black Feminist, an archaeologist, a storyteller, and an artist. She is the co-founder of the Society of Black Archaeologists and sits on the Board of Diving with a Purpose. Dr. Flewellen is an assistant professor in the department of anthropology at the University of California, Riverside. Flewellen has been featured in National Geographic, PBS, and Science magazine and has spoken at institutions such as the National Museum for Women in the Arts, the National Park Service, and Stanford University. Her research and teaching interests are shaped by and speak to Black Feminist Theory, historical archaeology, maritime heritage conservation, public and community-engaged archaeology, processes of identity formations, and representations of slavery. Her current book project, tentatively titled A Black Feminist Archaeology of Adornment, examines sartorial practices of self-making among African American tenant, sharecropping, and landowning farmers in post-emancipated Texas. Sartorial practices, in this forthcoming work, are defined as social-cultural practices, shaped by many intersecting operations of power and oppression including racism, sexism, and classism, that involve modifications of the corporal form (e.g., scarification, body piercings, and hair alteration), and all three-dimensional supplements added to the body (e.g., clothing, hair combs, and jewelry). She currently is Co-PI of the Estate Little Princess Archaeology Project, an award-winning collaborative, community-engaged archaeological project based on the island of St. Croix, USVI.
Erik Denson is a board member and Lead Instructor for the Diving with a Purpose (DWP) Maritime Archaeology Program. He has been involved with DWP since its inception in 2004.
Erik is Co-founder and President of DIVERSe Orlando, a National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS) affiliate. Erik has been a certified diver since 1992 and has logged over 900 dives worldwide. He is a PADI Divemaster and a member of the NABS Hall of Fame. Erik holds Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) Certificates and a PADI Specialty in Underwater Archeology. He is an American Academy of Underwater Sciences-NABS Foundation Scientific Diver and a volunteer diver for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Park Service (NPS). Over the last sixteen years, Erik has assisted in training over 300 divers to become advocate underwater archaeologists. Mr. Denson received a BS in Electrical Engineering (cum laude) from Howard University in 1988 and is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society. Erik also went on to receive an MS in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic University of New York in 1990. Mr. Denson is currently the chief electrical engineer for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center and has been with NASA for over thirty years.
- Wonderful Cambrian Beasts
October 14, 2020
Javier Ortega-Hernández, Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard UniversityEarth is home to a vast diversity of organisms that collectively define the modern biosphere. How did this diversity come to be? Javier Ortega-Hernández will discuss his approach to answering this question by studying organisms that lived more than half a billion years ago in the Cambrian Period (541–485 million years ago). By focusing on the earliest-known animals—some of the most versatile to ever exist—Ortega-Hernández aims to reconstruct the early evolutionary history of major animal groups and contribute to our understanding of Earth’s biodiversity.
Evolution Matters Lecture Series
Series supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit
- From the Hands of the Makers
October 7, 2020
Jennifer Brown, Collection Manager, Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants
Natalja Kent, Photographer, Glass Flowers: Marvels of Art and Science at Harvard
Scott E. Fulton, Head Conservator, Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants
Donald H. Pfister, Asa Gray Professor of Systematic Botany and Curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic BotanyFrom 1886 to 1936, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka applied their artistic talents and knowledge of natural history to create an exquisite collection of glass models of plants to support the botanical education of Harvard students and the public. This program will explore the history, conservation, and relevance of the Glass Flowers in the twenty-first century, and introduce the publication Glass Flowers: Marvels of Art and Science at Harvard, a compendium of new photographs that captures the beauty and magnificent detail of the models.
About the Speakers
Jennifer Brown became the Collection Manger for the Glass Flowers in 2012. Her background in art and library science combined with her experience assisting glass artist Toots Zynsky prepared her to work with this unique collection. In addition to co-authoring Glass Flowers: Marvels of Art and Science at Harvard, she has worked on many exciting projects including moving collection storage to a new facility, completing the most extensive exhibit renovation in the collection’s history and co-curating special exhibitions within the Glass Flowers gallery.
Scott E. Fulton has been closely involved with the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants as a leading consultant and advocate for their care and long-term preservation since 1997. After serving as Senior Objects Conservator for several years at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, he joined the Harvard University Herbaria staff in 2015 and continues in the position of Head Conservator for the Glass Flower collection.
Natalja Kent is a commercial photographer and fine artist based in Los Angeles, California. She has over 17 years of experience in cultural heritage photography and is an avid gardener and flora enthusiast.
Donald H. Pfister has been at Harvard for more than 40 years and has taught courses in the biology of fungi, biology of trees and forests and trees, forests and climate change. He is curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium and is Asa Gray Professor of Systematic Botany. He became deeply involved with the Glass Flowers during the recent renovation and has continued to advise the Glass Flower team. He contributed an essay, Scientifical Artwork, forGlass Flowers: Marvels of Art and Science at Harvard.
- Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire
October 1, 2020
Rebecca Henderson, John and Natty McArthur University Professor, Harvard Business School, Co-chair, Harvard University Presidential Committee on SustainabilityCapitalism is the most successful economic system to have ever existed, but it is in danger of destroying itself—and our world. In her most recent publication, Reimagining Capitalism (Hachette/Public Affairs Books, 2020), Rebecca Henderson lays out a pragmatic roadmap for how business can be an engine of prosperity, while also being a system that is in harmony with the environment and one that strives to ameliorate social injustice.
Presented in collaboration with the Harvard University Office for Sustainability.
About the Speaker
Rebecca Henderson is one of twenty-five University Professors at Harvard University, a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a fellow of both the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. An expert on innovation and organizational change, her research explores the degree to which the private sector can play a major role in building a more sustainable economy and focuses particularly on the relationships among organizational purpose, innovation, and productivity in high-performance organizations. For several years she taught “Reimagining Capitalism: Business and the Big Problems,” a course that grew from twenty-eight to over three-hundred students. It is the basis for her book Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire (Hachette/Public Affairs, April 2020). Rebecca serves as a Co-chair for the Harvard University Presidential Committee on Sustainability and serves on the boards of Idexx Laboratories and of CERES. Her publications include ”Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective” and “Accelerating Energy Innovation: Lessons from Multiple Sectors.” She was named one of three Outstanding Directors of 2019 by the Financial Times.
- Love and Death in the Stone Age
September 24, 2020
Mary C. Stiner, Regents Professor, School of Anthropology, University of ArizonaHumans are the only animal species that bury their dead, and this practice is preserved in Paleolithic sites as early as 120,000 years ago. The emergence of burial traditions in this time period implies that both Neanderthals and early humans had already begun to conceive of the individual as unique and irreplaceable. Mary Stiner will discuss the archaeological evidence for burial practices in the Paleolithic, the earliest-known ritualized bridge between the living and the deceased in human evolutionary history.
Hallam L. Movius, Jr. Lecture
About the Speaker
Mary C. Stiner is Regents Professor in the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. She is also curator of zooarchaeology at the Arizona State Museum. She conducts archaeological research on human ancestors, and examines paleoeconomics and social evolution across the Mediterranean Basin. She is particularly interested in the ever-changing relationship between human societies and Eurasian ecosystems. With an expertise in zooarchaeology, she has worked on a wide range of topics in human evolution, Paleolithic archaeology, hunter-gatherer ecology, animal domestication, the transition from hunter-gatherer to early village economies, and early art as media for visual communication.
- Taking the Smithsonian’s Fossil Halls into the Twenty-First Century
September 17, 2020
Matthew Carrano, Curator of Dinosauria, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian InstitutionFossils provide evidence of how organisms have evolved and ecosystems have changed through time—and offer clues to our present and future. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History recently completed a seven-year renovation of its Fossil Hall, the largest in the institution’s history. Matthew Carrano, lead curator of the Fossil Hall, will describe the museum’s approach to creating a modern, relevant exhibition for the twenty-first century, featuring new research and more than seven hundred fossils. His talk will detail the goals, processes, and results of this enormous project, while highlighting the key topics selected to enhance the public’s understanding of the evolution of life on Earth.
Evolution Matters Lecture Series
Series supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit
About the Speaker
Matthew Carrano has been Curator of Dinosauria in the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History since 2003. His research examines the evolutionary relationships of predatory dinosaurs, the paleoecology of Mesozoic ecosystems, and the quality of the terrestrial fossil record. He has conducted fieldwork from Montana and Wyoming to Madagascar, Chile, and Zimbabwe, and brought thousands of new specimens to the NMNH collections.
Carrano received his BSc in Geology-Biology from Brown University in 1991, followed by his MSc (1995) and PhD (1998) in Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. Prior to working at the Smithsonian, he taught human anatomy and conducted postdoctoral research at Stony Brook University. He has published dozens of scientific papers and co-edited the journal Paleobiology from 2007–2010. Carrano has served such scientific organizations as the Jurassic Foundation, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, the Paleontological Society, and the Paleobiology Database (www.paleobiodb.org). In 1999 he created the Polyglot Paleontologist (www.paleoglot.org), now the primary source for English translations of paleontological research papers. With Kirk Johnson, he authored Visions of Lost Worlds: The Paleoart of Jay Matternes (Smithsonian Books, 2019).
At the National Museum of Natural History, Carrano has been involved in numerous outreach, education, and exhibit projects. He created Dinosaurs in Our Backyard, the first Smithsonian exhibit to feature fossils from the Washington, DC region, and was a featured curator in the temporary exhibit Since Darwin: The Evolution of Evolution. He was the lead curator for the Deep Time exhibition, the first complete renovation of the paleontology halls in the museum’s history, which opened in 2019.
- Apprenticeship in Ancient Egypt
September 16, 2020
Willeke Wendrich, Joan Silsbee Chair of African Cultural Archaeology; Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Digital Humanities, University of California, Los Angeles
Archaeologists study stylistic and technological changes in excavated materials—especially pottery—to better understand developments in ancient Egyptian society. However, little attention has focused on using the archaeological record to understand the transfer of cultural knowledge. How did people learn the arts and crafts of potters, basket makers, metalworkers, and scribes? Willeke Wendrich will explore the social history of learning in ancient Egypt and what it can teach us about the present.About the Speaker
Willeke Wendrich (PhD, Leiden University, 1999) holds the Joan Silsbee Chair in African Cultural Archaeology and is Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Digital Humanities in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She has worked for thirty years in Egypt and currently directs an archaeological project in Ethiopia, with a strong focus on ethnoarchaeology and community archaeology. From 2012 to 2016 she was Director of the Center for Digital Humanities and presently she directs the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She is also Editor-in-Chief of the online UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, board member of the Institute for Field Research, and academic board member of the Museo Egizio in Turin. She published widely on the social context of craft production and especially on basketry and basket makers. Some of her publications include: Egyptian Archaeology (Wiley Blackwell 2010), Archaeology and Apprenticeship (University of Arizona Press, 2012) and The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated (CIoA Press, 2017). Since 2019 she isPresident of the International Association of Egyptologists.
- Early Archaeology of the Pacific
March 10, 2020
Matthew Spriggs, Laureate Fellow and Professor of Archaeology, Australian National University, AustraliaThe earliest European explorations in the Pacific region sparked speculation about the origins of Pacific Islanders. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, several archaeological studies were made in Polynesia, Micronesia, Island Melanesia, Australia, and New Guinea. Matthew Spriggs will discuss the findings of a five-year project to understand the early history of Pacific archaeology and its contributions to our understanding of human settlement in the region.
See the related small exhibit, Uncovering Pacific Pasts.
About the Speaker
Matthew Spriggs is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow, working on the project “The Collective Biography of Archaeology in the Pacific (CBAP).” He is also Professor of Archaeology in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University. He has undertaken extensive archaeological research in the Pacific Islands and Island Southeast Asia for over forty years, particularly in Vanuatu. His Laureate project is concerned with the history of Pacific archaeology.
- The Khufu Boat
March 5, 2020
Bob Brier, Senior Research Fellow, Long Island UniversityIn 1954, Egyptian archaeologist Kamal el-Mallakh discovered a 144-foot ship buried next to the Great Pyramid of Giza. The Khufu boat—one of the oldest-known planked vessels from antiquity—was interred in honor of Khufu, the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid. Bob Brier will discuss what is known about the design, propulsion, and function of this 4,600-year-old ship, based on recent tank tests conducted on a model. He will also highlight plans to build a full-scale replica of the vessel and to place it on the Nile.
Presented by the Harvard Semitic Museum with support from the Marcella Tilles Memorial Fund
About the Speaker
Bob Brier is recognized as one of the world’s foremost Egyptologists. As Senior Research Fellow at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, he conducts pioneering research in mummification practices and has investigated some of the world’s most famous mummies, including King Tut, Vladimir Lenin, Ramses the Great, Eva Peron, Marquise Tai, and the Medici family of Renaissance Italy.
In 1994, Brier became the first person in 2,000 years to mummify a human cadaver using the exact techniques of the ancient Egyptians. This research was the subject of a National Geographic Channel special titled Mr. Mummy. He has hosted several award-winning television specials for The Learning Channel (TLC), including Pyramids, Mummies & Tombs and Mummy Detective. More recently, the National Geographic Channel presented his research in the documentary Secret of the Great Pyramid which highlights a new theory of the Great Pyramid of Giza construction. Dr. Brier’s research has been featured in such media venues as CNN, 60 Minutes, and The New York Times. His most recent book is: Cleopatra’s Needles: The Lost Obelisks of Egypt (Bloomsbury 2016).
- Who Discovered Evolution?
March 3, 2020
William Friedman, Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Director of the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard UniversityCharles Darwin is commonly cited as the person who “discovered” evolution. But, the historical record shows that roughly seventy different individuals published work on the topic of evolution between 1748 and 1859, the year that Darwin published On the Origin of Species. These early thinkers, now almost entirely forgotten, included biologists, geologists, horticulturists, physicians, clergymen, atheists, philosophers, teachers, and poets. William Friedman will discuss the ideas of these pre-Darwinian evolutionists, place Darwin in a broader historical context, and examine the nature of scientific discovery and attribution.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
Evolution Matters Lecture Series
Series supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit
About the Speaker
William (Ned) Friedman is the Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and the eighth Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in its nearly 150-year history. Friedman’s studies have fundamentally altered century-old views of the earliest phases of the evolution of flowering plants, Darwin’s so-called “abominable mystery.” He is also deeply interested in the history of early (pre-Darwinian) evolutionary thought and is particularly focused on the largely forgotten contributions of horticulturists and botanists. As Director of the Arnold Arboretum, Friedman has worked to expand the Arboretum’s societal impact through diverse initiatives in public programming, enhanced communication between scientists and the public, the embedding of scientific scholarship within the living collections, and a reinvigoration of the long-standing relationship between the Arboretum and the biodiversity of Asia.
- The Ancient Maya Response to Climate Change: A Cautionary Tale
February 27, 2020
2022 Gordon R. Willey Lecture
B. L. Turner II, Regents Professor and Gilbert F. White Professor of Environment and Society, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and the School of Sustainability, Arizona State UniversityAncient Maya civilization suffered a major demise between the tenth and eleventh centuries. The causes continue to be investigated and debated. Paleoenvironmental research over the past twenty years has revealed that the demise coincided with a prolonged, intensive drought that extended across the region, providing compelling evidence that climate change played a key role in the collapse of the Maya. Billie Turner will examine this evidence and the complex social and environmental conditions that affected Maya societies.
Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University
About the Speaker
B. L. Turner II studies human-environment relationships from prehistory to contemporary sustainability. Focusing on the dynamics between society and land, his research has addressed the ancient Maya, smallholder agriculture in the tropics, tropical deforestation, and sustainability science. Dr. Turner is a member of both the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts of Sciences, and serves as Associate Editor of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has served on numerous national and international organizations addressing land, climate change, and sustainability. He holds a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a M.A. and B.A. in geography from the University of Texas at Austin.
- Olfaction in Science and Society
February 26, 2020
Dawn Goldworm, President and Chief Creative, 12.29
Venkatesh Murthy, Raymond Leo Erikson Life Sciences Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
Moderated by Catherine Dulac, Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology; Lee and Ezpeleta Professor of Arts and Sciences, Harvard UniversityThe sense of smell plays a critical role in human behavior, from warning us of potential dangers to attracting us to certain foods, places, and people. Harvard scientists Catherine Dulac and Venkatesh Murthy study the molecules, cells, and brain circuits that underlie olfaction and the social behaviors that aromas can elicit. In this program, they will engage in a conversation with internationally recognized olfactive expert Dawn Goldworm to discuss how neurobiological research on olfaction relates to our everyday experiences.
About the Speaker
Dawn Goldworm is an internationally recognized olfactive expert and the Nose for the world’s most prestigious brands. Goldworm spent over a decade designing perfumes for celebrities from Lady Gaga to David Beckham. While working as the in-house Fragrance Designer at Coty, Goldworm completed a graduate thesis from New York University on olfactive branding, leading to the formation of her company, 12.29. 12.29 partners with the world’s most powerful brands, including Nike, American Express, The Ritz, Bentley, Valentino, transforming communication and delivering brand loyalty through the power of smell. Goldworm has been featured at global conferences including TEDx, C2, WWD Beauty Summit, and Forbes Luxury Travel Guide. She has been filmed as a thought leader for Bloomberg, CNN Money, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal.
Venkatesh Murthy was born in a small industrial town in south India called Neyveli. After getting a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, he came to the United States with a notion to combine engineering and biology. A degree (MSE) in Bioengineering from the University of Washington, Seattle led to his interest in neuroscience. A Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington followed, and postdoctoral work at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla solidified his path in neuroscience research. Murthy came to Harvard University as an assistant professor in 1999 and is now the Raymond Leo Erikson Life Sciences Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, as well as Co-Chair of the Harvard Biophysics Graduate Program. He is the recipient of the Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Harvard Graduate Student Council and has been named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, an EJLB Foundation Scholar, and a Esther K. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund Fellow. His laboratory explores the neural and algorithmic basis of odor-guided behaviors in terrestrial animals.
Moderator
Catherine Dulac grew up in Montpellier, France and received her Ph.D. from the University of Paris. After her postdoctoral training at Columbia University, she joined Harvard University as junior faculty before becoming Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2001, and Chair of Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology from 2007 until 2013. She is currently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. Her work explores how pheromones and other sensory signals drive instinctive social behaviors in mice. In recent work, her laboratory has deciphered how the brain controls parenting behavior in both males and females, and how different parts of the brain and sensory signals participate in the positive and negative controls of parental care. She is the recipient of multiple awards including the Richard Lounsbery Award, the National Academy’s Pradel Research Award, the Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience, the Karl Spencer Lashley Award from the American Philosophical Society, and the Society for Neuroscience Ralph W. Gerard Prize. She is a member of numerous scientific advisory boards in the United States and abroad, and recently served as Co-Chair of the National Institutes of Health Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD), BRAIN Initiative 2.0 Working Group.
David holds a Ph.D. from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Alcalá, both in Madrid with honors (equivalent to summa cum laude) in 2008. After this, he spent three years at the University of California at Berkeley, two years at Stanford University, and one year at the Centre National de la Recherché Scientific (CNRS) in Montpellier, France. During the last five years, he was at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) near Bilbao, Spain, as an Ikerbasque and Ramon y Cajal research fellow. David has authored more than forty papers in scientific journals and books, including papers in Nature Communications, Nature, PLOS Biology, and Nature Ecology and Evolution. He is associate editor in Journal of Applied Ecology (British Ecological Society) and Ecological Restoration (Society for Ecological Restoration). - Infectious Cancers in Tasmanian Devils
February 20, 2020
Mark Margres, Sarah and Daniel Hrdy Fellow in Conservation Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard UniversityThe Tasmanian devil is the world’s largest living carnivorous marsupial. This species was once abundant in Australia, but today is only found on the island of Tasmania, where it is at risk of extinction due to two rare, contagious cancers. Mark Margres will discuss how this species is adapting in response to these diseases, whether there is any hope for the Tasmanian devil to avoid extinction, and what can be learned about human cancers from studying the disease in other animal species.
Presented in collaboration with the Microbial Sciences Initiative
About the Speaker
Mark J. Margres is an evolutionary biologist who focuses on adaptation and evolutionary genetics. He received his BA from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas and his PhD from Florida State University. His research addresses fundamental questions related to adaptation dynamics in two co-evolving systems: Tasmanian devils and devil facial tumor disease, and venomous snakes and their prey. Mark’s cancer work largely focuses on the genetic basis of adaptation in Tasmanian devils in response to devil facial tumor disease, a species-specific transmissible cancer that threatens the Tasmanian devil with extinction. His work on rattlesnake venoms explores how migration and selection interact to lead to local adaptation, particularly in island populations. Mark’s research integrates field work, next-generation sequencing, and bioinformatics to connect genotype, phenotype, and ecology. His work has been published in top journals including Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Molecular Ecology, and Genome Biology and Evolution. As the Hrdy Fellow at Harvard University, Mark is focusing on the Tasmanian devil-cancer system to determine how multiple mutations in a single tumor affect disease fitness and transmission. He hopes his work will ultimately lead to more robust predictions regarding cancer and pathogen evolution, which have direct biomedical and conservation implications. Emerging infectious diseases are now the sixth leading cause of species’ declines, and such diseases are expected to only increase as habitat alterations bring species whose niches do not normally overlap into close contact. Thus, predicting the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases has become an urgent priority for conservation and disease management, especially for species threatened with extinction by disease, including the Tasmanian devil.
- Ancient Egyptian Culture and Its Continuity in Modern Egypt
February 13, 2020
Fayza Haikal, Professor of Egyptology, The American University in CairoEgypt’s recorded history spans six thousand years and is therefore one of the longest and best known in the world. Today, Egyptians practice several religious, artistic, and social traditions that can be traced to ancient Egypt, demonstrating the power and longevity of cultural memory. Drawing on research in archaeology, Egyptian art, writing, and culture, Fayza Haikal will examine Egyptian society’s cultural expressions from antiquity to the present, focusing on language, spirituality, superstitions, funerary traditions, and folklore.
- What Makes Chocolate “Good”?
February 11, 2020
Carla D. Martin, Founder and Executive Director, Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute; Lecturer, Harvard UniversityThe social and environmental values underlying artisanal chocolate production have become increasingly important in its marketing. Good taste is paramount, of course, but how does one measure “social goodness,” and what additional value does it add for the consumer? Chocolate makers’ interests often diverge from those of cacao producers, and industry stakeholders have not clearly addressed these concerns. Carla Martin will examine the cacao-chocolate industry and highlight the often-conflicting goals that can create gaps in social and environmental responsibility. The program includes a chocolate tasting. Chocolate samples will also be available for sale.
About the Speaker
Carla D. Martin, PhD, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute and a Lecturer in the Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Carla is a social anthropologist whose current research focuses on ethics, quality, and politics in cacao and chocolate and draws on several years of domestic and international ethnographic experience. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Transition Magazine, Social Dynamics, The Root, US History Scene, Sodade Magazine, Socio.hu, The Savannah Review, and edited volumes. She lectures widely and has taught extensively in African and African American Studies, critical food studies, social anthropology, and ethnomusicology, and has received numerous awards in recognition of excellence in teaching and research. Find her online at carladmartin.com and @carladmartin.
- The Ghosts of Gombe
November 29, 2018
Dale Peterson, AuthorOn July 12, 1969, Ruth Davis, a young American volunteer at Dr. Jane Goodall’s research site in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, left camp to follow a chimpanzee into the forest. Six days later, her body was found floating at the base of a high waterfall. What happened? Drawing on his recent book, The Ghosts of Gombe, Dale Peterson will delve into the full story of day-to-day life at Gombe during the months preceding Ruth’s death. These months were marked by stress, excitement, social conflicts, cultural alignments, and the friendships that developed among three of the researchers and some of the chimpanzees.
- The Remarkable Nature of Edward Lear
November 21, 2019
Robert McCracken Peck, Curator of Art and Artifacts, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel UniversityEdward Lear (1812–1888), best known for The Owl and the Pussycat and other nonsense poetry, was also an accomplished painter of birds, mammals, reptiles, and landscapes, and an adventurous world traveler. His paintings of parrots, macaws, toucans, owls, and other birds are among the finest ever published. Robert McCracken Peck will discuss the remarkable life and natural history paintings of this beloved children’s writer, who mysteriously abandoned his scientific work soon after achieving preeminence in the field.
About the Speaker
Robert McCracken Peck is a writer, naturalist, and historian who has traveled extensively in North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. He is the author of The Natural History of Edward Lear (David R. Godine, 2016); A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science (2012), with co-author Patricia Tyson Stroud; Land of the Eagle: A Natural History of North America (1990); Headhunters and Hummingbirds: An Expedition into Ecuador (1987); A Celebration of Birds: The Life and Art of Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1982); and co-author of All in the Bones: A Biography of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (2008). He has also written for newspapers and a wide range of popular and scholarly publications. Mr. Peck has served as a guest curator for and consultant to museums and libraries in the U.S. and has lectured widely at home and abroad. He was a guest curator of a bicentennial exhibition of Edward Lear’s natural history paintings at Harvard University’s Houghton Library.