Woods Lecture Series 2026-2027

Fall 2026

Ben Rein

Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection

Thursday, September 17, 2026, 7:30 PM
Schrott Center for the Arts

Ben Rein, PhD, is a neuroscientist, author, and science communicator. He serves as the Chief Science Officer of the Mind Science Foundation, an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University, Head of Science Communication at ResearchHub, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at SUNY Buffalo. He is the author of Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection. 

Rein also shares educational neuroscience videos on social media to an audience of more than 1.2 million followers, and has been featured on Entertainment Tonight, Good Morning America, and 100+ podcasts including StarTalk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Barstool Sports. His science communication efforts have been recognized with awards from the National Academies of Sciences, the Society for Neuroscience, and elsewhere.

David Laviska

Green Chemistry

Thursday, October 1, 2026, 7:30 PM
Shelton Auditorium

Dr. David A. Laviska was Assistant Professor at Seton Hall University where he was co-director of the Academy for Green Chemistry, Stewardship, and Sustainability. As a pedagogical innovator, he led the effort to incorporate the principles of Green Chemistry throughout the Organic and General Chemistry curricula and was awarded “Professor of the Year” in 2020. As a first-generation college student and member of the LGBTQIA+ community, he took leading roles in working with undergraduate STEM students from across the spectrum of underrepresented groups. His research focused on green(er) synthesis and characterization of late transition metal complexes with unique optical properties and hetero- and homogeneous catalysis. His research students also developed and piloted green(er) experimental protocols for use in undergraduate teaching labs.

Prior to his second career in academia, Laviska worked for more than a decade as an Environmental/Analytical Specialist with the EPA. He now serves as the Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education for the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute.

Katherine Freese

The Mystery of Dark Matter in the Universe

Thursday, October 22, 2026, 7:30 PM
Shelton Auditorium

Katherine Freese is the Director of the Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Kodosky Endowed Chair of Physics at the University of Texas, Austin, as well as Guest Professor at Stockholm University. She works on topics in theoretical cosmology and astroparticle physics. She has been working to identify the dark matter and dark energy that permeate the universe as well as to build a successful model for the early universe immediately after the Big Bang. 

Freese has been very active in public outreach, including TV, radio, and public lectures and panels. She is the author of a book, The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter. Freese is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, and was awarded the Lilienfeld Prize from the American Physical Society in 2019 “for ground-breaking research at the interface of cosmology and particle physics, and her tireless efforts to communicate the excitement of physics to the general public.”

Spring 2027

Arthur Benjamin

Mathemagics

Tuesday, January 26, 2027, 7:30 PM
Shelton Auditorium

Dr. Arthur Benjamin is a distinguished mathematician, a professional magician, and one of the world’s fastest mental calculators. He has been repeatedly honored by the Mathematical Association of America for his teaching and writing, and was recently selected by Princeton Review as one of The Best 300 Professors in America. He is the sole recipient of the 2017 Communications Award from Joint Policy Board for Mathematics. This award is given to people who, on a sustained basis, share the beauty and value of mathematics to a broad audience. He is the author of the best-selling books on mathematics Secrets of Mental Math and The Magic of Math: Solving for X and Figuring Out Why.

Jessie Christiansen

The Search for Earth 2.0: Why We Think It Exists, and How We’re Going to Find It

Wednesday, February 17, 2027, 7:30 PM
Shelton Auditorium

Dr. Jessie Christiansen is Chief Scientist of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech/IPAC, where she searches for, characterizes, and catalogs planets orbiting other stars. She leads the NASA Exoplanet Archive, and has worked on the NASA Kepler, K2, and now TESS missions to characterize the demographics of exoplanets, and to find and study the nearest planetary systems to Earth—systems that will be perfect for further study with NASA’s next flagship mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory. She is also the Principal Investigator of a new NASA mission concept called SHERA—Searching for Habitable Exoplanets with Relative Astrometry.

John Warner

Green Chemistry as the Foundation of Sustainability and the Circular Economy

Tuesday, March 2, 2027, 7:30 PM
Shelton Auditorium

John Warner is a globally recognized leader in sustainable chemistry, innovation, and translational science, known for bridging academia, industry, and government to accelerate the development and deployment of safer, more sustainable technologies. As a co-founder of the field of green chemistry, Warner has spent his career redefining how chemicals and materials are designed at the molecular level to reduce hazard and enable circularity. He has held senior academic roles, including tenured professorships, where he founded the world’s first PhD program in Green Chemistry. He co-founded Beyond Benign, a global non-profit that has trained thousands of educators and influenced chemistry curricula worldwide.

Anjana Khatwa

The Whispers of Rock

Tuesday, April 13, 2027, 7:30 PM
Shelton Auditorium

Dr. Anjana Khatwa is an award-winning earth scientist who has worked for several universities, the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, and the National Trust. Dr. Khatwa has contributed to and presented TV programs for the BBC as well as ITV. She has been given the Geographical Award for public engagement by the Royal Geographical Society, the RH Worth Award by the Geological Society of London, and the Halstead Medal from the Geologists’ Association. In 2021, she received a National Diversity Award in recognition of her work to champion inclusion within earth science and natural heritage and the same year was longlisted for the 2021 Nan Shepherd Prize for nature writing. The Whispers of Rock is her first book and was selected as a Book of the Year by New Scientist and Nature and was longlisted for the prestigious Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize.