Presidential Distinguished Lecture
The Presidential Distinguished Lecture is a series presented by the Office of the President to encourage community discussions and civic engagement.
The Fall 2024 Presidential Distinguished Lecture will be delivered in the Washington Room in Mather Hall at 4:30 p.m. on October 30 in conjunction with the presentation of the President’s Medal for Science and Innovation and a reception at 5:30 p.m.
Kaja LeWinn ’98
Kaja LeWinn is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity College with a major in behavioral neuroscience and went on to earn a doctoral degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in Social Epidemiology. She was then selected for the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars program. In her work, she integrates perspectives from epidemiology, psychology and neuroscience to identify the modifiable physical and social exposures that matter most for child neurodevelopment and mental health. Driven by a strong conviction that all children should have the opportunity to realize their full potential, much of her work focuses on underrepresented and understudied populations. She is a leader of several regional and national epidemiological studies, including the National Institutes of Health funded ECHO Consortium, which follows over 30,000 U.S. children and their families. She has authored over 130 peer reviewed publications, and her work has been featured in the Atlantic, NPR, Fortune, and other news outlets.
The 2023-2024 Presidential Distinguished Lecture was presented in conjunction with the President’s Medal for Science and Innovation at the Spring Bicentennial Symposium on February 28, 2024.
Freeman A. Hrabowski III
Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president emeritus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), led the institution from 1992 to 2022. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. Hrabowski chaired the National Academies’ committee that produced the 2011 report Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads. He was named in 2012 by President Obama to chair the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. His 2013 TED Talk highlights the “Four Pillars of College Success in Science.” In 2022, Hrabowski was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He also was named the inaugural ACE Centennial Fellow, to be served upon his retirement from UMBC. In addition, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) launched the Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program ($1.5 billion) to help build a scientific workforce that more fully reflects our increasingly diverse country. In October 2022, Hrabowski was named the inaugural Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture speaker by Harvard University. In April 2023, the National Academy of Sciences awarded him the Public Welfare Medal, the academy’s most prestigious award, and inducted him as a member of the academy for his extraordinary use of science for the public good.
