Past Events
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Apr 23WiCOR/Astronomy Colloquium: Victoria MeadowsVictoria Meadows, Senior Research Scientist, SETI Institute
Title: The Virtual Planetary Laboratory and the Search for Signs of Life on Exoplanets Abstract: The Virtual Planetary Laboratory is a massively interdisciplinary research group that has been working since 2001 to put a strong scientific foundation under the search for signs of life on exoplanets. This exciting quest was identified as a high priority …
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Apr 22WiCOR Lecture – SP2026 – MeadowsVictoria Meadows, Senior Research Scientist, SETI Institute
This event is free and open to the public thanks to support from the WiCOR Lecture Fund. Weather permitting, join us after the event for observing the night sky at Washburn Observatory. Title: The Search for Living Worlds Beyond the Solar System Abstract: One of the grandest and most enduring questions in human history has …
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Apr 10WiCOR Science Spectacular 2026WiCOR Members
Room 1111 (Auditorium), Genetics-Biotechnology Center Science Expeditions
Join WiCOR for our Science Spectacular as part of Science Expeditions, the annual campus open house. This event will feature faculty members from WiCOR sharing about “How to Build a Habitable Planet”. They will describe: how planets form, the importance of geology, oceans and atmospheres (and what the Earth teaches us), how we find exoplanets, and …
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Oct 9Wisconsin Center for Origins Research Seminar – CleavesJim Cleaves, Department of Chemistry, Howard University
Chemistry Building 1315, UW-Madison
This is event is supported by the WiCOR Lecture Fund and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. Title: Prebiotic Chemical Diversity Abstract: The space of possible organic compounds is incredibly large and diverse, while the space of core biochemistry is relatively small, though also diverse. This talk will explore relations between those two chemical spaces vis-a-vis …
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Oct 8WiCOR Lecture – FA 2025 – Jim CleavesJim Cleaves, Department of Chemistry, Howard University
H.F. DeLuca Forum, Discovery Building, UW-Madison
Miss this event? Watch the recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/58QHWiIYgOk This event is open to the public – please share with friends and family! This is event is supported by the WiCOR Lecture Fund and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. Title: Understanding the Chemical Origins of Life Abstract: How life began on Earth, and whether it …
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May 1WiCOR Lecture – SP2025 – SzostakJack W. Szostak, Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Chicago
Chemistry Building S429, UW-Madison
Miss this event? Watch the recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/C3lHlf4QWjc This event is open to the public – please share with friends and family! Title: The Origin of Life: Easy or Hard? Abstract: The combined efforts of laboratories around the world have begun to converge on a reasonable pathway going all the way from planet formation to …