Session 1 Panels


Big Plans for a Small Planet: Can We Feed the World Without Wrecking the Oceans?
Moderator: Pamela Matson
Presenters: Meg Caldwell, Jeffrey Koseff, Rosamond Naylor

Each day, 20,000 people die of causes related to hunger and poverty, while more than a billion people suffer from chronic food insecurity. As we seek solutions to these issues, it is imperative that we consider their environmental ramifications as well.
 
Emerging Superpowers: Influence and Supremacy in the 21st Century
Moderator: Robert Joss
Presenters: Michael McFaul, William Perry, Stephen Stedman

The landscape of world power has evolved dramatically since the end of the cold war. What nations are considered “up and comers” in the 21st century? What are the key elements in the making of a current “superpower”?
 
Your Brain on Art
Moderator: Harry Elam
Presenters: Jonathan Berger, Vinod Menon, Blakey Vermeule

How does the human brain interpret art? How can experiencing art affect brain activity and chemistry? What therapeutic applications can the arts provide?

 

Session 2 Seminars

Vulnerability of People and Ecosystems in a World of Global Environmental Change
Presenters: Pamela Matson, Peter Vitousek

Global environmental changes—including changes in climate, in ecosystems on land and in the oceans, in water resources and in the characteristics of global pollution—provide new challenges for people and the environment in which they live.
 
The First Great Divergence: China and Europe
Presenters: Ian Morris, Richard Saller

Six hundred years ago China was the most powerful state on Earth and seemed destined to become the world's first global power. But that did not happen. Scholars have been asking for more than a hundred years why the Chinese and European trajectories diverged and why, at that point in history, Europe pulled decisively ahead of China.
 
The New Educational Landscape
Presenters: Robert Joss, Deborah Stipek

The deans of the School of Education and the Graduate School of Business have a vision that integrates cutting-edge knowledge from their separate fields to design and manage high-performing schools and other educational organizations.
 
Presidential War Powers
Presenters: Larry Kramer, Jenny Martinez

What rights should a president have when national security is threatened? In times of war, the historical debate about separation of powers comes to the fore. The questions become even more complicated in “nontraditional wars.”
 
Healing Wounds, Curing Cancer and Breathing Easier: Engineering Therapies for Human Health
Presenters: James Plummer, Jennifer Cochran, Annelise Barron

In the coming decades, bioengineering will play a tremendous role in improving human health. Come and learn about this emerging field—and Stanford's newest department—which fuses engineering and the life sciences toward the invention of new medical technologies and therapies.





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