This semester’s University Lectures series will feature a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial journalist, a prominent roboticist and a health and wellness expert, Syracuse University announced Tuesday.

Vijay Kumar will speak first on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in SU’s Hendricks Chapel. He’s the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and specializes in robotics, mechanical engineering, computer and information science and systems engineering.

Kumar gave a TED Talk on flying robots performing coordinated routines in 2012, which racked up more than 4.3 million views.

He has also received awards from the National Science Foundation, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and Popular Mechanics. He served as the assistant director of robotics and cyber physical systems at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2012-13.

Maureen Dowd is an editorial journalist and the recipient of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. She covered seven presidential campaigns and has written best-selling books on former President George W. Bush and the sexual politics of the 2016 presidential election.

Dowd has worked for The Washington Star, The New York Times and The Times Magazine. She has won a Glamour Women of the Year award and was a finalist for another Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

Her lecture will take place in Hendricks Chapel on Friday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m. It is co-sponsored by the Lubin Society and WAER.

Rick Fedrizzi, an SU graduate and chief executive officer of the International WELL Building Institute, will speak at Hendricks Chapel on Tuesday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m.

The International WELL Building Institute monitors features in buildings that affect health and wellness.

Fedrizzi also has a background in environmentalism. He’s a founding chair and former CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council and former CEO of the Green Business Certification Inc. USGBC is the umbrella organization for LEED, a leading environmentally conscious building certification and rating system.

SU has multiple buildings with LEED certifications and ratings or awaiting LEED certifications for future construction projects, such as the Barnes Center at The Arch and the National Veterans Resource Complex.

Fedrizzi is from Syracuse and earned an MBA from SU in 1987.

All lectures are free and open to the public. American Sign Language interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation will be available at each lecture.

Last semester, award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, historian Jill Lepore and National Public Radio host David Greene spoke as part of the University Lectures series.

Published on January 30, 2018 at 10:07 pm

Contact Kennedy: krose100@syr.edu | @KennedyRose001