SCS 2025 Conference Program and Schedule 

(Times are subject to change.)

FRIDAY, JUNE 6

All Friday evening events from 6:00pm to 10:00pm are in Fr. O'Connell Hall [Room = Heritage Hall]

6:00 PM – 10:00 PM:  Registration Desk Open  

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM:  DINNER                      

7:30 PM -- 8:00 PM  AFTER-DINNER TALK by Ross Douthat (New York Times columnist and author)

8:00 PM – 10:00 PM:  OPENING RECEPTION & POSTER SESSION I  Poster Session begins at 8:30 PM and ends at 10:00 PM.

SATURDAY, JUNE 7

7:00 AM – 7:45 AM:  Saturday Mass (Optional)  (St. Vincent de Paul Chapel)

All Saturday events from 8:00am to 5:30pm are in the Great Room of the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM:  BREAKFAST                                                                                    

9:00 AM – 9:10 AM:  Welcoming remarks  

9:10 AM:  Lecture: "Free Will, Aquinas, and the Brain"  Anselm Ramelow, O.P.  (Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley)

10:00 AM:   Break

10:20 AM:  Lecture: "Human Computational Neuroimaging Research with the Imago Dei in Mind" Mark E. Pflieger (San Diego State University)

10:50 AM:  Break

11:10 AM:  Guest Lecture: "What the James Webb Space Telescope Has Discovered and What It Means"  Rogier Windhorst (Arizona State University) 

12 Noon – 1:15 PM:  LUNCH  

1:15 PM:  Lecture:  "The Philosophy and Theology of Human Origins"  Kenneth W. Kemp (University of St. Thomas, MN)                         

2:05 PM:  Break

2:25 PM: Lecture:  "The Science of Human Origins"  Daniel Kuebler (Franciscan University of Steubenville)  

3:15 PM:  Break

3:35 PM:  Lecture: "Neanderthal Personhood? Our Hominin 'Cousins' and Human Uniqueness" Chis Baglow (University of Notre Dame)

4:05 PM:  Break

4:25 PM:  Lecture: “The Meeting Place of Spirituality and Science in the Understanding of John Paul II and Benedict XVI” Sr. Malgorzata Pagacz (Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Warsaw) 

4:55 PM:  Lecture: "Scientific Analysis of Eucharistic Miracles" Kelly Kearse, Ph.D. (Knoxville Catholic High School)

All Saturday evening events from 5:30pm to 10:00pm are in Fr. O'Connell Hall [Room = Heritage Hall]

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM:  COCKTAIL HOUR                                                

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM:  CONFERENCE BANQUET                                                        

8:00 PM – 10:00 PM:  SOCIALIZING & POSTER SESSION II   Poster Session begins at 8:30 PM.

SUNDAY, JUNE 8

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM:  CONFERENCE MASS  (St. Vincent De Paul Chapel)

All Sunday events from 9:00am to 2:30pm are in the Great Room of the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM:  BREAKFAST 

10:00 AM:  Lecture:  "Does Mathematics Lead to God?"  Martin Nowak (Harvard University)

10:50 AM:  Lecture:  “The Glory of the Logoi: Intimations of Form and Telos in Contemporary Biology”  Esteban Veliz (UC Davis)   

11:20 AM:  Break 

11:40 AM:  Lecture: "Making Science Human"  Amanda Waelde (University of Notre Dame)

12:10 PM:  Lecture:  “Near Death Experiences: A Comparison of Physiological, Pharmacological and Phenomenological Perspectives”  Mark Saxen (University of Pittsburgh)

12:40 PM - 1:30 PM:  LUNCH 

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM:  2025 SCS Membership Meeting

2:30 PM:   Conference ends