Past Speakers

Cal Poly Pomona was proud to present the
Kellogg Distinguished Public Lecture Series
funded by the Kellogg Legacy Project Endowment.

Dr. Jared Diamond

Professor of Geography
UCLA

Discussed

"Growing older: Lessons from traditional societies"

Jared Diamond is a Pulitzer-prize-winning author of four best-selling books, translated into 38 languages, about human societies and human evolution: Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, Why Is Sex Fun?, and The Third Chimpanzee. His most recent book, The World Until Yesterday,was published in 2012. As a professor of geography at UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), he has also conducted research and taught in three other fields: the biology of New Guinea birds, digestive physiology, and conservation biology. His prizes and honors include the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Pulitzer-prize for non-fiction, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Science, and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is a director of World Wildlife Fund/U.S. and of Conservation International. As a biological explorer, his most widely publicized finding was his rediscovery, at the top of New Guinea’s remote Foja Mountains, of the long-lost Golden-fronted Bowerbird, previously known only from four specimens found in a Paris feather shop in 1895.

Cal Poly Pomona was proud to present the
Kellogg Distinguished Public Lecture Series
funded by the Kellogg Legacy Project Endowment.

Professor Sir Ian Wilmut, FRS, FRSE

Professor Emeritus in the
MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh

Discussed
"Dolly to Stem Cell Therapy"

Ian Wilmut obtained his first degree in animal science at the University of Nottingham before completing a PhD at the University of Cambridge. During a post doctoral fellowship in Cambridge he carried out the research that produced the first calves from frozen and thawed embryos.

From Cambridge he moved to the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh where he was the leader of the team that produced Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. The group then went on to use the new methods to introduce precise genetic change into livestock so that they produced in their milk a protein that is needed to treat human disease.

He was the founding Director of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine in the University of Edinburgh. The Mission of this rapidly expanding Centre is to develop new treatments for human disease through innovative research with stem cells. Purpose designed facilities have been built alongside the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. The Centre will act as a focus within the Europe not only for the research with stem cells, but also the clinical and commercial opportunities that arise from the research. The new Centre covers the full spectrum of research - from basic mechanisms of stem cell regulation, via rigorous translational studies to provide the basis for new therapies and clinical trials with stem cells and their derivatives. The aim of his research is to be able to produce human cells for use in treatment of disease.

Cal Poly Pomona was proud to present: A joint event sponsored by

Kellogg Distinguished Public Lecture Series
(funded by the Kellogg Legacy Project Endowment)
&
POLYTEACH 2012-13:
The  Information, Technology and Lifelong Learning Speaker Series
(supported by the La Bounty Endowed Chair in
Interdisciplinary Education)

Founder of the Khan Academy
Salman Khan
Discussed
Rethinking Education

With over 3,000 instructional videos, 300 exercises, and 3,700,000 unique users per month, the Khan Academy is rethinking the world of education. Founder Salman Khan provides insight into the history and the evolution of the Khan Academy and how we can rethink education.

Sal Khan is the founder of the Khan Academy, a nonprofit with the mission of providing free, high-quality education to "anyone, anywhere" in the world. A former hedge fund analyst with degrees from MIT and Harvard, Khan was helping a young cousin with math in 2004, communicating by phone and using an interactive notepad. When others expressed interest, he began posting videos of his hand-scribbled tutorials on YouTube. Demand took off, and in 2009 he quit his day job.

The Khan Academy website now provides self-pacing software and unlimited access to over 3,000 instructional videos on its YouTube channel covering everything from basic arithmetic to college level science and economics. It's the most-used library of educational videos on the web, with 4.2 million unique students per month, over 118 million lessons delivered, and over 260 million exercises completed. A growing number of classrooms around the world are using the Khan Academy to help build student mastery of topics and to free up class time for dynamic project based learning.

This lecture was jointly sponsored by the Kellogg Distinguished Public Lecture Series (funded by the Kellogg Legacy Project Endowment) and POLYTEACH 2012-13 / The Information, Technology and Lifelong Learning Speaker Series (funded by the Hugh O. La Bounty Endowed Chair of Interdisciplinary Applied Knowledge). The La Bounty Chair provides funding for distinguished visitors from academe, business, industry, the arts, and government, to serve as valuable links with the world and expose Cal Poly Pomona students to a variety of experiences, views, and opinions. Dr. La Bounty was the president of Cal Poly Pomona from 1977-1991. The endowed Chair program honors Dr. La Bounty's commitment to excellence in education during his many years of service at Cal Poly Pomona.

Photo by Joe Henson    

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and Best-Selling Author

Isabel Wilkerson

Discussed her New York Times’ bestseller,

The Warmth of Other Suns:
The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Cal Poly Pomona University Theatre

Isabel Wilkerson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is author of The New York Times’ bestseller, The Warmth of Other Suns. The book brings to life one of the greatest underreported stories of the 20th Century, a migration that reshaped modern America.  Wilkerson interviewed more than 1,200 people, unearthed archival research and gathered the voices of the famous and the unknown to tell the epic story of the redistribution of an entire people.  She chose to tell the story through three unforgettable protagonists as they make the decision of their lives.

Click here to read more on Wilkerson

Sustainable and intensive agriculture is considered by most, but not all, to be key to achieving food security in the U.S. and globally. Science and technology has been essential to the success of U.S. agriculture during the past century; and, with the applications of advanced genetics and genetic engineering, agriculture is poised to be a driver for a strong and sustainable bioeconomy into the future.  The lecture will consider the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Click here to read more on Beachy