Spring 2023 University Forum Series Kicks Off Feb. 7 at USM

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 Southern Mississippi (USM). 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 “Data, Health, and Change” 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 “Learning Statistics” and is a co-host of the PBS NOVA series “NOVA Wonders.” 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’s Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2015. Dr. Williams gained further notoriety for her TED talk “Own Your Body’s Data,” 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, “An Evening with Roxane Gay”

Gay is the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and a widely followed social commentator. Bad Feminist, described in The Guardian as “a manual on how to be human,” is considered a quintessential study of modern feminism.

 

 

 

*Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m., Bennett Auditorium – Dr. Alan Lightman, “Probable Impossibilities”

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.

 

 

“From 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,” said Dr. Andrew Haley, director of University Forum and an associate professor of history in the USM School of Humanities.

University Forum is presented by the USM Honors College. For more information about University Forum, visit https://www.usm.edu/honors/about-university-forum.php.