SmithGroup Lecture Series
The architectural firm SmithGroup supports this lecture series at the Beckman Institute. Formerly Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls Associates of Detroit, SmithGroup designed the Beckman Institute. The firm was particularly proud of this project and presented a modest endowment to support a lecture series in its name. The gift was given in honor of the founding director of the institute, Theodore L. Brown.
2025 SmithGroup Lecture
The 2025 SmithGroup Lecture will feature Calvin Mackie, founder of STEM NOLA.
The lecture is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in the Beckman Auditorium. A kid-friendly reception will follow at 3:30 p.m., as will a preview of the Beckman Institute Open House.
More information about the talk is coming soon!
Watch the lectures
"Filling the Science Leadership Gap" by Cyrus Wadia (SmithGroup Lecture 2024)
Cyrus Wadia, CEO of Activate and a former assistant director in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, takes on the topic of the science leadership gap at the 2024 SmithGroup Lecture. Wadia was joined in this presentation by Sudharsan Dwaraknath, CEO of Quorum Bio. They discuss how the integration of science into policymaking and business innovation signals a paradigm shift towards empirically grounded decisions and strategies that promise to revolutionize industries and governance alike.
The architectural firm SmithGroup supports this lecture series at the Beckman Institute. Formerly Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls Associates of Detroit, SmithGroup designed the Beckman Institute. The firm was particularly proud of this project and presented a modest endowment to support a lecture series in its name. The gift was given in honor of the founding director of the institute, Theodore L. Brown.
More videos
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"Light, materials and interfaces: CLIP-based 3D printing" by Joseph DeSimone (SmithGroup Lect 2023)
Professor Joseph DeSimone, the Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Professor of Translational Medicine and Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, gives the 2023 SmithGroup Lecture. DeSimone is responsible for numerous breakthroughs in areas including green...
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"Taking on big tech: New paradigms for new possibilities" by Safiya Noble (SmithGroup Lecture 2022)
Safiya Noble, a UIUC alumna, UCLA professor, and recent MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, discusses the racial, gender, and class politics infused in today's digital technologies. Noble shares new insights from her bestselling book, "Algorithms of...
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"Strategies for Creating an Inclusive Workplace Culture" by Jaclyn Jensen (SmithGroup Lecture 2021)
Jaclyn Jensen, associate dean of student success in the Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University, speaks about "Strategies for Creating an Inclusive Workplace Culture" as part of the Beckman Institute's annual SmithGroup lecture series....
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"Towards Better 60 Second Science" by Sandra Tsing Loh (SmithGroup Lecture 2018)
The Elevator Pitch. Scientists dread it, but they shouldn't. Sandra Tsing Loh analyzes the language, celebrates the science, lauds the presenters, and gives her take on remaking "60 Second Science" videos.
Tsing Loh is the host of the... -
"Training Brain Networks and States" by Michael Posner (SmithGroup Lecture 2016)
Psychology professor emeritus Michael I. Posner presents his work examining the mechanisms of change in white matter resulting from various forms of training.
For more than 50 years Michael Posner has studied how mental operations,... -
"Advances in Modeling Neocortex and its Impact on Machine Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins (SmithGroup)
Smith Group Lecture by Jeff Hawkins presented at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on November 12, 2010. Introductions by professors Arthur Kramer and Stephen Levinson....
Previous SmithGroup Lectures
- Safiya Noble (April 2022)
MacArthur Foundation Fellow, professor of gender studies and African American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and co-founder and co-director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry. - Jaclyn Jensen (April 2021)
Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University - Albert-László Barabási (April 2019)
Center of Complex Networks Research, Northeastern University; Division of Network Medicine, Harvard University; and the Department of Network and Data Sciences at Central European University. - Sandra Tsing Loh (April 2018)
Host of the syndicated daily radio science minute and NPR podcast “The Loh Down on Science” and adjunct associate professor in drama and science communication at University of California, Irvine. - L. Mahadevan (April 2017)
England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, professor of physics, Harvard University - Michael Posner (April 2016 )
Professor emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon - Chad Mirkin (October
2014)
George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry and Director, International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University - Victor
Regnier (April 2013)
Professor of architecture and gerontology at the University of Southern California - Jeff Hawkins (November 2010 )
Founder, Numenta, Inc. - Felice Frankel (September 2008 )
Senior Research Fellows, Harvard - Helen Neville (October 2007 )
Psychology/Neuroscience, Oregon - James Carey (April 2006)
Entomology, University of California-Davis - Douglas Noll (October 2003)
Biomedical Engineering, Michigan - Lawrence Rabiner (October 2001)
Vice President AT&T Labs - George Whitesides (March 1999)
Chemistry, Harvard - Norman Allinger (March 1995)
Chemistry, Georgia - Inaugural speaker: James Watson (October 1992)
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory