BRIT Lecture Series

 

The BRIT Lecture Series is designed to create community wide conversation about a diverse range of important and rapidly developing topics. This series gives scientists and speakers a forum for sharing the most current information about their areas of expertise and allows the public to interact with leading members of the local, national and international scientific community.
 
Our Lecture Series is made up of Brown Bag Lunchtime Lectures and BRIT Research Seminars. Brown Bags take place the first Tuesday of each month, February – July and September – November, from noon - 1pm in the BRIT Commons. Research Seminars take place periodically throughout the year and are scheduled based on the availability of our in-house and visiting researchers.
 
All events are free and open to the public, please watch this page and our Facebook page for announcements of upcoming Brown Bags and BRIT Researcher Seminars. 
 
Click here to view past events of the 2017 Lecture Series.
 

2017 BRIT Brown Bags 

May 16
Research Month - Meet the Researchers!

 

We're excited for a very special presentation from the BRIT researchers. They'll give a series of five-minute "lightning talks" about how they got started in science and what their current job entails. There will be time for questions and answers after, and our special exhibit will be open to view: "BRIT Collections: The Hidden Gardens of BRIT."

Presenters will include: Keri Barfield, Bob O'Kennon, Haley Rylander, Joe Lippert, Dr. Brooke Best, Dan Caudle, Jason Best, and Barney Lipscomb.

 

June 6
Rob Denkhaus, FWNC&R - The State of the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge
This program will explore the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge (FWNC&R) and its journey through the three states that matter; a solid past, a fluid (liquid) present, and an ethereal (gaseous) future.  Now in its 53rd year of existence, the FWNC&R has a long and colorful history featuring the best of north central Texas natural history and Fort Worth cultural support.  The FWNC&R’s present consists of building upon the solid foundation built over the past half century to provide the amenities necessary to entice modern Fort Worth residents to battle nature deficit disorder while continuing to protect and preserve the natural resource.  The direction of the FWNC&R’s future is contingent upon the support of the region’s conservation and philanthropic communities.  Working in concert, we will continue the tradition of maintaining the FWNC&R as the preeminent natural area and environmental education institution in the region. 

 

 

June 20
Visiting Researcher Seminar
Denis Benjamin - ​Western Australia: Some Observations on its Natural History

 

Dr. Benjamin, Resident Research Associate at BRIT, recently returned from a month-long visit to Western Australia. In his lecture, he will illustrate  some of the unique natural history of region, one of the world's signature biodiversity hotspots. Almost 75 % of the 12,000 vascular plants are endemic, occurring nowhere else on Earth. The major focus will be on the eucalypts, Banksias, and grass-trees - as well as the inevitable examples of unusual fungi and even some fauna.

July 11
Reggie Robinson and the Green Revolution Agents of Change, BRIT

 

September 5
Alejandra Vasco, BRIT

 

October 3
Barney Lipscomb, BRIT - THE STORY OF BRIT: A Botanical Experiment in Herbaria & Library Collections 

The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) is 30 years old but has been reinventing itself for 74 years (1944–2017). BRIT is an amazing story of how dedicated botanists acquired and developed botanical collections for teaching and research and how these collections moved from obscurity to the public spotlight. Yet, few people are aware of the botanical treasures and priceless gems that lie behind a nearly windowless Archive Block of precast concrete panels. The two-story 20,000-square-foot climate controlled storage hall is home to the “hidden” gardens of BRIT, the herbarium, an international research collection of over 1 million dried plant specimens, and clandestine library, a worldwide collection of botanical and horticultural literature, with about 100,000 volumes of books, journals, collections of original artworks, manuscripts, photographs, and other archival materials, dating back to the 16th century. BRIT’s hidden garden collections and research projects are used in our education and conservation efforts.

 

November 7
Taylor Quedensley, BRIT - The Amazing World of Lichens

Lichen-forming fungi play a major role in the biodiversity of most terrestrial ecosystems on every continent. These symbiotic entities represent a wide ecological breadth and phylogenetic evidence supports several lichenization events that have occurred over evolutionary time. The natural history and current trends within this diverse group will be discussed. 

 

 

Brown Bag and Seminar Series Archive