News Releases

       Robert T. Pennock, a philosopher, evolutionist, and computer scientist from Michigan State University, will visit Binghamton University on February 22 and 23 to discuss his work to a general audience and his scientific peers. The discussions are free and open to the public.

       A public address titled “Why Did The Judge Rule Intelligent Design Creationism Unconstitutional?” will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday, February 22, in Casadesus Hall in the Fine Arts Building. The address will be followed by a reception. Pennock served as an expert witness in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board trial in 2006 and will explain why the Judge ruled against teaching intelligent design as science in this landmark case.

       The public and campus community are also invited to Pennock’s second talk titled “This Is Not A Simulation: Experimental Evolution Using Digital Organisms,” that will take place at 4 p.m. Friday, February 23, in Lecture Hall 8. Pennock will describe how computers can become environments for digital organisms, which can be used to explore fundamental questions such how complex adaptations evolve.

       Pennock’s research interests are in philosophy of biology, evolutionary computation, and in the relationship of epistemic and ethical values in science. His book Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism has been reviewed in over fifty publications; including the New York Review of Books, which called it “the best book on creationism in all its guises.”

       Pennock’s visit is co-hosted by EvoS, Binghamton University’s campus-wide evolutionary studies program, the Department of Biological Sciences, the Department of Bioengineering, and the Harpur College Visiting Speaker Fund.