Revisiting Past Lectures on the 30th Anniversary of the Ashtekar Frontiers of Science
In recognition of the milestone 30-year anniversary, this year’s lecture series, titled “Exploring Scientific Progress Over Time: Revisiting Past Lectures on the 30th Anniversary of the Ashtekar Frontiers of Science,” will look at how science has changed over the passage of time, including updates, breakthroughs and how research fields have evolved. The series of lectures will look back at past topics, including updates from some speakers, as well as look ahead to the new advancements and future prospects of the impactful research in the college, across Penn State and beyond.
"Before Cells: How the Components of Life Might Have Come Together"
Christine Keating
Christine D. Keating is the Shapiro Professor of Chemistry at Penn State. Her research interests combine materials science, colloid chemistry, and cell biology with a current focus on compartmentalization by liquid-liquid phase coexistence and its possible functional consequences in current biology, artificial cells and prebiotic scenarios. Keating is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recipient of the Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal. She has been named a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, Beckman Young Investigator, Unilever Awardee, Sloan Fellow, and NSF CAREER Awardee. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from St. Francis College in Loretto, PA, in 1991 and a doctoral degree in chemistry from Penn State in 1997.
Phil Belivacqua
Phil Bevilacqua, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and head of the Department of Chemistry at Penn State, works to attain a molecular level understanding of RNA in biology. Bevilacqua’s research and teaching have been recognized by a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal, and a Penn State Distinguished Professorship. He is the author of over 180 publications. In addition, his teaching has been recognized by being designated a Distinguished Honors Faculty Fellow and CESE Tombros Education Fellow and by being awarded the C. I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Priestley Teaching Prize. Bevilacqua earned a bachelor of science degree from John Carroll University in 1987 and a doctoral degree from Rochester University in 1993. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder. He joined the Penn State chemistry faculty in 1997 and became department head in August of 2018.