Discover Science Lecture Series: bringing the world's leading scientists to the community

Jaime Casap, August 22

Education Evangelist, Google

Jaime Casap is the Education Evangelist at Google. Jaime evangelizes the power and potential of technology and the web as enabling and supporting tools in pursuit of inquiry-based learning models. Jaime collaborates with school systems, educational organizations, and leaders around the world focused on building innovation into our education policies and practices. He speaks on education, technology, innovation, and generation z, at events around the world.

In addition to his role at Google, Jaime is also the author of "Our First Talk About Poverty," as a way to talk to children about poverty. He serves on a number of boards for organizations focused on education and equity. Jaime teaches a 10th-grade communication class at the Phoenix Coding Academy, a computer science public school he helped launch in Phoenix, and guest lectures at Arizona State University.

He was recently named as the ASU GSV 2018 Innovator of Color and received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Felician University. You can follow and reach him on Twitter at @jcasap.

Jaime will be giving two lectures during his visit to Reno. Prior to his Discover Science lecture on August 22, Jaime will be giving a lecture to all incoming first-year College of Science students during ScienceFIT.

August 22, Discover Science Lecture: Generation Z is going to college; are you ready?

Generation Z is the first truly native digital generation; they have never known a world without constant connectivity. Technology is just part of their lives. This impacts what and how they learn. They are experiencing a more student-centric education model with technology as the enabling and supporting capability. They are also experiencing a renewed focus on critical skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, iteration, and global competency. While K12 is undergoing a transformation, higher education has been slower to adapt.

August 21, ScienceFIT student audience only: Critical Skills for the Digitization Economy

We are entering the Digitization Economy, an era that will require a deeper understanding of human skills and their integration with digitization. We do not know what the future will look like. Students are preparing to solve global problems we haven't defined yet, using technology that hasn't been invented, in roles that do not exist. To thrive in this new era, students need to know how to learn, problem-solve, iterate, create, collaborate, communicate, and to think critically.

Jim Bell, September 20

Professor, Space Exploration

The Ultimate Interplanetary Travel Guide: A Futuristic Journey Through the Cosmos

Do you dream of traveling to other worlds? Well then, why not? Come with noted astronomer, planetary scientist, and interplanetary travel guide Professor Jim Bell on a tour of what the solar system has to offer as of 2018. Hiking, sightseeing, photography, musical performances, fine dining, extreme sports, even Citizen Science research opportunities abound across our solar system, from Mercury through the gas giants and moons of the outer planets, and even beyond. How should you dress? What should you bring? What kinds of adventures can you expect? Let's find out!

Jim Bell is a Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, and President of The Planetary Society, the world's largest public space advocacy organization. Jim's research group primarily focuses on the geology, geochemistry, and mineralogy of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets using data obtained from telescopes as well as spacecraft missions to these worlds. Jim has a main belt asteroid named after him (8146 Jimbell) and has received the Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society, for excellence in public communication in planetary sciences.

David Hillis, November 15

Professor, Evolutionary Biologist

Applications of the Tree of Life

Darwin's view of a connected Tree of Life captured the imagination of mid-19th Century biologists. Now in the 21st Century, sequencing of genomes is finally allowing biologists to reconstruct and explore the Tree of Life in detail. The resulting information is being used throughout biology to compare and understand biological problems and processes. Many applications are surprising: phylogenetic information is now used in murder investigations, in the development of vaccines, for study of epidemiological outbreaks, and for building new automated identification technology that was once only imagined in science fiction stories. I'll discuss how our daily lives are being changed and improved from the discoveries and developments.

David Hillis' primary interests are in biodiversity, molecular evolution, and the phylogeny of life. His research spans much of biology, including development of statistical and computational methods for analyzing genomes, viral epidemiology, the diversity and phylogeny of life, and the origin and evolution of animal nervous systems. He has published over 200 scholarly articles and four books, which have been translated into Spanish, German, Italian, Korean, and Japanese. He is a MacArthur Fellow, and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He currently is the Alfred Roark Centennial Professor of Natural Sciences, and serves as the Director of the Biodiveristy Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He also owns and operates the Double Helix Ranch, where he breeds and studies the evolution and genetics of Texas Longhorns.