Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series
2012-2013 Lectures
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is proud of its faculty members and their many accomplishments. The Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series, an annual event for more than thirty years, is just one way that we honor and celebrate our faculty. Video of each lecture will be posted here about a week after the lecture.
Magnetic Field Reversals: The Ups and Downs of Earth’s Dipole, as Seen from South America
LAURIE BROWN
Professor of Geosciences
Video will be available sometime after the lecture takes place.
While studying an active volcano in the Chilean Andes, Laurie Brown discovered lava flows that gave evidence of the most recent reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles. Paleomagnetism, the study of how Earth’s magnetic field is recorded in rocks, suggests that when the field reverses itself, it reduces to a low intensity. Since this field shields us from harmful solar rays, lessening it has the potential to have profound environmental effects. Professor Brown will relate how her findings will help predict with more accuracy reversal processes and how future reversals may affect human activity.
Monday, March 11, 2013 • 4 p.m.
Mullins Center Massachusetts Room
The Brain on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
R. THOMAS ZOELLER
Professor of Biology
Professor Zoeller’s research laboratory has pioneered the study of the role of thyroid hormone in brain development of the fetus. These studies have led to a better understanding of the importance of thyroid function in pregnant women and have led to concern about the industrial chemicals to which all of us are exposed. Professor Zoeller will discuss how his findings have clear implications for public health protection.
Monday, February 25, 2013 • 4 p.m.
Mullins Center Massachusetts Room
Looking from South Africa to the World: A Story of Identity for Our Times
STEPHEN CLINGMAN
Department of English and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies Institute
Professor Clingman examines how South African activists and writers have approached the question of identity as an unfolding story, a journey across the boundaries of a fragmented yet connected world. The issues examined by writers at the moment of their country's transition to democracy are a microcosm of how identity is being created all over the globe.
Wednesday, December 3, 2012 • 4 p.m.
Mullins Center Massachusetts Room
Technological Change as a Variable in State Development
JANE E. FOUNTAIN
Department of Political Science and Center for Public Policy and Administration
Information and communication technologies are transforming democracy around the world, and could help solve policy problems such as disaster preparedness, disease outbreaks, and environmental degradation. Yet powerful surveillance and aggregation systems now track individuals and groups at a level of detail never before imaginable. Professor Fountain will examine the implications of technology for the future of the state, citizenship, democracy, the relationship between individual and society, and personal freedom.