A series of International Darwin Day talks, including a keynote address by the renowned anthropologist Karen Strier, will be held Monday, Feb. 13, in Room 110 of the Harker Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory on the University of Delaware campus in Newark.

Strier, who is an international authority on the endangered northern muriqui monkey, will speak from 12:30-2 p.m. on the topic “Saving the World’s Most Peaceful Primate.”

Darwin Day at UD, which recognizes the work of Charles Darwin in celebration of his birthday (Feb. 12, 1809), will open with a session featuring 18-minute TED-style talks that will be followed by discussion from 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Speakers at the first session are Hal White, professor emeritus of chemistry and biochemistry, on “Origin of Life and the RNA World,” and Lauren Morgens, captain of the Kalmar Nyckel, and Matt Sarver, deck chief on the Kalmar Nyckel and conservation chair of the Delmarva Ornithological Society, on “An Excellent Sea-Boat: Darwin, Fitzroy and the Beagle.”

Following the midday presentation by Strier, a session will be held from 2:15-3:30 p.m. featuring presentations by Siobhan Maria Carroll, associate professor of English, on “Writing Darwin, Reading Darwin”; by Thomas Evans, professor of plant and soil sciences, on “Walking in Darwin’s Footsteps: The Plants of the Galapagos Islands”; and by Cathy Wu, Unidel Edward G. Jefferson Chair of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, on “Molecular Evolution, Systems Biology and Precision Medicine.”

The final session of the day, from 3:45-5 p.m., will include presentations by Tom Rocek, associate professor of anthropology, on “The Agricultural Revolution: The Cultural Side of Biocultural Evolution”; by Eric Wommack, professor of environmental microbiology, on “Mysterious Villains or Selfish Servers? Revising Our View of Viruses”; and by Julia Maresca, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, on “Ancient Organisms in Modern Places: Microbes in the Build Environment.”

Activities will continue Tuesday, Feb. 14, with a keynote presentation by Jeremy Norman, noted collector and antiquarian, from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Morris Library.

Space is limited, so those who plan to attend are asked to register for each session by sending a request to isll-info@udel.edu.

Limited space for parking is available in the parking garage adjacent to the Perkins Student Center on Academy Street, south of the Harker Lab.

This event is hosted by the University of Delaware's Chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Society, the Interdisciplinary Science Learning Learning Center, the Department of Anthropology, the Delaware Bibliophiles and the University of Delaware Library.