2026-2027 Town & Gown Faculty Lecture Series
October 13, 2026
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THROUGH THE LENS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Rajesh K. Gupta, PhD, is Dean of the School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences at UC San Diego. He served as the founding director of the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute and Chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department, where he is currently a Distinguished Professor. His research focuses on embedded and cyber-physical systems, with a particular emphasis on sensor data organization and its applications in optimization and analytics.
Higher education has been intertwined with societies’ needs for producing talent, and a citizenry that responded to the needs of the times. This talk will examine intuitively what lies at the core of AI advances, its impact on higher education, and the organization of universities at the frontier of new knowledge and skills.
November 10, 2026
LIFESTYLE , MIND AND NATURAL PRODUCTS: AN INTEGRATIVE CARE FRAMEWORK
Michelle Sexton, ND, is a Naturopathic Doctor and Clinical Care provider at the Center for Integrative Medicine at UC San Diego. She was the first Naturopathic Doctor hired at UCSD, formerly Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology. She has studied the endocannabinoid system and its roles in neuro-inflammation and neuro-degeneration. Her NIH-funded pre-doctoral and postdoctoral research investigated cannabis effects on immune parameters in patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Sexton has presented her research internationally, published in peer-reviewed journals, and is an accomplished speaker. Her clinical practice, research and teaching focus on integrative approaches to body-mind healing. She offers whole-person, patient-centered care focused on treating root causes of disease. Dr. Sexton has worked with chronic pain patients at UCSD since 2016 and implemented a whole health pain curriculum in a group medical visit setting.
Aging research has made tremendous advancements over the past few decades. As scientists continue to improve our understanding of the biological underpinnings of aging, promising strategies for improving healthy longevity have emerged. This talk will focus on how our bodies can optimize energy and metabolism leading to the promotion of healthy aging.
December 8, 2026
POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND CIVIL CONFLICT
Barbara F. Walter, PhD, is a political scientist and the Rohr Professor of International Affairs at the School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) at UC San Diego. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was the recipient of the 2022 Peacemaker of the Year Award, given by the National Conflict Resolution Center, and the International Studies Association’s highest career award, the Susan Strange Award. As her research interests focus on the structural conditions making societies vulnerable to internal conflict, and more particularly anocracy, her insights have shaped discussions on conflict prevention. Her public scholarship has led her in her advice to the U.S. Intelligence Community, senior officials in the Department of State and multilateral organizations focused on peace building and governance.
January 12, 2027
HOW SEAWEEDS CAN HELP SAVE THE WORLD
Jennifer E. Smith, PhD, is a Professor in marine ecology and conservation in the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. Dr. Smith’s lab studies human impacts on marine ecosystems, from coral reefs to kelp forests. Her research often goes beyond basic ecology by integrating conservation, restoration, management, and sustainability. While much of the Smith lab is focused on addressing pressing issues in marine ecology, lab members are increasingly interested in sustainable seafood, coastal aquaculture, and habitat restoration. Dr. Smith and her team are largely focused on the study of seaweeds because of their immense potential to improve global sustainability and contribute to a carbon neutral future.
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February 9, 2027
SCIENCE OF THE DEVELOPING HUMAN MIND AND BRAIN
Terry L. Jernigan, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science, Psychiatry, and Radiology, and Director, Center for Human Development at UC San Diego. For over 40 years, she has studied the human brain using noninvasive imaging. She is Co-Director of the Coordinating Center for the ABCD Study. She has served on the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, the Council of Councils of the National Institutes of Health, and she currently serves on the NIH “Helping End Addiction Long Term” (HEAL) Multidisciplinary Workgroup, as well as scientific advisory boards of several research organizations in the United States and Europe.
For the last decade, Dr. Jernigan’s central research interest has been the developing human mind and brain, with a focus on the dynamic neurodevelopmental processes that give rise to human individuality, and how these processes are affected by experience, substance exposure, genetic variation, and other factors. Dr. Jernigan will also discuss the importance of developmental population neuroscience and her work on large scale, longitudinal population studies.
March 9, 2027
EMPATHY AND COMPASSION AMONG FUTURE PHYSICIANS: PATTERNS OF CHANGE OVER MEDICAL SCHOOL AND INTERVENTIONS THAT CAN HELP
Lisa T. Eyler, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Sanford Institute’s Center for Empathy and Compassion Training in Medical Education at UC San Diego. She also serves as a faculty member in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology and the Stein Institute for Research on Aging, and is a member of the steering committee for the UCSD Center for Healthy Aging. A clinical psychologist by training, one facet of Dr. Eyler’s research focuses on cognitive, emotional, and brain aging and development across a range of populations, including community-dwelling older adults and people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
In addition to her work at UCSD, she is also the Director of the Mental Health in Aging Unit of the Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, where she mentors students, supports federally funded research projects, and implements and prioritizes compassion into medical student curriculum. In 2023, Dr. Eyler was recognized for her achievements in multiple leadership roles through YWCA San Diego County’s Tribute to Women & Industry (TWIN) Award.
Physician empathy and compassion are vital for patient outcomes and physician well-being, yet these traits often decline during medical school. In this presentation, Dr. Eyler will describe a longitudinal study she is conducting that tracks these changes, revealing potential dips in the second year and rebounds by the fourth. She will also share curricular innovations developed by the Sanford Institute to support and sustain student resilience throughout their training.
April 13, 2027
THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC AND THE FIRST CRISIS OF GLOBALIZATION
Frank Biess, PhD, is Professor of History and Richard Atkinson Endowed Chair in German Studies. His research has focused on 20th century German political, social and cultural history, with an emphasis on the post-1945 period. His most recent book on “German Angst” was nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in the non-fiction category in 2019. Contrary to the dominating paradigms of progressive and linear liberalization, modernization and democratization, the book conceptualizes the history of the Federal Republic as one of recurring cycles of fear and crises. Dr. Biess is currently working on a global history of the Weimar Republic that seeks to situate Germany’s first democracy within a broader crisis of globalization.
Many of the crisis symptoms we are currently experiencing — economic dislocation, loss of faith in democracy, dissatisfaction with the ‘old order’ — can be subsumed under a broader crisis of globalization. The talk will examine how Germany’s first democracy, the short-lived Weimar Republic (1918-1933), responded to what could be considered the first crisis of globalization after World War I. The talk will discuss various responses to this crisis that emerged in interwar Germany. It will argue that the eventual outcome — the success of National Socialism that plunged Europe and the world into catastrophe — was not a foregone conclusion. Instead, the talk will discuss contemporary alternatives to extreme right-wing radicalism, and it will identify several “roads not taken”. The Weimar Republic always had an open future, and so do we.
May 11, 2027
MEANING IN LIFE
Samuel C. Rickless, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at UC San Diego. His research spans a number of philosophical subfields: ancient Greek philosophy (particularly, Plato's metaphysics and epistemology), the history of 17th and 18th century European philosophy (metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy), with emphasis on the work of John Locke, George Berkeley, Mary Astell, and David Hume; non-consequentialist ethics (particularly, the doctrine of doing and allowing and the doctrine of double effect); and the philosophy of law (with particular attention to legal interpretation and the constitutional basis of informational privacy law). Dr. Rickless has authored three books (on Plato, Berkeley, and Locke), co-edited three others (on the ethics of war, the ethics and law of omissions, and Berkeley), and published 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
We confidently distinguish between lives that are meaningful and lives that are meaningless (or much less meaningful). Frida Kahlo, John Lewis, and Marie Skłodowska Curie are examples of the former, Sisyphus (he of the famous myth) an example of the latter. What accounts for the difference? Generations of philosophers have proposed answers to this question. We will look at a few of them: (i) freedom, (ii) play, (iii) self-fulfillment, (iv) knowing or doing good, (v) projects. We will also consider the philosopher Susan Wolf's influential "Fitting Fulfillment" theory of meaning. I will close the presentation with my own account of meaning in life and explain why it is better than the alternatives.
