A lecture on zebra finches tonight will kick off the 35th anniversary celebration of the Lyman Briggs School, MSU’s residential natural science community.
Stephanie Palmer’s lecture “From Neurons to Behavior: How a Zebra Finch Learns Its Own Song” begins at 7:30 today at the McDonel Kiva. Palmer, a 1997 graduate, is MSU’s 16th Rhodes Scholar and one of six speakers during the celebration that will end Saturday.
Other lecturers include keynote speaker Roald Hoffmann and Lyman Briggs alumni Glenn Elliott, Neil Sarkar, Michael VanRooyen and Mary Ruwart. Hoffman’s book, “The Same and Not the Same,” is required reading for this year’s Lyman Briggs freshmen and will be the topic of several discussions this week.
Ruwart was Lyman Briggs’ first graduate in 1970 and will speak on how the school prepared her for the real world.
VanRooyen is the director at the International Emergency Medicine Fellowship Program at Johns Hopkins University. His lecture, “From Afghanistan to Zaire: Applying Science to International Humanitarian Relief,” is Friday evening.
Students seem to be interested in seeing and hearing Hoffman, said Steven Spees, a chemistry professor and the acting director of Lyman Briggs.
“One of the great things about Hoffmann is that he’s a really smart guy, but he’s a really good speaker - a lot of whiz scientists aren’t,” Lyman Briggs no-preference freshman Julia LeVine said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Mary Sheridan, the development assistant and coordinator for Lyman Briggs, has been planning the ceremony for the past year.
The theme for the anniversary celebration is “The Same but Not the Same,” taken from Hoffmann’s book. Sheridan said Lyman Briggs is unique because it offers students a smaller setting in a larger university.
Freshmen students are required to live in Holmes Hall because it allows for interaction with advisers on a regular basis. Students also can access the facilities of a major chemical research department in the university.
The school’s motto, “Best of Both Worlds,” explains how it’s the same as a regular college experience but on a smaller scale.
He said that often students will enroll as freshmen at Lyman Briggs but graduate from other colleges at MSU.
“We’re a good recruiting tool for the university,” he said.
But he hopes the celebration is successful, and that “as our alumni start coming back, they can support these kinds of activities and we’ll grow in the wake.”
