Curious about lasers, biodiversity, animal-inspired engineering, or fighting cancer with the body’s own immune system? The Ronald E. Hatcher Science On Saturday Lecture Series has the answers. Free talks take place on select Saturdays in January, February, and March, from 9:30 to 11 a.m.
This annual lecture series geared toward high school students is hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), now celebrating its 75th anniversary.
The series starts on Saturday, January 10, with a presentation by Rachael Winfree, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers University. In “Native Pollinator Species and Eastern Forests: A Biodiversity Frontier” she shifts attention from the non-native but often discussed European honey bee to the roughly 600 species of bee native to the northeastern United States. Her research has found that, unusually for bees, these species are found in forested areas and tend to feed on the pollen from trees and shrubs specific to those forests.
The series continues as follows:
Saturday, January 17: “Nature in Motion: What Animals Can Teach Us About Moving Through the World” offers examples of mechanical structures that have been influenced by the movement strategies used by animals to adapt and thrive in their environments. But it’s not just biology that influences engineering: the talk also addresses engineering experiments that have helped explain the mechanisms behind certain animals’ movements. Presenter Aimy Wissa is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University and the co-director of Princeton Robotics.
Saturday, January 24: Frances Kraus, an X-ray spectroscopist and plasma physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, discusses “The World’s Most Intense Lasers, Past and Future.” She covers how lasers have reached their current state and the ongoing research into future applications of this powerful, concentrated light source.
Saturday, January 31: Laura Berzak Hopkins, the associate laboratory director for strategy and partnerships and deputy chief research officer for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, explores PPPL’s past and future in “Pioneering plasma: Building on the 75 year history of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.”
Saturday, February 7: Kristin Dana, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University, presents “Training Robots: Deep Learning for Embodied Artificial Intelligence.”
Saturday, February 14: “Biodiversity, Paint Rollers and DNA: Welcome to the Revolution” is presented by Julie Lockwood, professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University.
Saturday, February 28: Metabolism powers our immune cells, and our diet powers our metabolism. In “How Diet and Obesity Shape Our Immune System’s Ability to Kill Cancer,” Lydia Lynch, an immunologist who is a is a professor at Princeton University and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, discusses how various diets and weight loss drugs like Ozempic affect our immune system’s response to cancer and the possibility of enhancing immunotherapy through diet and lifestyle.
Saturday, March 7: Tania Lombrozo, a professor of psychology at Princeton University, speaks on research that applies the tools of cognitive science to the human drive to explain, with some tips for how to be a better producer and consumer of explanations, in “Why We Ask Why: The Science of Explanation and the Human Drive to Understand.”
Science on Saturdays, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, 100 Stellarator Road, Plainsboro. Select Saturdays, January 10 through March 7, 9:30 to 11 a.m. For coffee and doughnuts before the lecture, visitors should get to PPPL by 8:30 a.m. All adult visitors must present a REAL ID license or a passport to be checked at the security booth. Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Lecture recordings are posted one week after the live event. www.pppl.gov/events/science-saturday.
A presentation by Rachael Winfree of Rutgers University kicks off the 2026 Science on Saturdays lecture series on January 10 at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.,
