A series of lectures on Saturday, May 11, will celebrate the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the contributions of Winston Ko, who is retiring in June after 10 years as dean of the division and 41 years as a faculty member in the Department of Physics.

The speakers reflect some of the highlights of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences: As Ko has put it, from the heavens (cosmology) to the Earth (geology) and embracing new approaches in nanotechnology, statistics, mathematics and energy research.

The day of lectures is open to the public and includes lunch. RSVPs are requested by May 6 to lsevents@ucdavis.edu.

The Ko Capstone Lectures begin at 8.30 a.m. in the Alpha Gamma Rho room at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center, UC Davis campus.

The speakers are:

• Professor Andreas Albrecht, chair of the Department of Physics, on "Cosmic Convergence"
• Professor Dawn Sumner, Department of Geology, on "Curiosity on Mars"
• Dan Romik, associate professor of mathematics, "Percalation, random tilings and other random phenomena inspired by statistical physics"
• Professor Peter Hall, Department of Statistics, "The excitement of statistical science today"
• R. David Britt, professor of chemistry, "Probing chemical pathways to solar fuels using microwaves and magnetic fields"
• Alexandra Navrotsky, Edward Roessler chair in mathematical and physical sciences and interdisciplinary professor of ceramic, earth and environmental materials chemistry, "Nanomaterials, energy and thermodynamics"
• Professor David Stuart, UC Santa Barbara will speak as an alumnus of the Department of Physics. Stuart earned his Ph.D. in physics from UC Davis in 1992 and, along with Ko, is an investigator on the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN, Switzerland.

Ko and his wife, Katy, have committed to a matching donation of $500,000 to the UC Davis Foundation to encourage gifts to establish the Winston Ko Professorship in Science Leadership. Details of the matching challenge are available here.