April 16, 2019

Lessons from Water Diplomacy in Resolving Complex Problems in Science and Religion through Principled Pragmatism

Shafik Islam, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Professor of Water Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

Welcome

Cambridge area professors are the majority of our guests at each Roundtable, experiencing an exchange with the potential to bring added depth to their lives as scholars and as educators. Evenings are sponsored by chairpersons dedicated to fostering dialogue that explores the intersection of science, faith, and philosophy. Select community leaders are invited to ensure a diversity of points of view. Our evenings together have been made possible thanks to funding in partnership with contributors to The Leadership Connection, generous local scholars, Christian Union, Sword and Spoon, Gloria Dei, the John Templeton Foundation, and with thanks to Memorial Church of Harvard University.

The Cambridge Roundtable on Science and Religion is by invitation only at a nominal fee of $20 per person, with no additional charges and free parking at the Broadway Garage on Felton Street. With hors d’oeuvres first, every Roundtable assigns six guests to each table for brief remarks from presenters, followed by dinner, drinks, dessert & discussion. At the close of our evening we include time for questions and comments directed to our presenters.

The Roundtable is co-chaired by:
Owen Gingerich, Astronomy and History of Science (Emeritus), Harvard University
Robert Randolph, Retired Chaplain to the Institute, MIT
Coordinator David Thom, MIT Chaplain with The Leadership Connection and Project Director of the JTF funded Roundtables on Science and Religion at Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, The Five Colleges, Harvard and MIT.

For Roundtable questions or comments, please reach Coordinator Dave Thom and Administrator Christina English at roundtable@mit.edu. Though the Roundtable is by invitation only, we are more than glad to work with you to welcome colleagues.

The Roundtable Archives

October 29, 2018

Human Progress Narratives and the Promotion of Human Flourishing

Tyler VanderWeele, John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

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The Roundtable Archives

July 30, 2018

The Future of Genetic Engineering with Harvard Geneticist George Church and Adult Stem Cell Research Professional James Sherley, M.D., Ph.D.

Please be our guest Monday July 30, 5:45PM, for our first ever summer Roundtable on Science and Religion where we are bringing back Harvard Geneticist George Church. Together with American Scientific Affiliation Fellows* who have gathered for their annual meetings, we will enjoy the beautifulTupper Manor on the Atlantic Ocean at the Wylie Inn & Conference Center of Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. A reminder of whom we’re featuring, George Church: Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, George is a founding member of the Wyss Institute, and director of PersonalGenomes.org, the world’s only open-access information on human genomic, environmental, and trait data. Known for pioneering the fields of personal genomics and synthetic biology, George developed the first methods for the first genome sequence and dramatic cost reductions since then (down from $3 billion to $600), contributing to nearly all “next generation sequencing” methods and companies. His team invented CRISPR for human stem cell genome editing and other synthetic biology technologies and applications — including new ways to create organs for transplantation, gene therapies for aging reversal, and gene drives to eliminate Lyme disease and malaria. As director of IARPA & NIH BRAIN Projects and National Institutes of Health Center for Excellence in Genomic Science, George has coauthored 450 papers, 105 patents, and one book, Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves. His honors include Franklin Bower Laureate for Achievement in Science, the Time 100, and election to the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering.

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The Roundtable Archives

April 24, 2018

Reason, Science, Faith and Optimism, Harvard Professor of Physics Gerald Gabrielse

Please be our guest Tuesday April 24th, 6:30 PM, at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge for our next Roundtable on Science and Religion featuring Professor of Physics Gerald Gabrielse as he addresses Reason, Science, Faith and Optimism. As Harvard’s George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics Gabrielse was recognized with both Harvard’s Levenson prize for exceptional teaching and Harvard’s Ledlie prize for exceptional research, along with many international research prizes. An active member of the National Academy of Sciences, he has chaired both the Harvard Physics Department and the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society. Gabrielse is now in transition, joining Northwestern University as a Board of Trustees Professor, and the founding director the Center for Fundamental Physics -- a physics center that has also agreed to host interdisciplinary visitors. The Gabrielse research group tested the most precise prediction of the Standard Model of Particle Physics by making the most accurate measurement every made of a property of an elementary particle. They also tested the Standard Model's most fundamental symmetry to an exquisite precision. He and his collaborators made one of the most stringent tests of supersymmetry and other proposed improvements to the Standard Model. He started low energy antiproton and antihydrogen physics and leads the ATRAP collaboration at CERN. Gabrielse is well-known as a no-nonsense experimental physicist who has made some of the most precise and fundamental measurements of modern physics. He is also a person of faith. He has agreed to reflect upon the synthesis of reason, science and faith that fuels his optimism for the future.

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