Each year, the HSPP sponsors a presentation in the Distinguished Women in Science lecture series. As of 2002, the talks are co-sponsored by Barnard's Center for Research on Women. The public lectures are widely advertised, and they usually draw a substantial audience that includes students, faculty, and alumnae from Barnard and Columbia as well as members of the broader community. When issuing the invitation to speakers, we specifically request that they introduce their research topic by briefly discussing their own career trajectories. Each year the talk is followed by a dinner in honor of the speaker as well as the outgoing and incoming Research Interns and their faculty mentors. Beginning with the 2002 visit, we are inviting the speakers to spend two days at Barnard. In addition to delivering the public lecture, they make presentations and lead discussions in classes in their field of specialization and visit informally with students over lunch.
A list of past speakers is provided below with links to abstracts of their talks.
2013
Leslie Vosshall
Food, Sex, and Smell: The Neurogenetics of Innate Behavior
2012
Marion Nestle
What to Eat: Science vs. Politics
2011
Alison "Sunny" Power
Diversity & Disease Ecology in Plant Communities
2009
Bonnie Bassler
Small Talk: Cell-to-cell Communication in Bacteria
2008
Laura Landweber
Epigenetics and the Wiring and Re-wiring of Genomic Information
2007
Elaine Fuchs
Stem Cells of the Skin: Biology & the Potential for Regenerative Medicine
2006
Helene Gayle
Women and HIV/AIDS
2005
Daphne Preuss
How Plants Choose Their Mates: Lessons From Cell Biology
2004
May Berenbaum
Invasion USA
2003
Freya R. Schnabel
Breast Cancer: Risk Assessment and Risk Management
2002
Martha McClintock
Scents and Sensibility: Pheromonal and Social Control of Fertility and Disease
2001
Kathy L. Olsen
NASA: The New Biology Agenda
2000
Linda Bartoshuk
Psychophysical Insights, Misadventures, and Supertasters
1999
Susan Band Horwitz
Novel Molecules that Interact with Microtubules and have Functional Activity Similar to Taxol
1998
Felice Frankel
The Power of Images in Communicating Science and Technology
1997
Shirley Tilghman
Genomic Imprinting and Mammalian development: A Genetic Arms Race
1996
Helen M. Berman
A Tale of a Triple Helix: What Crystallography Tells Us About Collagen Structure and Assembly
1995
Carol Greider
Telomeres and Telomerase in Cancer
1993
Professor Zena Stein
International Research Efforts Relating to HIV and Women
