Darwin Day, an annual international celebration of Charles Darwin’s birthday, his contributions to science and science in general, will be marked at UD with a two-day series of talks by noted experts on a variety of subjects, from COVID-19 tracing in Delaware to microbes in concrete.

The virtual event, set for 7-9 p.m. on Feb. 15 and 16, is free and open to the public; registration is required.

Following is a schedule of the speakers, faculty affiliations and topics.

Tuesday, Feb. 15

• 7:10 p.m., Derrick Scott, Department of Biological Sciences, Delaware State University, “Assessment of a Multifaceted Approach, Including Frequent PCR Testing and Variant Tracing, to Mitigation of COVID-19 Transmission at a Residential Historically Black University.”
• 7:30 p.m., Deborah Delaney, UD Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, “Bee-utiful Diversity!”
• 7:50 p.m., Mark Borrello, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, “Using History to Teach Biology: The Value of Controversy.”
• 8:10 p.m., Sigma Xi keynote speaker David Pfennig, Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, “Plasticity, Epigenetics and Evolution.”

Wednesday, Feb. 16

• 7:10 p.m., Julia Maresca, UD Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, “Concrete: A Unique Environmental Niche.”
• 7:30 p.m., John E. Huss, Department of Philosophy, University of Akron, “Thought Experiments and Computer Simulations in Evolution.”
• 7:50 p.m., Mark E. Greene, UD Department of Philosophy, “On the Origin of Species and Duties of Species Preservation.”
• 8:10 p.m., Morris Library keynote speaker Jory Weintraub, Duke University, “Obfuscating Science: What Connects Mad Men, Big Oil, Darwin and Anti-Vaxxers/Maskers?”

To read more about the talks and speakers, and to register to attend, visit the website below.

For further information, please visit: https://www.isll.udel.edu/events/international-darwin-day/darwin-day-2022