Norma Slepecky
Slepecky Speakers
Distinguished women scholars who have delivered the annual Norma Slepecky Lecture.
Since 2003, the Norma Slepecky Lectureship has brought distinguished women scholars to Syracuse University to share their research and career journeys. We are honored to celebrate the following speakers.
| Year | Speaker | Institution and Field | Lecture Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Dr. Lola Eniola-Adefeso | University of Illinois Chicago; Dean of the College of Engineering; President, AIMBE | To be announced |
| 2025 | Dr. Joan-Emma Shea | UC Santa Barbara; Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry | Self-Assembly of the Tau Protein: Computational Insights into Neurodegeneration |
| 2024 | Dr. Sharon Walker | Drexel University; Dean and Distinguished Professor, College of Engineering | Inspiring Future Generations Through Metamorphoses in STEM |
| 2023 | Dr. Shikha Nangia | Syracuse University; Associate Professor, Biomedical and Chemical Engineering | Undergraduate Powered Research: Are Bacteria Friends or Foes? |
| 2023 | Dr. Jennifer Ross | Syracuse University; Department Chair and Professor, Physics | Undergraduate Powered Research: Exploring Cellular Self-Organization |
| 2022 | Dr. Virginia Valian (22-Year WiSE Celebration Keynote) | Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center; Distinguished Professor of Psychology, with appointments in Psychology, Linguistics, and Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences | Gender Equity: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow |
| 2021 | Dr. Ahna Skop | University of Wisconsin-Madison; Professor of Genetics | Too Creative for Science |
| 2020 | Canceled due to COVID-19 | ||
| 2019 | Dr. Kelly Benoit-Bird | Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute; Marine Biologist | Echoes from the Deep |
| 2018 | Dr. Nora S. Newcombe | Temple University; Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology | Spatial Learning for STEM Success |
| 2017 | Dr. Brigid Hogan | Duke University Medical Center; George Barth Geller Professor and Chair, Department of Cell Biology | How Embryos Build Organs to Last a Lifetime |
| 2016 | Dr. Marcia McNutt | Editor-in-Chief of Science/AAAS; President-Elect, National Academy of Sciences | Climate Intervention: Promise and Peril |
| 2015 | Dr. Noelle Eckley Selin | Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Engineering Systems and Atmospheric Chemistry, jointly appointed in the Engineering Systems Division and Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences | Mercury Pollution: Tracking Emissions to Impacts |
| 2014 | Dr. Patricia J. Culligan | Columbia University; Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics | Green Roofs and Urban Stormwater Management |
| 2013 | Dr. Laurie Leshin | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Dean of the School of Science | Science on Mars Time: Roving the Red Planet with Curiosity |
| 2012 | Dr. Mimi Koehl | University of California, Berkeley; Professor of Biology | Swimming in Turbulent Waves: How do tiny larvae settle onto coral reefs? |
| 2011 | Dr. Catherine Badgley | University of Michigan; Assistant Professor of Biology | Feeding a Hungry Planet: Crisis and Opportunity |
| 2010 | Dr. Susan Jerger | University of Texas at Dallas; Ashbel Smith Professor, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Perceiving and Remembering Speech: Hearing Things Not as They Are, But As We Are |
| 2009 | Dr. Ellen Martin | University of Florida, Gainesville; Associate Professor, Department of Geology | Growth of the Ice Sheets of Antarctica: Climate Change 40 Million Years Ago |
| 2008 | Dr. Valerie Davidson | University of Guelph, Canada; Ontario Chair for Women in Science and Engineering | Achievements, Challenges and Future Directions as the Ontario Chair for Women in Science and Engineering |
| 2007 | Dr. Judy Vance | Iowa State University, Mechanical Engineering; Program Director at NSF | Do You Know Where You Are Going? |
| 2006 | Dr. Deborah Pearce | CEO of LeaJames | How to Succeed in the Corporate Science & Engineering Context |
| 2005 | Ms. Donna Francher | Syracuse University alum; pharmaceutical research in oncology | My Own Science: Science Creativity and Entrepreneurship |
| 2004 | Dr. Caroline Baillie | Queen’s University; Materials Engineering | Different or Equal: Transforming Science and Engineering Education |
| 2003 | Dr. Debbie A. Niemeier | UC Davis; Civil and Environmental Engineering | The Job Everyone Loves to Hate: Leadership and Diversity in Department Chairs |