Salon Lab

Item Description

Salon Lab is an exciting feature of our Connections auction. It is a series of dinners, each organized around an interesting and exciting topic. These evenings will take place in a lovely setting and feature members of the Lab School community who are nationally and internationally-recognized experts in those topics. These conversations about important current issues promise to be stimulating, informative, and thought-provoking - a celebration of Lab's intellectual curiosity.

Approximately 24 total slots are available for this event. For the first time ever, this year 8 slots are available for purchase online to Lab families, alumni and faculty who are unable to attend the live event! Value: Priceless

From Expeditions to Experiments: Seeing the Past of Our Planet and the Life on It

Hosted By: Penny Pritzker and Bryan Traubert

Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011

Join the following guest experts for an insightful discussion:

Neil H. Shubin, Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago, explores the great transformations in the history of life using both DNA and fossil expeditions around the world. His team has made major breakthroughs in understanding how creatures evolved to walk on land. In 2006, working 600 miles south of the North Pole, they discovered the famous Tiktaalik roseae, one of the most significant intermediate fossils in the paleontological record. More recently, his team has uncovered the portions of DNA that may have been involved with the changes of the skeleton as creatures evolved from water to land. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including most recently the National Academy of Sciences Communication Award, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His popular book, Your Inner Fish, won numerous awards and was a national bestseller.
 

Paul Sereno, Professor of organismal biology, anatomy and paleontology joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1987. Discoverer of dinosaurs on five continents and leader of dozens of expeditions, his discoveries include plant-eaters like Nigersaurus and Jobaria; meat-eaters like Afrovenator, Deltadromeus, Rugops; the huge-clawed fish-eater Suchomimus; the Tyrannosaurus-sized Carcharodontosaurus; series of crocs including the 40-foot-long “SuperCroc” (Sarcosuchus), the world’s largest crocodile; the Asian continent’s first dinosaur skull—a new predator named Rajasaurus; and just this January the announcement of 230 million-year-old pint-sized carnivorous dinosaur species that has been dubbed Eodromaeus, or “dawn runner.” The author of books and articles in National Geographic and Natural History magazines and the subject of many documentaries, Sereno’s recognitions include the Chicago Tribune’s Teacher of the Year Award (1993), Newsweek magazine’s The Century Club (1997), Boston Museum of Science’s Walker Prize for extraordinary contributions in paleontology (1997), and Columbia University’s University Medal for Excellence (1999). Sereno and his wife, Gabrielle Lyon, also founded Project Exploration, a nonprofit outreach organization dedicated to bringing discoveries in natural science to the public and providing innovative educational opportunities for city kids.

Melina Hale is a faculty member in Organismal Biology and Anatomy and an alumna of the University of Chicago (PhD ‘98). Her research combines neurobiology and biomechanics to examine how the brain controls body movement and how such neuromechanical systems evolve. Her research group’s work has demonstrated mechanisms by which the brain may rewire through evolution and has implications for understanding the neural basis of dyslexia and seizure disorders. Her work on the neuromechanics of fish fins is informing the design of new undersea vehicle technology through the U.S. Office of Naval Research. She is a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award and director of an NSF-funded training program in motor control and movement.