The EvoS seminar series brings approximately ten distinguished speakers to campus every semester to share their work on all aspects of humanity and the natural world from an evolutionary perspective. The seminars are open to the entire campus community and the general public, in addition to members of the EvoS program and co-hosting departments.
Each seminar is followed by a dinner and continuing discussion with the speaker in one of the large Union halls, which is attended by EvoS participants, their guests, and members of the co-hosting department. The dinner/discussion is as lively and stimulating as the seminar itself.
A 2-credit course titled “Current Topics in Evolutionary Studies”(Biol 480s/680s) is built around the seminar series and offered every semester. Students in the course read articles and write a commentary in addition to attending the seminar and dinner/discussion. This course is restricted to EvoS participants and is frequently rated as one of their best intellectual experiences at BU.
In many respects, the EvoS seminar series serves as the hub of EvoS as an educational program for students and vehicle for interdisciplinary interactions for faculty.
Friday, January 30
Engineering 110, 4PM
Dennis Embry
CEO/President of Paxis Institute
"Ending Youthanasia: Evolutionary Understanding Meets a Retail-Driven Prevention Science Model"
Friday, February 20
Engineering 110, 4PM
David Hacker
Department of History, Binghamton University
"Inter-generational Transmission of Fertility during the Demographic Transition"
Friday, February 27
Engineering 110, 4PM
Steven Platek
Psychology, Georgia Gwinnett College
Magnetic Resonance Image and Analysis Center, University of Liverpool
"Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience: The Newest Science of the Mind"
Friday, March 13
Engineering 110, 4PM
Sue Margulis
Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago
"Reproductive Aging in Non-Human Primates: Menopause is not just for humans anymore"
Friday, March 20
Lecture Hall 8, 4PM
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
Scientist with Special Standing, Great Ape Trust Research Program
"Intentionality in All its Guises"
Friday, March 27
Engineering 110, 4PM
Steven Neuberg
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University
"Discriminating affiliations, textured prejudices, and other implications of the human affordance management system"
Friday, April 3
Lecture Hall 8, 4PM
Harvey Whitehouse
School of Anthropology, University of Oxford
Friday, April 17
Engineering 110, 4PM
Thomas D. Seeley
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University
"House Hunting by Honey Bees: A Study of Effective Group Decision Making"
Friday, April 24
Lecture Hall 8, 4PM
George Levine
Department of English, Rutgers University
"Darwin, The Methods of Science, and the Methods of Literature"
Tuesday, May 5
Watters Theater, 7:00 PM
Helen Fisher
Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University
"The Drive to Love and Who We Choose"
