2016

Audacious Ingenuity: Pushing the Boundaries of Science

The 2016 Hancock Symposium explored how scientific inquiry, deduction and passion have shaped the world in which we live. This Symposium enabled students and the Westminster community to appreciate how science has made the complex seem simple and to appraise where the global community stands as we edge further into new scientific frontiers. We can see science at work every day when we take a moment to enjoy the natural beauty around us, through medicine and technological advances protecting the health of all living things to the exceptional few who cross boundaries and push the limits to fight for a better tomorrow.

Green Foundation Speaker: Dr. Bennet Omalu

Dr. Bennet Omalu is a pioneer in the study and diagnosis of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in professional football players. He is a forensic pathologist, professor, medical examiner, and founder of the Bennet Omalu Foundation. Dr. Omalu's fight against the National Football League for awareness and acceptance of CTE as a threat to the health and safety of professional football players was featured in the film Concussion (2015) staring Will Smith.

Plenary Speakers

Dr. Tyrone B. Hayes, Professor of Integrated Biology, University of California-Berkeley

Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, Associate Professor of Physics and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology; MLK Visiting Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Chief Science Officer, Discovery Comunication/Science Channel

Executive Speakers

Dr. Norman Lederman, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Science Education, Illinois Institute of Technology

Dr. Sharon Deem, Director, Institute for Conservation Medicine, Saint Louis Zoo

Dr. Mario Livio, Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute, 1991-2015

Dr. James C. Carrington, President, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Dr. Francis Ali-Osman, Professor of Surgery and Professor in Pathology, Duke University School of Medicine

Breakout Speakers

Dr. R. E Burnett, Associate Dean of Academics and Professor, National Defense University

Dr. Jay McDaniel, Professor of Religion and Director of the Steel Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy, Hendrix College

Dr. Julia Halsey, Hospitalist, University of Missouri

Dr. Bina Vanmali '99, Director of the Arizona Science Education Collaborative, Arizona State University

Dr. Aric Krogstad, Veterinarian, Professor and Researcher, formerly of the Tulane Primate Center

Dr. Colleen Mitchell, Associate Professor of Mathematics, University of Iowa

Dr. Daniel Jackson '04, Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Missouri, and Physician, MU Health

Dr. Zachary Feinstein, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis