A chemistry professor will discuss spectroscopy at an upcoming Kaler Science Lecture at Parkland College’s William M. Staerkel Planetarium next month.
On Friday, October 2 at 7 p.m., University of Illinois professor Christy Landes will present "AI-Enabled Spectroscopic Imaging for Energy and Precision Health."
Scientists are awash in information at an unprecedented level of detail about increasingly complex chemical materials. However, they still collect, store, analyze, and present this data according to 20th-century norms. Existing experimental and computational tools are insufficient to understand and control the immense wealth of chemical information about dynamic chemical heterogeneity in complex materials.
The physical chemistry community can generate discoveries across a broad swath of chemistry with new tools for multimodal imaging, smart acquisition, data-driven exploration, and physical modeling. Professor Landes will discuss recent efforts by her group and others that show the promise for using physics-informed AI to make new discoveries spanning energy and human health applications.
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Professor Landes earned her bachelor’s degree from George Mason University in 1998 and completed a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2003. After postdoctoral appointments at the University of Oregon and at the University of Texas at Austin, she served as a professor at the University of Houston and Rice University. Since 2023, she has served as the Jerry A. Walker Endowed Chair in chemistry at UIUC.
Professor Landes served as chair of the Physical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society in 2023. She was a senior editor of the "Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters" until 2025, and is currently a senior editor for "Accounts of Chemical Research." She is a fellow of the Kavli Foundation, the American Chemical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her awards include the ACS Early-Career Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry, the Langmuir Lectureship, and the Kinosita Award in Single-Molecule Biophysics from the Biophysical Society.
The lecture is part of the James B. Kaler Science Lecture Series, named for UIUC astronomer Jim Kaler, who spoke at the series for almost three decades. Kaler Science Lectures are filmed by Parkland College TV. After the talk, the planetarium will show "Violent Universe" at 8 p.m.
Tickets for Kaler Science Lectures cost $2 for everyone. Admission to most planetarium shows is $8 for adults or $7 for children, Parkland students, or seniors. Tickets may be purchased in advance.
For a show schedule or information about booking the dome, call 217/351-2568 or visit the planetarium’s webpage.
