The Stanford Summer Science Lecture Series is a series of outdoor science and engineering lectures offered on campus four or five evenings throughout the summer by some of Stanford's most distinguished professors.
June 12, 2007 presentation by Robert Robbins for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Dr. Robbins, Professor & Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Director of Stanford's Cardiovascular Institute, delivers information on the state of research, the newest studies, and the latest treatments for cardiovascular disease.
June 22, 2006 presentation by Stephen Palumbi for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Professor of Biological Sciences, Stephen Palumbi, will take us on an interesting journey through time to explain how the Monterey Coast arose from its once polluted and overfished past to be one on the most beautiful and coveted shorelines of the United States. Though not pristine, it is an example of the successful rebirth of an environment.
June 28, 2007 presentation by Michael Longaker for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Dr. Michael Longaker, Director or Children's Surgical Research, explains how regenerative, reparative, replacement and tissue engineering medicine represent an emerging field that holds great promise for core problems in medicine world wide.
July 6, 2006 presentation by Matthew Scott for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Matthew Scott, Professor of Developmental Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering explains how, through his research, he has discovered that genetic "hardware" - the genes and proteins that do the work - are for the most part dramatically similar among seemingly different animals.
July 20, 2006 presentation by Mark Zoback and Mary Lou Zoback for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Mark Zoback, Professor of Geophysics and Mary Lou Zoback, Senior Research Scientist with the USGS, talk about the current status of earthquake prediction efforts, including the potential for breakthroughs from exciting new experiments they are carrying out.
July 24, 2008 presentation by Stephen Schneider for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Professor Schneider discusses the local, regional, and international actions that are already beginning to address global warming and describe other actions that could be taken, if there were political will to substantially reduce the magnitude of the risks.
July 26, 2007 presentation by Craig Heller for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Craig Heller, Professor of Biological Sciences, shares how and why this novel technique is being developed and its potential to improve the quality of human life and the body's performance.
August 3, 2006 presentation by Uwe Bergmann for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Uwe Bergman, Physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator takes the viewer on a journey of a 1,000 year old parchment from its origin in the Mediterranean city of Constantinople to a particle accelerator in Menlo Park.
August 7, 2008 presentation by Clifford Nass for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. In this lecture, Clifford Nass describes how the human brain and body are "wired" for speech: The sound of a voice, whether from a person or machine, causes us to respond as we respond to actual people and to behave as we could in any social situation. In addition, Nass will discuss the speech interactions between humans and machines.
August 9, 2007 presentation by Russ Altman for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. There are a number of causes for variation in drug response across the population, but differences in genetics are an important factor. Russ Altman, Professor & Chair of Bioengineering and Professor of Genetics and Medicine, discusses how variations in genetics can alter the "typical" response as well as touch upon the ethical issues with the use of this knowledge.
August 21, 2008 presentation by Stacey Bent for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Meeting the world's growing energy needs in a sustainable fashion is one of the most pressing problems of our time. Professor Bent introduces the scope of the energy problem and some of the options for sustainable energy, then will focus on two main devices: solar cells and fuel cells. Solar cells convert the energy of the sun directly into electricity, while fuel cells convert chemical energy directly into electricity. Current research at Stanford is studying the use of new materials to develop the next generation of solar cells and fuel cells.
August 31, 2006 presentation by Julie Baker and Hank Greely for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Julie Baker, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Hank Greely, Professor of Law and Genetics discuss human embryonic stem cells, one of the most promising, most complicated and most controversial areas of contemporary biomedical research.