UCF Biology News

UCF Speakers Series Tackles Evolution Versus Creationism for Darwin's Anniversary

The University of Central Florida is celebrating Charles Darwin’s birthday and the 150th anniversary of his work by tackling the evolution versus creationism debate head-on.

The UCF Department of Biology has invited a series of speakers to campus beginning this month and stretching into next year to highlight the importance evolution plays in man’s understanding of life science.

Biology faculty at UCF, say a basic knowledge of evolution is vital to understand and advance scientific study from conservation biology to developing new medical treatments of disease.

Chris Parkinson and Eric Hoffman, who teach the capstone undergraduate evolution course at UCF, often find undergraduates are unprepared in evolutionary theory when they arrive at UCF. Their goal with this seminar series is to educate the public on the importance of teaching and understanding evolution.

“Evolution is the basic principle underlying all biological science,” Parkinson said. “It’s linked to everything we know from microbes in the soil to the design of next year’s flu vaccine.”

The series goes hand-in-hand with Florida’s new k-12 science standards and curricula and the faculty members hope many k-12 science teachers will take advantage of this free public lecture series.

The educators recruited some of the nation’s leading experts on the topic of evolution and its role in science for the series. Universities around the world, including the University of Cambridge in England and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are conducting similar programs to celebrate Darwin’s work .

The UCF program includes:

7:30 p.m. on Oct. 13: Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago will speak about “Intelligent Design Versus Evolution.”

Coyne is well known for his commentary on the debate. His work has appeared in a variety of scientific journals, as well as popular publications such as The New Republic and the New York Times.

7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3: Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, who will speak about “Florida’s Academic Freedom Bills: Creationism du jour?”

Scott and the NCSE are one of the biggest opponents of intelligent design being taught in a science classroom and she has written several books, including “Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools.” She has appeared on MSNBC, the Fox News Channel and CNN.

The UCF presentations are free and open to the public. All speakers will present in the Harris Corporation Engineering Center, room 125.

In the spring, speakers will discuss the role of evolution in medicine as well as the impact of the debate on scientific advances.