Huck Distinguished Lectures

The Huck Distinguished Lecture Series brings world-renowned scientists and thought leaders to Penn State to share groundbreaking research and bold ideas that are shaping the future of the life sciences.

Hosted by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, the series showcases distinguished speakers whose work advances discovery across disciplines — from molecular and cellular biology to ecology, genomics, and translational science. These engaging, public lectures create opportunities for students, faculty, and community members to connect with pioneering research and explore its impact on society.

Free and open to the Penn State community, the Huck Distinguished Lecture Series reflects the University’s commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, scientific excellence, and meaningful dialogue. Each lecture offers insight into innovative research while inspiring the next generation of scientific leaders.

About the Speakers:

Dr. Karen Miga is an Associate Professor in the Biomolecular Engineering Department at UCSC, Director of the UCSC Sequence Technology Center, and an Associate Director of the UCSC Genomics Institute. In 2019, she co-founded the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium, an open, community-based effort to generate the first complete assembly of a human genome. Additionally, Dr. Miga is the PI and Director of the Genome Center for the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium (HPRC). Central to Dr. Miga’s research program is the emphasis on satellite DNA biology and the use of long-read and new genome technologies to construct high-quality genetic and epigenetic maps of human peri/centromeric regions.

Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf is a Professor of Computer Science Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at the Ohio State University, where she is also the Director of the Translational Data Analytics Institute. A pioneer in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for ecology, biodiversity, and conservation, she leads the NSF-funded Imageomics Institute and the US-Canada co-funded AI and Biodiversity Change (ABC) Global Center.

Dr. Berger-Wolf serves as a scientific advisor and board member for many organizations, including the US National Academies Board on Life Sciences, US National Committee for the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI)/OECD, National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), and The Nature Conservancy. She co-founded the AI for conservation non-profit Wild Me (now part of Conservation X Labs), creator of Wildbook, recognized by UNESCO for advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Her contributions have earned numerous honors, including recognition as the AI 100 Global Thought Leaders by H20.ai and the OSU College of Engineering Lumley Interdisciplinary Research Award. She is an elected Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

Dr. Wah Chiu is a Wallenberg-Bienstock Professor and Professor of Bioengineering, Microbiology, and Immunology at Stanford. He is a pioneer in methodology development for cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). His work has made multiple transformational contributions in developing single particle cryo-EM as a tool for the structural determination of molecular machines at atomic resolution. His lab has solved many cryo-EM structures including viruses, chaperonins, membrane proteins, ion channels, antigen-antibody complexes, protein-RNA complexes and RNA in collaboration with many scientists around the world. He continues to establish high standard testing and characterization protocols for cryo-EM instrumentation and to develop new image processing and modeling algorithms for cryo-EM structure determination. His current research focuses on developing cryogenic electron tomography (cryo-ET) to determine near atomic resolution structures of molecular complexes in situ.

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