Spring 2026 University Forum Brings Leading Voices in Science, Arts and Mathematics to Southern Miss
Thu, 01/22/2026 - 09:18am | By: David Tisdale
Some of the nation’s leading interdisciplinary researchers, writers and practitioners will serve as guest presenters for The University of Southern Mississippi’s Spring 2026 University Forum. The events, held on the Hattiesburg campus, are scheduled for Feb. 10 at the Mannoni Performing Arts Center and March 24 and April 14 in historic Bennett Auditorium. All programs begin at 6:30 p.m. and are free and open to the public.
Award-winning science writer Carl Zimmer will open the Forum series Feb. 10. Zimmer’s work focuses on evolution, heredity and, most recently, airborne diseases. His latest book, Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe, explores the hidden world of the air we breathe. Zimmer’s textbook Evolution is used at Southern Miss. He is an adjunct professor in Yale University’s Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, where he teaches writing and biology.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Zimmer’s reporting was part of the team coverage that won The New York Times a Pulitzer Prize in 2021. Hailed widely as an engaging storyteller, he has written 15 acclaimed books, including Life’s Edge and She Has Her Mother’s Laugh. In Air-Borne, Zimmer traces the history of aerobiology, from Louis Pasteur’s discovery of airborne germs to the overlooked pioneers who warned about airborne infections long before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The March 24 program will feature Dr. Jill Sonke, director of research initiatives and research professor in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida. An artist, cultural strategist and mixed-methods researcher with more than 30 years of experience in the arts in health field, Sonke is active in research and policy advocacy at the national and international levels.
During the pandemic, Sonke served as a senior adviser to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Confidence and Demand Team on the COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Task Force. She also served as an editorial board member for the public health journal Health Promotion Practice.
A U.S. Cultural Policy Fellow with Stanford University, Sonke holds appointments as a visiting scholar at the National Academy of Medicine and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She is also co-director of the EpiArts Lab, a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab in partnership with University College London, which studies the impact of arts and cultural engagement on health outcomes.
The spring Forum series concludes April 14 with Dr. Steven Strogatz, an applied mathematician at Cornell University whose work focuses on nonlinear dynamics and complex systems. His research often draws inspiration from everyday phenomena such as synchronously flashing fireflies and coordinated applause.
Strogatz is the author of The Joy of X, Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe, Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos and Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order. He is also co-host of Quanta Magazine’s “The Joy of Why” podcast. His work on collective dynamics is considered foundational to interdisciplinary applications of complex networks in fields including epidemiology, business, physics and sociology.
“We’re excited to have such an accomplished lineup of speakers for the spring University Forum series,” said Dr. Mac Alford, director of University Forum. “Each of our presenters has made their mark with innovative research and writing that are some of the best examples of interdisciplinary collaboration, which we’re also doing here at Southern Miss. We look forward to their unique and compelling presentations.”
University Forum is presented by the Southern Miss Honors College, with additional support from the Southern Miss Office of the President. Visit the University Forum website for more information and to learn more about its history at the university.