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 Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman, director emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will visit NIU to deliver a public lecture from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 23, in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium.
The lecture, titled “Sputnik, Frogs and the Future of Science Education,” is free and open to the public. It will be followed by a reception from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Altgeld Auditorium Foyer.
“This is a talk on the problem of science education – or lack thereof – in our great nation,” Lederman wrote in an e-mail. “The poor showing of U.S. students (in pre-kindergarten through high school) compared to other nations and the growing disinterest of U.S. students in math and science is reaching alarming proportions.”
Lederman noted that the crisis has resulted in substantial corporate outsourcing and has caught the attention of Congress. U.S. citizens also are beginning to worry, and “our traditional technological superiority is by no means assured.”
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 Top NIU researchers on climate change will share their expertise in a series of seven public presentations revolving around the recent report on global warming from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The series will kick off at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22, in the Montgomery Hall Auditorium with an overview of the IPCC report and a discussion on the science that goes into global-climate models. Each presentation will include question-and-answer sessions and discussion.
“This entire series aims to provide the general public with a sense of the science behind the IPCC report, information on the causes and consequences of global warming and possible solutions,” said NIU Presidential Science Adviser Gerald Blazey, who along with Geography Professors David Goldblum and Jie Song will present the first public presentation.
“What we’re really tying to do is put the evidence out there so people can learn about the issues and make their own judgments.”
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 NIU President John Peters praised the introduction last week of the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007, legislation to establish a national study-abroad fellowship program.
The bill (H.R. 1469), introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee respectively, would create a national fellowship program, increasing the numbers of students studying abroad to 1 million per year.
Administered by an independent entity, the program would provide key support for necessary modifications at institutions of higher education to allow all college students the opportunity to study abroad.
Peters served on the congressionally appointed Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program and has been a leader in the call to increase the number of students studying abroad nationally and at NIU.
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 The NIU College of Law Review will host its 16th annual symposium, “Emerging Issues in Election Law,” from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 26 at Altgeld Hall.
A reception in the Marshall Gallery of Swen Parson Hall will conclude the symposium.
The NIU Law Review has assembled a distinguished group of scholars who will explore various issues affecting today’s electoral process. Panelists include a former political adviser to Sen. Barack Obama, the counsels to the Illinois Republican and Democratic parties, the former chairman of the Illinois State Board of Elections, the former chief justice of the Illinois Court of Claims and other leading election law attorneys and professors.
Among the topics to be discussed are the use of technology in voting procedures, renewal of the Voting Rights Act, the court’s treatment of ballot referenda, the future of political gerrymandering claims and the impact of the McCain-Feingold Act.
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 The NIU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry invites the public to an evening of chemistry demonstrations beginning at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, in Faraday Hall 143.
The theme for the night is “The Chemistry of Special Effects.”
“We will be presenting demonstrations that use chemistry often used to produce special effects,” said David Ballantine, associate professor in the NIU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Some examples include spontaneous combustion, an acetylene cannon and the chemistry of fireworks.”
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 Northern Today published a regular issue and a special Northern Today Extra twice during Spring Break. Below are links to those stories.
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