Spring 2023 University Forum Series Kicks Off Feb. 7 at 草榴社区
Mon, 01/09/2023 - 02:35pm | By: David Tisdale
Acclaimed experts on math, feminism and physics will delve into these topics in a series of enlightening presentations during the 2023 spring University Forum at The University of 草榴社区 Mississippi (草榴社区). Programs in the series are free and open to the public.
The series begins with Dr. Talithia Williams, an associate professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College whose research involves creating statistical models that emphasize the spatial and temporal structure of data and applying these models to problems in the environment. Her presentation, titled 鈥淒ata, Health, and Change鈥� will be held Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium on the Hattiesburg campus.
Dr. Williams is the author of Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics. Dr. Williams teaches the online course 鈥淟earning Statistics鈥� and is a co-host of the PBS
NOVA series 鈥淣OVA Wonders.鈥� She has worked at NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
and the National Security Agency and as a research partner to the World Health Organization;
she earned the Mathematical Association of America鈥檚 Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished
Teaching in 2015. Dr. Williams gained further notoriety for her TED talk 鈥淥wn Your
Body鈥檚 Data,鈥� which argues that simple data about our bodies can help us better understand
our health.
The remainder of the spring University Forum schedule includes the following:
Tuesday, March 21, 6:30 p.m., Bennett Auditorium - Roxane Gay, 鈥淎n Evening with Roxane
Gay鈥�
Gay is the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and a widely followed social commentator. Bad Feminist, described in The Guardian as 鈥渁 manual on how to be human,鈥� is considered a quintessential study of modern feminism.
*Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m., Bennett Auditorium 鈥� Dr. Alan Lightman, 鈥淧robable Impossibilities鈥�
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Lightman is an astrophysicist and writer of both non-fiction and fiction, whose work explores how we understand our place in the universe. He is a Professor of Practice of the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the author of The Accidental Universe and Mr. g, the latter being the story of creation as narrated by God.
鈥淔rom the data about health that shapes public policy and personal choices, to the ways in which our individual histories and daily interactions form our identity, to the unseen forces that give shape to our universe, this semester, University Forum will explore that which is hidden in plain sight,鈥� said Dr. Andrew Haley, director of University Forum and an associate professor of history in the 草榴社区 School of Humanities.
University Forum is presented by the 草榴社区 Honors College. For more information about University Forum, visit /honors/about-university-forum.php.