The College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences proudly presents the annual Science Lecture Series at UC Riverside every spring quarter. Since its inception, CNAS scientists have shared their knowledge and research with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members. Each Science Lecture Series topic tackles some of the most pressing issues we face as a local, national, and global community.
The archive of Science Lecture Series presentations offers those that are curious about the sciences the ability to watch past lectures. We hope you enjoy watching our archive of past Science Lecture Series presentations. You can also find the video playlist of all the Science Lecture Series on YouTube.
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Spring 2021 Lectures
Responding to the pandemic: How UC Riverside scientists created a COVID-19 testing lab for students
Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 5 p.m.
Shortly after UC Riverside closed to protect its community from the spread of COVID-19, the campus began discussions to create its own testing lab to help mitigate the effects of the pandemic. Led by UCR scientists Katherine Borkovich and Isgouhi Kaloshian, in collaboration with partners across the university, the campus coronavirus testing lab opened in August 2020 and began providing UCR with on-site testing and rapid turnaround of results. However, the experience of creating a clinical COVID-19 testing lab from scratch during a global pandemic came with great challenges and also unexpected rewards. Join us on April 6 at 5 p.m. to learn how Drs. Borkovich and Kaloshian tackled challenges and experienced rewards when they created the COVID-19 testing lab at UC Riverside.
Guest Speaker: Katherine Borkovich, Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology & Plant Pathology
Guest Speaker: Isgouhi Kaloshian, Professor and Chair, Department of Nematology
Moderator: Timothy Paine, Divisional Dean Agricultural & Natural Resources, Distinguished Professor, Department of EntomologyCOVID vaccines and beyond
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 5 p.m.
Our health and safety, as well as our ability to return to our pre-pandemic lives are conversations that are taking place all across the world — and vaccines are at the center of those conversations. The Science Lecture Series presentation on Vaccines and Beyond will highlight the work of two leading UCR scientists with expertise in virology and the development of vaccines.
Dr. Juliet Morrison’s research on viruses will help us understand the immune system’s response to a SARS-CoV-2 infection and how immunity is generated; how COVID vaccines protect against SARS-CoV-2; and why COVID vaccines still offer protection against the new variants of concern.
The three major COVID vaccines that obtained emergency use authorization from the FDA are based on two vaccine platforms, mRNA and adenovirus. Dr. Rong Hai will share how the mRNA and adenovirus vaccines platforms were selected to fight SARS2 viruses and the composition of these vaccines. He will also introduce a vaccine project that his lab is currently working on to engineer a vaccine candidate with dual specificity: influenza and COVID.
Be sure to tune into the Science Lecture Series on Vaccines and Beyond on Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 5 p.m.
Guest Speaker: Rong Hai, Assistant Professor of Virology, Department of Microbiology & Plant Pathology
Guest Speaker: Juliet Morrison, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology & Plant Pathology
Moderator: Frances Sladek, Divisional Dean Life Sciences, Professor of Cell Biology, and ToxicologistUnderstanding coronavirus assembly: A crucial step towards destroying the enemy
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 5 p.m.
The ancient saying “know thy enemy” is just as true today as the world faces the deadly novel coronavirus. To understand how COVID-19 assembles itself into a viable virus, experts at the University of California, Riverside will share how their research, experiments and computer simulations, which has never before been performed on the coronavirus, will help propel the development of drug therapies that slow or destroy the virus.
Guest Speaker: Thomas Edward Kuhlman, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Guest Speaker: Roya Zandi, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Moderator: Umar Mohideen, Distinguished Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy -
Spring 2019 Lectures
April 3: "Gravitational Waves: From Einstein to a New Science"
Barry C. Barish, Nobel Laureate and Distinguished Professor of Physics; UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences
watch VideoApril 10: "Between Battles: From Civil War to Combating Plant Disease"
Isgouhi Kaloshian, Professor of Nematology and Chair, Department of Nematology; UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences
April 17: "It’s About I: Invention, Innovation, and Inspiration"
Kathryn Uhrich, Professor of Chemistry and Dean; UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences
April 24: "Metathesis: A Change-Your-Partner Dance of Carbon-Carbon Bonds"
Richard Schrock, Nobel Laureate, UCR Alumnus, and Distinguished Professor, George K. Helmkamp Founder’s Chair of Chemistry; UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences
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Spring 2018 Lectures
April 5: "The Hope and Threat of Human Gene Editing"
Martin Garcia-Castro, Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences; UC Riverside School of Medicine
watch VideoApril 12: "Feeding the World: From Mendel to CISPR"
Carolyn Rasmussen, Assistant Professor of Plant Cell Biology; UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences
watch VideoApril 19: "LEGO, Language, and the Life of Bacteria"
Ansel Hsiao, Assistant Professor of Plant Cell Biology; UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences
Watch VideoMay 10: "Implications of Genetic Modifications in Humans and Other Organisms"
Carl Cranor, Distinguished Professor in Philosophy; UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences
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Spring 2017 Lectures
December 8: "Our Cosmic Origins: Stars, Galaxies, and the Stuff of Life"
Bahram Mobasher, Professor of Physics & Astronomy, Associate Director of Alternative Earths Astrobiology Center - UC Riverside
Watch VideoJanuary 12: "Alternative Earths: How Earth's Past Guides NASA's Search for Life"
Tim Lyons, Distinguished Professor of Biogeochemistry, Director of Alternative Earth's Astrobiology Center- UC Riverside
Watch VideoFebruary 1: "Ocean Worlds: Missions to Icy Moons and Dwarf Planets"
Kevin Hand, Deputy Project Scientist, Solar System Exploration Directorate, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Watch VideoMarch 23: "Mars 2020 & Beyond: Will We Find Life on the Red Planet?"
Ken Williford, Deputy Project Scientist, Mars 2020 Mission and Director, Astrobiogeochemistry Laboratory, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Watch VideoApril 13: "Alien Planets: Are There Other Earths Lurking in Our Galaxy?"
Antigona Segura Peralta, Professor of Astrobiology, National Autonomous University of Mexico
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Spring 2016 Lectures
April 7: "Earth Under Fire: How and Why our Climate is Changing"
Robert Allen, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences
Watch Video Lecture Slides Lecture PhotosApril 14: "Canaries in a Coal Mine: Why Pollinators are Sensitive to Global Change and How You Can Help Them"
S. Hollis Woodard, Assistant Professor of Entomology
Watch Video Lecture Slides Lecture PhotosApril 21: "Change is Only Constant: 10,000 Years of Climate Variability in California and What it Means for Our Water Supply"
James Sickman, Professor of Hydrology and Chair, Department of Environmental Sciences
Watch Video Lecture Slides Lecture PhotosApril 28: "Catching Rays: Solar Energy for Today and Tomorrow"
Christopher Bardeen, Professor of Chemistry
Watch Video Lecture Slides Lecture Photos -
Spring 2015 Lectures
April 9: Feeding Botswana: From Field to Lab to Vaccine
Larry Grill ('79 Ph.D. Plant Pathology), Dean of Research, and Director, Vaccine Research Center, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont, CA
Watch Video Lecture SlidesApril 23: Food Security for Africa: The Cowpea Story from Lab to Plate
Phil Roberts, UCR Professor of Nematology; Timothy Close, UCR Professor of Genetics; and Jeff Ehlers, plant geneticist, and Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Watch Video Lecture Slides Sellyna Ehlers' Afro-Indian Blackeye Beans RecipeMay 7: Seeds of Change: UCR's Healthy and Sustainable Food Initiative
Cheryl Garner, Executive Director of UCR Dining, Conference and Catering Services; and Neal Malik, Registered Dietician, UCR Dining Services
Watch Video Lecture SlidesMay 21: What You Eat Is How You Feel: Nutrition and Its Impact on Immunity and Health
Ilhem Messaoudi Powers, Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences, UCR School of Medicine
Watch Video Lecture Slides -
Winter and Spring 2014 Lectures
The 2014 series was held January 22 - May 7
January 22: HAIR: The History of Animals Using Isotope Records
Thure Cerling, University of Utah
Watch Video Lecture SlidesMarch 5: The Deep History of Life
Andrew Knoll, Harvard University
Watch Video Lecture SlidesApril 2: What's for Dinner? Molecular Signatures of Plants, Animals, and Water in Early Human Habitats
Kate Freeman, Pennsylvania State University
Watch VideoApril 9: How Fracking Impacts Our Water: The Pennsylvania Experience
Sue Brantley, Pennsylvania State University
Watch Video Lecture SlidesApril 23: Global Warming 36 Million Years Ago: What It Means for Us
Scott Wing, Smithsonian Institution
Watch Video Lecture SlidesMay 7: Beyond Seismology: Studying Earthquakes and Faults From Space
Gareth Funning, University of California, Riverside
Watch Video Lecture Slides -
Spring 2013 Lectures
THE SCIENCE OF DISEASE
The 2013 series was held April 18 - May 30 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., in the University of California, Riverside, Extension Center.
April 18: Drinking water: How safe is safe enough?
Marylynn V. Yates, Dean of the College and Professor of Environmental Microbiology
Introduced by Murrieta Valley Unified School District teacher Dean NielsenMay 2: Friends and enemies: Dynamic interactions of plants and insects
Linda Walling, Professor of Genetics, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
Introduced by Riverside Unified School District teacher Derrrick SergeantMay 16: Curing cancer: How do anticancer drugs work?
Yinsheng Wang, Professor of Chemistry
Introduced by Moreno Valley Unified School District teacher Aurora JohnsonMay 30: The promise of stem cells: Hope or hype?
Nicole zur Nieden, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience
Introduced by Murrieta Unified School District teacher Jack Jones -
Spring 2012 Lectures
EARTH 101: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE ON OUR PLANET
The 2012 series was held March 29 - May 10, 6:00-7:00 p.m., in the University of California, Riverside, Extension Center.
Earth 101: Too Many People
Rich Cardullo, Professor of Biology
Introduced by Riverside Unified School District teacher Jeremy StanderferEarth 101: What Hollywood Can Teach Us About Our Planet
Jodie, Holt, Professor of Plant Physiology
Introduced by Moreno Valley Unified School District teacher Aurora JohnsonEarth 101: What's Your Carbon Footprint?
Lou Santiago, Professor of Physiological Ecology
Introduced by Riverside Unified School District teacher John RobertsonEarth 101: Where Does Your Water Come From?
Dan Schlenk, Professor of Aquatic Toxicology
Introduced by Murrieta Unified School District teacher Dean NielsenUCTV
The videos appeared on UCTV, the University of California's television station, according to the following schedule:
- Earth 101: Too Many People? • Monday, September 3, 2012 • 2:00-3:00 p.m.
- Earth 101: What Hollywood Can Teach Us About Our Planet • Monday, September 10, 2012 • 2:00-3:00 p.m.
- Earth 101:What's Your Carbon Footprint? • Monday, September 17, 2012 • 2:00-3:00 p.m.
- Earth 101:Where Does Your Water Come From? • Monday, September 24, 2012 • 2:00-3:00 p.m.
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Spring 2011 Lectures
The 2011 series was held April 14 - May 19
April 14: The Dynamic Genome: Unintelligent Design
Marylynn V. Yates, Dean of the College and Professor of Environmental Microbiology
Introduced by Murrieta Valley Unified School District teacher Dean Nielsen
Watch VideoApril 28: What's In Your Garden? Protecting California from Invasive Species
Mark Hoddle, Extension Specialist and Director of the Center for Invasive Species Research
Watch VideoMay 5: Designs from Nature: A New Spin on High-Performance Materials
Professor of Biology Cheryl Hayashi
Watch VideoMay 19: Size Matters: Nanotechnology & Other Wonders in Carbon Flatland
Associate Professor of Physics Jeanie Lau
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Spring 2010 Lectures
The Spring 2010 series was held April 8 - June 3
April 8: What Awaits Us in the Greenhouse World
Professor of Geology Martin Kennedy
April 22: Climate's Control of California Landscapes
Professor of Geography Richard Minnich
Watch VideoMay 6: In the Crosshairs: California's Environment
Professor of Plant Pathology Michael Allen
Watch VideoMay 20: Tipping the Scales? Pest Insects, Agriculture, & Health
Professor of Entomology Peter Atkinson
Watch VideoJune 3: The Food Challenge: Waterproof Rice & Other Solutions
Professor of Genetics Julia Bailey-Serres
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Spring 2009 Lectures
The Spring 2009 series was held April 2 - May 28
April 2: The Dance of the Genes: How Biological Evolution Works
Norman Ellstrand, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
Watch VideoApril 16: Evolution and Medicine: Why Doctors Need Darwin
Marlene Zuk, Department of Biology
Watch VideoApril 30: The Evolution of Evolution: Darwin Then and Now
David Reznick, Department of Biology
Watch VideoMay 14: Life's Rocky Road: The History of Life on Earth
Nigel Hughes, Department of Earth Sciences
Watch VideoMay 28: Let There Be Light: The First Billion Years
Bahram Mobasher, Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Fall 2009 Lectures
The Fall 2009 series was held October 15 - November 12
October 15: The Battle Within: Our Evolutionary Struggle with Cancer
Leonard Nunney, Department of Biology
Watch VideoOctober 29: Born to Run: Evolution of Hyperactivity in Mice
Theodore Garland, Department of Biology
Watch VideoNovember 12: The Silent Majority: How Symbiotic Bacteria Evolve to Help and Hurt
Joel Sachs, Department of Biology
Watch Video