It’s another exciting week for learning from visiting scholars. If you are available, you’ll want to hear what they have to say:
Dr. Kip Thorn – Theoretical Physicist and Nobel laureate
Exploring the Universe with Gravitational Waves: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
Thursday, April 19, 2018, 5:30 pm
Simons Center Della Pietra Family Auditorium
Abstract: There are only two types of waves that can propagate across the universe: Electromagnetic waves and gravitational waves. Galileo initiated electromagnetic astronomy 400 years ago, by pointing a telescope at the sky and discovering the moons of Jupiter. LIGO physicists and engineers initiated gravitational astronomy in 2015, by observing gravitational waves from colliding black holes a billion light years from Earth. By the 2030s, physicists and astronomers will have opened four gravitational “windows” onto the universe, each covering a different frequency band and using a different type of gravitational-wave detector; and they will be using gravitational waves to observe the big-bang birth of our Universe and the first one-second of our Universe’s life.
Dr. Ann Pabst – Professor of Biology and Marine Biology at University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Building a Deep Diving Mammal: Insights through the investigation of strandings
Friday, April 20, 2018, noon
Endeavor Hall, room 120
Dr. Pabst will be this week’s OAC speaker. Dr. Pabst is a marine mammal physiologist at UNCW and is the current president of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. Her work investigates how the mammalian body is functionally adapted to the marine environment and focuses on musculoskeletal design and thermoregulatory function in cetaceans. https://uncw.edu/bio/faculty_
Dr. Paul Shepson – Incoming Dean of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Embrace the Change!
Friday, April 20, 2018, 7:30 P.M.
Charles B. Wang Center Theater
Abstract: A growing global population, continuing industrialization, and continuing reliance on fossil fuels are combining to create a number of threats to natural ecosystems and to sustainability of human processes. These impacts will affect where we live, how we feed ourselves, and other important measures of quality of life. While the solutions to climate change are rather daunting, there are a multitude of reasons for optimism, and associated opportunities. Indeed, there are great opportunities for personal leadership, for business development, contributions to the economy, to sustainable development, and to quality of life. Technical developments are enabling the identification of a wide array of viable paths to carbon-free energy production and transportation systems. We have the tools needed to change the world, to rebuild healthier cities, and to better protect ourselves from natural and human-derived hazards, and to build resilience to rapid change. But equally exciting is the fact that New York and Stony Brook University can lead in many ways, and in this talk, Dr. Shepson will encourage us all to do that. We can be the change we want to see in the world, and making it happen will be exciting!