CLINTMM002 - Midweek Medley: From Antarctica to the Moon

Lisa Balabanlilar, Ph.D., is a professor, director of the Chao Center for Asian Studies and chair of the new Department of Transnational Asian Studies. She teaches courses on the history of India, the Mongol empire and Sufism in Islamic history, among other topics. Dr. Balabanlilar specializes in medieval and early modern Islamic history and kingship. Her most recent book, “The Emperor Jahangir: Power and Kingship in Mughal India,” was published in 2020. Dr. Balabanlilar has won several teaching awards at Rice, including the Phi Beta Kappa Sophia Meyer Farb Prize, the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching and the George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

David Alexander OBE, Ph.D., is director of the Rice Space Institute and professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University. He received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2004 and was appointed a Kavli Frontiers Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences in 2006. He is author of “The Sun,” part of the Greenwood Press “Guide to the Universe” series. Dr. Alexander was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth for services to the space industry and was named a GlobalScot by the government of Scotland.

Julia Wellner, Ph.D., is an associate professor of stratigraphy, sedimentology and glacial processes at the University of Houston Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. A geologist who works primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Antarctica studying sea-level change and glacial history, Dr. Wellner has completed more than a dozen oceangoing expeditions collecting seismic data and sediment cores, including eight seasons in Antarctica. Dr. Wellner earned her doctorate from Rice University, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship.

Carlos Andrés Botero, M.M., is an orchestra conductor, music education lecturer and consultant with first-level orchestras in Europe and the Americas, including the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, the Xalapa Symphony, Medellin Philharmonic and the Colombian Youth Philharmonic. He is the musical ambassador of the Houston Symphony and artistic director of Sinfónica del ISMEV in Mexico. Mr. Botero has a master’s in music from the Escuela de Música Soto-Mesa in Madrid, Spain, and a second master’s in music in viola performance from Eastern Michigan University. He has taught with the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies since 2016.

Scott E. Solomon, Ph.D., is a biologist, professor and science communicator. He teaches ecology, evolutionary biology and scientific communication as an associate teaching professor at Rice University in Houston. Dr. Solomon is also a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. He has a Ph.D. in ecology, evolution and behavior from The University of Texas at Austin, where his research examined the evolutionary basis of biological diversity in the Amazon Basin. He has taught field biology at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado. Before coming to Rice, he worked as a visiting researcher with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and São Paulo State University in Rio Claro, Brazil.

Debra Dickinson, M.A., was the artist-teacher of opera studies for acting and movement at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music for nearly three decades, directing 25 productions for the Department of Opera Studies. She was a professional singer and actress in New York for 15 years before starting her career as a director. She performed with Richard Burton on Broadway in “Camelot” and as Guenevere opposite Richard Harris in the subsequent national tour. Ms. Dickinson has taught master classes for Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ebony Opera, served as the acting instructor for Glimmerglass Festival, Brevard Opera and Chautauqua Opera, and was the recipient of the Marcus Bailey and Betty Graves Shelfer Eminent Scholar Chair in Music Theatre at Florida State University. Ms. Dickinson holds an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a graduate degree from Hunter College in New York City.

Online: Pre-recorded / on demand
This course will be delivered in a pre-recorded/on-demand format. Registered participants will receive instructions to access the course page and may view the pre-recorded lectures in any order and as often as preferred. Check Section Notes for access availability.

This special series is offered at a deeply discounted rate. No additional discounts are applicable.