Contact: Jason A. Smith, communications director
MADISON–The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters is pleased to announce it will webcast the season-opening presentation of the “Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future” Academy Evenings series. For the September 15 “Wisconsin 2050” season opener, Richard Davidson, William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at UW–Madison, will discuss how the development of certain positive human qualities may foster not only greater personal happiness but change the way we relate to one another as a society. Davidson will share perspectives from both modern neuro-scientific research and contemplative traditions, as well as the application of these ideas in the fields of medicine and education.
“We’re committed to exploring new ways to use technology to bring you the best speakers on the hottest topics,” says Wisconsin Academy executive director, Margaret Lewis, “and this webcast will hopefully be the first of many opportunities to spread Wisconsin’s wealth of intellectual and artistic talent to every corner of the state—and beyond.” To access the entire live webcast of Davidson’s September 15, 2009, presentation, please visit the Wisconsin Academy homepage at wisconsinacademy.org no later than 6:55 pm CST. Please visit our multimedia viewing options web page for other, post-presentation viewing opportunities.
About Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future
Who will we be in the future and what are the events that will shape us? In the “Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future” series of Academy Evenings presentations, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters hopes to address these questions and more. “Wisconsin 2050” shows us our state and world through the lens of the year 2050, allowing us to make some intelligent projections about our future based on current affairs, contemporary knowledge, and research by some of our best minds. Most “Wisconsin 2050” presentations will be held on Tuesday nights at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art lecture hall in the Overture Center for the Arts, Madison. The “Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future” series is sponsored by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, University of Wisconsin–Madison, M&I Bank, the Evjue Foundation, and Isthmus Publishing Company.
About Academy Evenings
Academy Evenings engage the public in a wide variety of topics of public interest and feature Wisconsin’s leading thinkers, scholars, and artists. These free forums are intended to encourage public interaction with these leaders in an intimate atmosphere designed to foster discussion and build community. The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters sponsors Academy Evenings regularly in Overture Center for the Arts in Madison and at other venues across the state. For more information on Academy Evenings in your area, visit http://www.wisconsinacademy.org.
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RICHARD DAVIDSON
Happiness 2050: Neuroscience, Education, and the Compassionate World Citizen
September 15, 2009, 7:00-8:30 pm at the MMoCA Lecture Hall, 221 State Street
Richard Davidson is the William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Director of the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He received his PhD from Harvard University in Psychology and has been at UW–Madison in Wisconsin since 1984. Davidson has published more than 250 articles, many chapters and reviews and edited 13 books. He has been a member of the Mind and Life Institute’s Board of Directors since 1991. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his research including a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Award, a MERIT Award from NIMH, an Established Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD), a Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD, the William James Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society, and the Hilldale Award from UW–Madison. He was the Founding co-editor of the new American Psychological Association journal EMOTION and is Past-President of the Society for Research in Psychopathology and of the Society for Psychophysiological Research. He was the 2000 recipient of the most distinguished award for science given by the American Psychological Association, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. In 2003 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2004 he was elected to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. Davidson was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. In 2006 he was also awarded the first Mani Bhaumik Award by UCLA for advancing the understanding of the brain and conscious mind in healing. Madison Magazine named him Person of the Year in 2007.
