The UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) is pleased to announce the dates of the 2025 Science Lecture Series, with faculty presentations taking place on February 5, March 4, April 12 and May 3.

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 faced by local, national, and global communities.

The 2025 Science Lecture Series will be hosted both on UC Riverside's campus and the UCR Palm Desert Center. Established in 2005, the UCR Palm Desert Center serves as a base for UC Riverside research programs, public service and outreach efforts in local schools. UCR Palm Desert also provides a robust schedule of public education offerings for the Coachella Valley community, and played host to the 2024 Science Lecture Series.

"We are thankful to be able to bring the Science Lecture Series back to the Coachella Valley," said Peter Atkinson, CNAS Dean. "Our audience will consist of UCR faculty, students and staff, as well as community members and prospective UCR students from the Coachella Valley."

"For more than a decade, the UCR Palm Desert Center has organized hundreds of lectures, conversations, art shows, movie screenings and other life-enhancing programs all while teaching others and conducting renowned research," said Agam Patel, Executive Director. "We curate more than 60 free public lectures in numerous academic fields, bringing together our community with the extraordinary intellectual wealth of UC Riverside's faculty to explore, discuss, and deepen our understanding of the world around us."

Previous faculty presentations focused on climate change, sustainable agricultural systems, and how gravitational waves are used to understand the universe. The 2025 lectures will introduce audiences to a wide variety of topics and challenges currently being investigated by CNAS faculty members.

"Guests can look forward to an exciting lineup of topics and speakers, varying from geology, physics, organismal biology and nematology for the 2025 Science Lecture Series," said Kodi Carter, CNAS Events Manager. 

The 2025 lecture series kicks off on February 5 with a lecture by Mary L. Droser, Distinguished Professor of Geology in the UC Riverside Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, entitled Animals, Sediments, Slime, Muck and Goo: The Record of Earth's Early Animals and their Environments with Implications for Discovering Life Elsewhere.

Professor Droser will discuss what is known and unknown about the rise of animals on Earth, including the unfolding of early life on the planet and the surprising complexity of Earth's early ecosystems.

Professor Droser earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. A paleobiologist and paleoecologist who specializes in the advent of complex life on earth, Professor Droser has worked on four continents studying the fossil record of early animals, and has received research funding from NASA, the National Science Foundation, and National Geographic.

Much of Professor Droser's field work takes place in South Australia, which holds the best record for the advent of animals. Professor Droser was worked with the South Australian government to establish a new national park based on these fossils, and is currently pursuing a World Heritage bid for the site. Professor Droser is a recipient of the 2022 National Academy Walcott Medal, the 2022 SEPM Moore Medal, and the 2024 Paleontological Society Medal.

Beginning with Professor Droser's presentation, lectures will be offered once per month through May 2025. Miguel Arratia, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, will also present at UCR Palm Desert on March 4. The Science Lecture Series will then shift to UC Riverside's campus on April 12 for a lecture by Lucy E. Delaney, Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology. Adler Dillman, Professor of Parasitology and Chair of the Department of Nematology, will also present at UC Riverside on May 3.

The Science Lecture Series is free and open to the public, but registration is required for each lecture. Light refreshments will be served, while supplies last.

REGISTER NOW FOR THE 2025 SCIENCE LECTURE SERIES

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