UW-Madison's Third Annual Darwin Day: Saturday, February 9, 2008
The UW-Madison will celebrate its third annual Darwin Day on Saturday, February 9, 2008. The morning session will be hosted by Sean Carroll and will run from 9:00 a.m. till noon in Microbial Sciences Ebling Symposium Center . The program includes talks by three eminent evolutionary scientists:
Don Waller (UW-Madison Botany) - "Reshaping the Tree of Life: Human Impacts on the Future of Evolution" will address how the biodiversity crisis will significantly affect the course of evolution.
John Yin (UW-Madison Chemical & Biological Engineering) - "A Challenge for the Century---Given a Genome, Predict the Organism" will speak on the challenges of predicting how organisms grow and evolve.
Neil Shubin (University of Chicago , Organismal and Evolutionary Biology) - "Discovering How Fish Evolved to Walk: The Story of Tiktaalik " will discuss the discovery and significance of an important transitional fossil between fish and terrestrial vertebrates.
Afternoon activities will move to the UW Geology Museum, Weeks Hall, where over a dozen interactive displays will explore the importance and excitement of evolution. Activities will last from 1:00-4:00 p.m.. Presenters include faculty, staff, and graduate students from many departments across campus. Neil Shubin will be available to sign copies of his new book “Your Inner Fish”.
All of the day's events are intended to be engaging for the public. Questions and discussion will be welcomed. Refreshments will be provided throughout the day.
Free supplemental materials for teachers are planned.
All events are free and open to the public. Parking is available throughout campus (262-8683). Microbial Sciences (morning session) is located on Linden Dr. and Babcock St. , across from Steenbock Library. The UW Geology Museum in Weeks Hall (afternoon session) is located on the SW corner of West Dayton and Charter Streets. For information, please contact Prof. Dana Geary at dana@geology.wisc.edu or 263-7754; Mara McDonald at mamcdona@wisc.edu or 263-8941; or Brooke Norsted at brooke@geology.wisc.edu or 262-1412.
Also see: www.geology.wisc.edu
Sponsored by THE KEMPER-KNAPP BEQUEST, THE IRA AND INEVA REILLY BALDWIN WISCONSIN IDEA ENDOWMENT, THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON COLLEGE OF LETTERS & SCIENCE, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND LIFE SCIENCES, THE GEOLOGY MUSEUM AND THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS, THE DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS, THE EVOLUTION COORDINATING COMMITTEE, and the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON LECTURES COMMITTEE.
