The Introduction of Organized Athletics in the African American Community: The Story of Dr. E. B. Henderson                                               In Celebration of Black History Month

1-2 pm in CA 302, Wednesday, February 12th   19th, 2025

Speaker: Mr. Edwin B. Henderson II

Bio: Mr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson, II, is a highly respected educator, historian, and advocate for preserving African American history and culture. The grandson and namesake of Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson—often referred to as the “Grandfather of Black Basketball”—Mr. Henderson has dedicated his career to advancing the legacy of his family while contributing to the broader understanding of Black achievements in American society.

A passionate storyteller and scholar, Mr. Henderson has authored The Grandfather of Black Basketball: The Life and Times of Dr. E. B. Henderson. The book chronicles the groundbreaking accomplishments of his grandfather, a pioneer who introduced basketball to African Americans in Washington, D.C., and used sports as a platform for civil rights activism. Through this work, Mr. Henderson sheds light on the intersection of athletics, education, and social justice in the early 20th century.

In addition to his writing, Mr. Henderson is a sought-after speaker, particularly during Black History Month. He engages audiences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), community organizations, and cultural institutions, inspiring others to reflect on the enduring impact of Black trailblazers in American history.

Mr. Henderson’s work embodies a deep commitment to preserving the stories that define the Black experience. He continues to honor his family’s legacy while contributing to the broader discourse on equity, representation, and cultural pride.

His book “The Grandfather of Black Basketball: The Life and Times of Dr. E. B. Henderson” can be bought at NOVA Annandale Bookstore 

Following the event, the speaker will be present to sign books for attendees. 

Moderator: Dr. Manori Nadesalingam

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The Life of a Diplomat                                                                                                     in Celebration of Women History Month 

1-2 pm in CA 302, Tuesday, March 4th, 2025

Dr. Susan Ross,  faculty of Division of LASS at Annandale Campus of NOVA

Bio: Dr. Susan Ross is a retired Foreign Service Officer who served in nine countries throughout her career working in Public Diplomacy. Before joining the Foreign Service, Dr. Ross was a professor of communication theory at Hamilton College, in New York. She also taught communication courses and ESL in Texas, Silver Spring, MD, and India. She has had two Fulbright grants, one as a student in Germany and one as a Lecturer in Pune, India.

Moderator: Prof. Steven Lessner

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Climate, Chaos, and Keats: Poetry in Eras of Uncertainty                         In Celebration of National Poetry Month 

1-2 pm in CA 302, Tuesday, April 1st, 2025

Prof. Nicole Tong, Inaugural Poet  Laureate of Fairfax County

It is hard to face the unknown particularly in eras of uncertainty, but poets are uniquely equipped to wonder in meaningful ways with precision and concision. This talk will look at the poems by Lucille Clifton, John Keats, Ada Limon, Patricia Smith, and others that respond to what is just beyond human control in ways that assuage. Tong will end with a discussion of Negative Capability, the Keatsian concept of embracing mystery and beauty, in her own poems.

Bio: Prof. Nicole Tong is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Fairfax County, Virginia. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sundress Academy at Firefly Farms,  George Mason University where she received her MFA. In 2016, she served as a Writer-in-Residence at Pope-Leighey House, a Frank Lloyd Wright property in Alexandria, Virginia. She was a recipient of the President’s Sabbatical from Northern Virginia Community College where she was Professor of English. Her writing has appeared in American Book Review, CALYX, Cortland Review, and Yalobusha Review among others.

Washington Writers’ Publishing House announced Nicole Tong’s debut collection– How to Prove a Theory– as the 2017 Jean Feldman Poetry Prize Winner, which is available at Politics and Prose, Scrawl Books, and on Indiebound.

Currently she is the Dean of School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Reynolds Community College.

https://www.nicoletong.com/

Moderator: Prof. Steven Lessner

 

Hispanic Trends in STEM
In Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month

1-2 pm in CA 302, Wednesday, October 2^nd , 2024

Speaker: Dr. Aaron Dominguez, Provost, Catholic University

Bio: Aaron Dominguez is the Provost and an Ordinary Professor of Physics at The Catholic University of America. His main area of research is in using particle colliders to search for new physics, including the recently discovered Higgs boson.  His area of expertise is in instrumentation—designing, building and using silicon charged particle trackers as precision tools to reconstruct the complicated interactions taking place in these collisions.

He received his undergraduate degrees from Whitman College and Caltech, his Ph.D. in physics from UC San Diego and was a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  In 2005, he was the recipient of the NSF CAREER award.  He has played numerous leadership positions in the L3, CDF and CMS particle physics experiments at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland and Fermilab in Chicago.  He has mentored eight postdoctoral researchers, seven graduate students to completion, two currently in progress, and numerous undergraduates.  He is a member of the National Science Board, serves on several advisory boards, and is an author on more than 1100 papers in experimental high energy physics and instrumentation.

Prior to becoming Provost of Catholic University, Dr. Dominguez served as the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. Previously he was Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Associate Dean of Research and Global Engagement at the University of Nebraska, and a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

As the Provost, Dr. Dominguez is the Chief Academic Officer of the university and oversees the academic life of Catholic University’s 12 schools, its libraries, research institutes, and the Catholic University of America Press. He aims to change the course of students’ lives and propel them toward a meaningful future.

Moderator: Ms. Judith Gomez, jlgomez@nvcc.edu

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Uncover the Secrets of Bicycle Wheels: A Fun Look at the Physics Behind Them

1-2 pm in CA 302 , Thursday, November 14^th, 2024

Speaker: Mr. William Mould

Bio: Mr. William Mould is a scientist, educator, and bicycle wheel builder. Several years ago, he transitioned from a career in the Air Force, where he retired as a colonel, to become a full-fledged bicycle mechanic.

An avid rider for many years, he commutes year-round and participates in 100+ mile group and solo rides both in the U.S. and abroad. He has always enjoyed working on bikes—solving mechanical problems, learning new techniques, and applying new technologies.

Mr. Mould began his education with an economics degree from Pennsylvania State University and an MS in chemistry from Yale University, both of which left him somewhat unprepared for an intensive bike training curriculum. He is also a former civilian pilot and college science professor, often praised for his ability to explain complex topics in an understandable way.

He is a Trek-certified mechanic and a licensed USA Cycling Race Mechanic. William routinely reads, studies, and re-studies technical materials and brochures, and he learns something new every day. In his spare time, he enjoys being with his wife of over 40 years, their three daughters, their husbands, and his nine grandchildren.  https://billmouldwheels.com/

Moderator: Dr. Manori Nadesalingam (mnadesalingam@nvcc.edu)

Theme: Unity in Celebration

February – Black History Month

“All About the Blues: A Historical Journey of America’s Musical Roots 

1pm – 2pm on Wednesday, February 21st (Hybrid Event)

In person gathering in CA 302 and use the link to register for this event to receive a confirmation email with zoom link to join the meeting virtually.

Speaker: Mr. Fruteland Jackson

In this presentation, Fruteland will discuss the origins of Blues music. Originating from the nation’s dark days of slavery, Blues music has evolved to embrace all races and ethnicities, becoming one of society’s first and most successful examples of diversity. Fruteland will also explore the positive impact it has had on American History.  “All About the Blues” is a journey and we invite you to come join us for our 2024- Black History Month Celebration to highlight his amazing work with “Blues in the Schools” to help keep the “Blues Alive!”

Bio: Mr. Fruteland Jackson is a transplant Chicagoan, born in Mississippi and raised on the blues while growing up in Chicago during the late 1960s and 1970s. He was surrounded by some of Chicago’s greatest blues pioneers, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and the incomparable legend, Mr. Buddy Guy. Naturally, this music became a significant influence on Fruteland’s musical education and career. He began teaching himself how to play instruments like the acoustic guitar, banjo, and other stringed instruments, with a focus on mastering the classic blues styles of great pioneers such as Robert Johnson, Big Bill Bronzy, Memphis Minnie, Elizabeth Cotten, ragtime, and countless others.

For more information: https://www.fruteland.com/

Moderator: Ms. Connie Robinson  ( Enrollment Management and Scheduling – Annandale Campus)

March – Women’s History Month

A Brief History of Women’s Education

1pm – 2pm in CA 302, Annandale Campus on Thursday, March 28th

Speaker: Dr. Jennifer Winters

Today, women make up the majority of students in higher education, but this was not always the case.  Only a few centuries ago, education for women was restricted to wealthy and elite households, and this learning largely focused on their future responsibilities as wives and mothers.  It was not until the nineteenth century when women matriculated to institutions of higher education, opening doors to professional, highly technical careers and encouraging discourse on a woman’s place in society.

In this presentation, Dr. Winters will explore historical conceptions and rationales that restricted women from educational opportunities, how women overcame these restrictions, and how education has been used as a tool to strive to achieve political, social, and economic equality.

Bio: Dr. Jennifer Winters received her BA in History and the combined program of Religion and Philosophy from James Madison University.  She earned her M.Litt. in Reformation Studies and Ph.D. in History from the University of St Andrews (UK).  Her current research interests are in the fields of book history and the history of education in early modern Britain.  Her papers and presentations include ‘Piracy and Print in Elizabethan England: John Wolfe, Roger Ward and the Struggle against Privilege’, ‘Female Book Ownership in Provincial England, 1580-1640’, and ‘Women’s Education and Literacy in Colonial America’.  She is currently working on an examination of school books and grammar schools in seventeenth-century Britain. Since 2013, she has worked on NOVA’s Annandale campus, teaching classes in Western, World, and Women’s history.

Moderator: Dr. Manori Nadesalingam, Physics

 

April- National Poetry Month 

“Dystopian Love Stories”

1pm – 2pm in CA 302, Annandale Campus, on Wednesday, April 17th

Speaker: Prof. Indigo Eriksen

In  “Dystopian Love Stories” Indigo Eriksen will share a selection of her published and unpublished poetry interspersed with storytelling. Indigo’s work blends the political and the personal from the perspective of a flawed narrator. Her recent work juxtaposes the on-going genocide in Gaza with anxieties surrounding land stewardship in the US. Previous work examines connections between land, conflict, and colonialism. Juxtaposed against these themes are Indigo’s dating poems, which is how she earned the nickname “T. Swift of the family.”

Bio: Raised in Colorado and Virginia, J. Indigo Eriksen earned her BA in Environmental Studies from Lewis & Clark College before moving to Guatemala and Mexico. She received her MFA from Mills College and MA in Comparative Literature from San Francisco State University. A doctoral candidate at George Mason University in Virginia, Indigo’s research looks at strategies for dismantling white supremacy in college composition. She is Professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College where her unofficial work includes leading hiking trips and teaching students and staff how to backpack. Indigo previously served on the TYCA-SE REC as the Membership Chair for 2016-2019. Her creative work has appeared in the Texas Review Press (forthcoming, 2022), District Fray (July 2020), The Northern Virginia Review, Scratching Against the Fabric, Endlessly Rocking, and TYCA-SE Journal.  She is a 2023 Writing the Land poet with the Piney Grove Preserve. Indigo was a 2021 The Inner Loop Writer-in-Residence at the Woodlawn Pope-Leighey House and recipient of the 2019 Mary Roberts Rinehart prize in nonfiction from GMU.

Moderator: Prof. Steven Lessner, English

 

Month of September

Constitution Day Event

2:00 pm -3:00 pm on Wednesday, September 13th,  This is a HyFlex event , and In person gathering in  CA 321, Annandale Campus.  

Link to registration if you are attending virtually 

After registration, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

“Rooting out discrimination, warrioring for equal rights, and why your lived experiences matter!”

Speaker: Lisa Sales, President of Virginia Chapter of National Organization for Women (VaNOW)

https://vanow.org/about-us/leadership

Moderator: Melissa Chabot (Associate Professor of Communication Studies)

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Hispanic Heritage Fiesta for celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month 

From 11:00 am to 2:30 pm  in front of CF building on Wednesday, September 20th. 

The event welcomes the Latin community and any other interested participants to set up booths or tents, providing opportunities to offer complimentary food samples, sell arts, crafts, and food items to our students and faculty and staff.

Main Organizers: Connie Robinson and Judith Gomez ( Campus  Administrative staff)

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Deaf Awareness Month

5:00 pm -6:00 pm, Thursday, September 28th,  

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://vccs.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpf-2tqTMiG9bYcG58r4kRE-5OEz-0boP_

“Mohamed Del: A Beacon of Hope and Education”

Speaker: Mr. Mohamed Del

Mohamed Del, born in Mogadishu, the bustling capital of Somalia, has impacted education and advocacy for the Deaf community. His journey, full of challenges, has taken him from the heart of Somalia to the United States.

Mohamed’s dedication to fostering the development of Somalian Sign Language shines through in his notable presentations. At the International Muslim conference in Qatar, he advocated for establishing Somalian schools and proposed the creation of Deaf schools in Puntland, Somalia.

In addition to his advocacy work, Mohamed has also made significant contributions to the field of language instruction. He has taught Arabic classes at Global Deaf Muslim, a non-profit organization committed to supporting the Deaf Muslim community.

Mohamed’s influence extends beyond the classroom. As a panelist, he’s strongly advocated for creating Muslim sign language materials, which are incredibly valuable for Deaf Muslims or anyone interested in learning Muslim signs.

His active involvement in interfaith discussions highlights his dedication to fostering understanding and dialogue and showcases his genuine passion for bridging cultural and religious divides. Through his valuable contributions to discussion forums on Christian and Muslim faiths, he exemplifies a willingness to connect and embrace diverse perspectives.

Mohamed’s inspiring journey from Somalia to America for better education opportunities amid civil unrest in his homeland offers a powerful narrative of resilience and determination. As a guest speaker, he has shared these experiences, shedding light on the particular challenges faced by the Deaf community and providing inspiration to many.

This Deaf Awareness Month, we are privileged to host Mohamed Del, a true embodiment of perseverance, education, and advocacy.

Moderator: Fatimah Aziz ( Professor of American Sign Language)

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Month of October 

1:00 to 2:00 pm in CA 302 on Wednesday, October 11th.

Back by popular demand, we are hosting a featured guest speaker in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month – Mr. Michel Zajur, “Mexican American Roots” brought to you by the Lyceum Committee’s Our American Dream Series.

https://www.vahcc.com/Founder

Mr. Zajur is a well-respected VCCS Board Member and the Founder and CEO of both the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Hispanic Foundation.

Please join us as we celebrate this highly accomplished local business leader, entrepreneur, and community advocate who has significantly contributed to the growth and development of the Hispanic Community. Therefore, we invite you to come out and help us welcome one of the most influential people in Northern Virginia, who has made an impact throughout the Hispanic Community and beyond.

Moderator: Connie Robinson ( Annandale Campus Administrative Staff)

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Month of November

In House Presenter

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm, in CA 302, on Wednesday, November 1st.

“I Wonder if ‘Jackhammers for the Unicorn Brigade’ is the Weirdest Thing I’ll Have to Find in This War.”

Speaker: Ms. Robin C. Rohrback, Science Learning Center Coordinator, Annandale Campus

Ukraine’s military and humanitarian successes rest in part on the creativity and resourcefulness of Ukrainian civil society and the nimble global network of volunteers who support it. In March 2023, Robin Rohrback took a quick trip to Kyiv, Ukraine to deliver over 100 pounds of volunteer-sourced and -delivered tactical medical supplies for a Ukrainian Army brigade in Donbas, electronic components and an old drone for a crack group of tinkerers in a Kyiv basement solving technical challenges for the Ukrainian military, and some other assorted odds and ends.

Ms. Rohrback will discuss her experiences and share pictures and videos from her trip. She will also discuss a few of the volunteers she works with and the astonishing work they do, such as getting jackhammers for the Unicorn Brigade, a demining suit from the president of Malaysia, and simple, everyday supplies to residents of occupied regions in the absence of green corridors.

Ms. Rohrback has been active in Ukrainian matters since the 2013-2014 Revolution of Dignity, during which she was the head English-language editor for EuroMaidan PR (now Euromaidan Press). She has helped supply the Ukrainian military off and on since mid-2014. She is a senior moderator for r/Ukraine, the world’s largest English-language forum dedicated solely to Ukraine; sits on the board of Ukraine Front Line, an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) dedicated to supplying troops on the front lines, and serves as their logistics coordinator; and is a general helper-around-the-edges when needs arise.

Moderator: Manori Nadesalingam ( Professor of Physics)

EVENT 1

Title: What your mouth may say about your health

Wednesday, February 1st from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, in CA 302,  Annandale Campus

Speaker: Marina D. McGraw, Associate Dean of Health Sciences, NOVA-MEC

The overall content will address how nutrition and oral health have a bidirectional relationship. 

The discussion will include the following key points:  

• How nutritional deficiencies may affect oral health regarding growth, development, healing, and diseases of the oral cavity.  
• Signs that can occur in the oral cavity that might indicate nutritional challenges. This will be connected to dental hygiene as well.

Short Biography of the speaker: 

Prof. Marina D. McGraw is the Associate Dean of Health Sciences at Northern Virginia Community College.   She has been a dental hygienist for 26 ½ years and worked 18 of those years in private practice in Charlottesville, VA and the last 8 ½ have been at Northern Virginia Community College. She is currently a doctoral student in health science at Eastern Virginia Medical School on Norfolk, VA and She earned a MS on Health Administration from University of Phoenix in Phoenix, AZ and BS in Health Science from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA an AAS in Dental Hygiene from Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, VA

She has a 13-year-old daughter and enjoy reading and a variety of outdoor activities.

(Refreshments will be served for this event)

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EVENT 2

Title: “Courageous women of Iran”

Wednesday, March 1st From 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, in CA 302, Annandale Campus 

Speaker: Author Manda Ervin

The Ladies’ Secret Society History of the Courageous Women of Iran From the Ruling Women-Gods, 5,000 B.C.E. To being ruled by the “men of God,” 2020 C.E.

This riveting and remarkable book reveals, in print for the first time, the long history of struggle against clerical domination that Iranian women have been engaged in for centuries. Rooted in the proud history of ancient Iran, where Mother-Gods were once ruled, the Ladies’ Secret Society, an organization founded in 1909, was both the inheritor of this proud history, and the progenitor of the contemporary women’s rights campaign in the Iran of today. Zand Ervin relates the stories, and records the accomplishments, of generations of individual women activists, who fought like lionesses for every scrap of freedom they gained, only to see all their hard-won rights destroyed with the coming of Khomeini’s Islamic takeover. During the Islamic revolution, Zand Ervin witnessed the execution of many innocent people, including her high school principal, who was executed simply because she was a woman, and the Secretary of Education. She offers heartbreaking and compelling eyewitness testimonies of strong and emancipated women who were brutally pushed backwards to living under a crude, medieval foreign society, and who have fought back, under sometimes impossible odds, and continue fighting today. Manda Zand Ervin’s History of Iranian women-Gods, who have been imprisoned behind a veil, offers an insight and context to news of injustice caused by the clerical Gender Apartheid regime ruling Iran which continues today. 

Biography of the speaker: 

Manda Zand Ervin is the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women, an organization that brings the voices of Iranian women living under the gender apartheid regime’s Sharia Laws to the West. 

Born in Iran, and educated in the United States, Ervin was the managing director of the department of statistics and international affairs at the Customs Administration of Iran prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In 1980, Ms. Zand Ervin came to the United States as a political refugee and became a US citizen three years later. As a women’s rights activist and leading expert on Iranian affairs, she has been frequently consulted by Members of Congress, and she has testified at Congressional briefings, the Helsinki Commission, and the United Nations. In February 2008, Zand Ervin was appointed as the United States Delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women. She was also the featured speaker at the G8 Summit in Rome, on Violence against Women in 2009.  In 2012, she received the EMET Speaker of the Truth award.

Manda Zand-Ervin’s articles have appeared in; American Thinker, the Washington Times, PJ Media, Gate Stone Institute, and many others. She has appeared on CNN, Fox News, BBC and regularly speaks on human rights, women’s rights and the Middle East issues.

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EVENT 3

Title: A Better You

Tuesday, March 21st from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, in CA 302, Annandale Campus   

Speaker: Cecil J. Jackson, Assistant Athletic Director/Campus Recreation and Wellness Director and a PED adjunct professor at NOVA

The session is designed to provide participants with the knowledge to understand and apply principles involved in promoting and maintaining total wellness. The participants will learn and understand the concepts of wellness and how it relates to a healthy lifestyle. 

The discussion will include the following key points:  

• Understand the dimensions of wellness 
• Understand and apply principles involved in promoting and maintaining total wellness 
• Recognize the concepts of wellness and how it relates to a healthy lifestyle 
• Evaluate and apply wellness concepts to individual lifestyle 

Short Biography of the speaker: 

CJ Jackson is the Assistant Athletic Director/Campus Recreation and Wellness Director and a PED adjunct professor at NOVA. CJ has been active in the fitness and wellness industry for over 12 years and has worked in many roles, including life coaching, personal training, mentoring high school and college athletes, and facilitating senior citizens in leisure and wellness activities. CJ mission is to empower and help people across all ages change their lives for the better through activity and wellness.  

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EVENT 4

Presentation by authors of  ” I will die on this hill”

Wednesday, April 5th  from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm via ZOOM. 

Speakers: Megan Ashburn “Not an autism mom” and Jules Edwards “Autistic, typing” about autism 

Link to the book  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1839971681?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Jules Edwards is an Anishinaabe writer, gardener, accountant, and disability justice advocate. She is a co-author of I Will Die On This Hill, and writes as “Autistic, Typing.” Jules’ background includes a Leadership Education in Neuro-developmental Disabilities (LEND) fellowship, Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) National Training Director Council fellowship, and 2022-23 Wilder Foundation Community Equity Program membership. She works to improve child safety and disability policy.

Meghan Ashburn is an educational consultant, speaker, parent mentor, and co-author of the newly released book, I WIll Die On This Hill. She’s passionate about accessibility, inclusion, and communication rights. Her website, Not An Autism Mom, is loaded with resources to help educators and parents support Autistic children inside and outside the classroom. 

Moderator Prof. Melissa Chabot

 

 

 

 

 

This event will be held at 7:00 p.m. in CS 129 at Annandale campus on Wednesday, July 27th. Please register in advance here. https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/319738
The event is co-sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).
Harnessing graphene’s properties on a silicon platform could augment integrated technologies with a broad range of novel miniaturized functionalities. Prof. Iacopi will review the learnings from the development of the epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide on silicon technology and some of its most promising applications. This platform allows to obtain any complex graphene -coated silicon carbide 3D nanostructures in a site – selective fashion at the wafer -scale and with sufficient adhesion for integration.
 
Professor Iacopi has over 20 years’ industrial and academic research expertise in semiconductor technologies, with over 130 peer-reviewed publications and 10 granted US patents, spanning from interconnects, CMOS devices and packaging. Her research focuses on the translation of basic scientific advances in nanomaterials and novel device concepts into implementable technologies. She leads the Integrated Nanosystems Lab, in the Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney.

Refreshments will be served.

For more information about this and other Lyceum events, please visit: https://blogs.nvcc.edu/lyceum/

Submitted by:
Manori Nadesalingam, AN-Physics, mnadesalingam@nvcc.edu

Recording of the talk: Physics of Music

Access Passcode: 356894&A

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The Lyceum Committee welcomes Dr. Alex. Weiss to discuss “Physics of Music”.  This virtual event will be held on Thursday, April 28 at 1 p.m.(EST). Please register in advance here.

Music is the art of arranging sound in time that shows different characteristics. Dr. Weiss will discuss the similarities and differences between sound and music, properties of sound waves and standing waves in addition to science of musical instruments and psychoacoustics.

Dr. Alexander H. Weiss is currently a distinguished professor of physics and the chair of the physics department at the University of Texas at Arlington. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Brandeis University.  After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Weiss was a post-doctoral researcher at Harvard University where he performed the first x-ray scattering measurements from liquid-gas interfaces.

For more information about this and other Lyceum events, please visit: https://blogs.nvcc.edu/lyceum/

Submitted by:
Manori Nadesalingam, AN-Physics, mnadesalingam@nvcc.edu

APRIL LYCEUM EVENT:  “CLAN IN THE FRONT: HOW WU-TANG TRANSCENDED THE RAP GAME TO BECOME CULTURAL ICONS”

Friday, April 15, 1 p.m., Annandale Campus – CE Forum

The Lyceum Committee welcomes S. H. Fernando to discuss “Clan In The Front: How Wu-Tang Transcended the Rap Game to Become Cultural Icons” 

S. H. Fernando is a man of many titles and much distinction. Music Journalist, Club and Radio Deejay, Music Producer, Film Director, Hip Hop Contributor and Aficionado. A graduate of Harvard University and the Columbia School of Journalism, Skiz Fernando began his career as a journalist on Hip Hop music and culture for The Source magazine.  In addition to writing for The Source, Fernando has written for the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Vibe.  His in-depth research on Hip Hop led him to write and publish the groundbreaking and highly acclaimed book The New Beats: Exploring the Music, Culture and Attitudes of Hip-Hop (1994), which chronicled and preserved Hip Hop culture in an innovative way for readers.

Using his research generated from this book, Fernando started his own music label WordSound recordings in that same year.  In the last 20 years, WordSound released 65 full-length albums and numerous EPs, singles, and remixes, from experimental dub and hip-hop to electronic and Middle Eastern music.  Fernando, as a producer, has created 10 albums under his alter-ego, Spectre.

Fernando has also written, produced, and directed a narrative feature film Crooked (2001).  Two additional feature films he directed include The Greatest Thing You Never Heard (2003), a dubumentary about the WordSound label and Industria Brasileira (Made In Brasil) (2010), a documentary about the new music scene in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

In 2007, Fernando wrote a cookbook about the local cuisine of his homeland Sri Lanka titled Rice & Curry: Sri Lankan Home Cooking (Hippocrene Books, 2011).  This was a New York Times notable cookbook and got Fernando a spot on the popular Travel Channel show, No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain, where Fernando was the host’s on camera guide in Sri Lanka.  Fernando further writes a blog called “Rice & Curry,” devoted to Sri Lankan food.  He produces and hosts his own cooking show on YouTube called Pan Asian, as well as another food/travel show called Off The Eaten Path.

Recently in 2021, Fernando wrote and published From The Streets of Shaolin: The Wu-Tang Saga (Hachette Books), the definitive biography of legendary hip-hop group, Wu-Tang Clan.  This amazing work features “decades of unpublished interviews and unparalleled access to members of the group and their associates” (from book jacket).  His engaging talk will chronicle his research and writing of this groundbreaking text, and his interactions with the Wu members.  Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, March 23, @ 12 noon:

The Lyceum Committee welcomes Dr. Assal Habibi to discuss, “The brain’s crescendo: How music training impacts child development.”

This event is on Zoom, register in advance for this meeting:

https://vccs.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrcOmqqD8oH9TRz8Q9tHOP8VdCh930YTRn

Assal Habibi is an Associate Research Professor of Psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute at University of Southern California. Her research takes a broad perspective on understanding music’s influence on health and development, focusing on how biological dispositions and music learning experiences shape the brain and development of cognitive, emotional, and social abilities across the lifespan.

She is an expert on the use of electrophysiologic and neuroimaging methods to investigate human brain function and has used longitudinal and cross-sectional designs to investigate how music training impacts the development of children from under-resourced communities, and how music generally is processed by the body and the brain.

Her research program has been supported by federal agencies and private foundations including the NIH, NEA and the GRoW @ Annenberg Foundation and her findings have been published in peer reviewed journals including Cerebral Cortex, Music Perception, Neuroimage and PLoS ONE. Currently, she is the lead investigator of a multi-year study, in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and their Youth Orchestra program (YOLA), investigating the effects of early childhood music training on the development of brain function and structure as well as language skills, cognitive, emotional, and social abilities. Dr. Habibi is a classically trained pianist and has many years of musical teaching experience with children, a longstanding personal passion.