The CUSP Distinguished Speaker Series follows an intellectual theme that is the foundation of our year-long inquiry. This year's talks explore the theme of “Insight.” We will consider this theme within the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and medicine; engineering, physics, and astronomy; film and theater; religion, philosophy, and literature; and journalism, economics, and counterrorism intelligence.

2017-18 Theme: Insight

Insight is knowledge from or of the inside.  In one light, it means seeing from within the mind or from within a particular situation in the world.  It thus refers, on the one hand, to a mental faculty involving the imagination, intuition, dreams—the sources of inspiration and creativity, or what a poet calls the “inward eye.”  On the other hand, it derives from a perspective of inclusion or immersion within a concrete community, operation, study, etc.  For example, the embedded journalist, the connected professional, or the scientist in the field all occupy a position productive of “insider knowledge.”

Standing on the outside, one might alternately look into an object to gain an awareness of what lies inside.  This kind of insight penetrates beneath the surface to view an interior or to grasp a hidden truth, as medicine peers inside the body, neuroscience into the brain, psychology into the psyche, religion into the soul.  By other lights, insight might even suggest what is in sight, on the horizon, evoking the power of a visionary to predict what is to come. Any technology of vision—microscopes, satellite photography, theater—by enhancing or manipulating what one sees, can spark new understanding, or insight. 

Upcoming Talks  

• Roosevelt Montás, The Idea of the Core - “CUSP/ASP Annual NSOP Lecture”
  Friday, September 1, 2017; 9:00-11:00 a.m.; Faculty Room, Low Memorial Library
• Eric Kandel, Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures - The Surprising Partnership of Art and Science
  Tuesday, September 19, 2017; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; Rennert Hall, The Kraft Center
• Barclay Morrison, Thinking About Concussion
  Tuesday, October 10, 2017; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Paul Christie, Hologram Visions - “CUSP Alumni Journeys”
  Monday, October 16, 2017; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; 3rd Floor Lecture Room, Pulitzer Hall
• Michael Tuts, The ATLAS Experiment at the LHC: Revealing the Subatomic World
  Monday, October 30, 2017; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Bob Neer, What I Learned Teaching Contemporary Civilization to Over 350 Columbia Undergraduates - “CUSP Core Connections”
  Wednesday, November 8, 2017; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Barbara Montero, The Myth of Sudden Insight
  Thursday, January 25, 2018; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Rita Pietropinto and Tom Kitt, Topic TBA - “CUSP Alumni Journeys”
  Tuesday, January 30, 2018; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Sharon Lee De La Cruz, Topic TBA - “Cool Jobs”
  Thursday, February 8, 2018; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; 401 Lerner Hall
• Mary Putman, Insight from the Milky Way
  Tuesday, February 13, 2018; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Giuseppe Gerbino, Topic TBA - “CUSP Core Connections”
  Monday, February 26, 2018; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Chandrika Tandon, Topic TBA
  Tuesday, March 6, 2018; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Russell Ashford, Brains, Bureaucracies, and the Pitfalls of Intelligence Analysis
  Thursday, April 12, 2018; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium

Past Talks

• Robert O’Meally, 'This Music Demanded Action': The Challenge of the Core
  Monday, August 29, 2016; 12:00-2:00 p.m.; 3rd Floor Lecture Room, Pulitzer Hall
• George Michelsen Foy, Finding North: How Navigation Makes Us Human
  Thursday, September 22, 2016; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; Rennert Hall, The Kraft Center
• Gareth Williams, Navigating Life: The Odyssey
  Wednesday, October 5, 2016; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; 3rd Floor Lecture Room, Pulitzer Hall
• Ivan Šimonović, UN Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect
  Monday, October 10, 2016; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; 3rd Floor Lecture Room, Pulitzer Hall
• David Helfand, Navigating the Misinformation Age
  Thursday, October 20, 2016; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; Rennert Hall, The Kraft Center
• Matt Vella, Smart Cars, and the Increasingly Compelling Case to Why Humans Shouldn't be Allowed to Drive
  Thursday, October 27, 2016; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Rennert Hall, The Kraft Center
• Kaitlyn Parkins, Nocturnal Navigators: Understanding Migration Patterns of New York City's Birds and Bats
  Tuesday, November 1, 2016; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; 401 Lerner Hall
• Jeff Kluger and Alan Stern, Cosmic Navigation
  Monday, November 14, 2016; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; 3rd Floor Lecture Room, Pulitzer Hall
• Greg Milner, Time To Go
  Tuesday, January 31, 2017; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Avery Alpha, Foreign Fighter Flows and How We Stop Them
  Tuesday, February 7, 2017;  6:00–8:00 p.m.; Rennert Hall, The Kraft Center
• Steve Bellovin, Software and the Problem of Complexity
  Tuesday, February 14, 2017; 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Allison Cuneo, Under the Shadow of ISIS: Digging Archaeology and Documenting Cultural Property Crimes in Northern Iraq
  Monday, March 6, 2017; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; 401 Lerner Hall
• Lincoln Paine, A Map and a Sense of Time: A Guide to Navigating the Global Past
  Tuesday, March 21, 2017; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Kathy Nagel, Olfactory Navigation in Fruit Flies
  Thursday, April 6, 2017; 6:00–8:00 p.m.; Davis Auditorium
• Beau Shaw, Navigation, Education, and Democracy in Plato's Republic
  Tuesday, April 11, 2017; 6:00–8:00 p.m., Davis Auditorium