Lecture topics ranging from Washington, D. C. to China to Antarctica will be featured this week (Nov. 30-Dec. 6) at the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at Brigham Young University:
Bob King, chief of staff to Congressman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), will present "The New Era of Divided Government: Congress and U.S. Foreign Policy" on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 11 a.m. in 238 Herald R. Clark Building. For the past 23 years, King has been chief of staff to Lantos, and he has also been Democratic staff director of the House International Relations Committee.
Lantos is expected to be named chairman of the International Relations Committee in January, and King is expected to become majority staff director of that committee.
King was a White House Fellow (1977–78) and served on the National Security Council staff of the Carter White House. He received a bachelor's degree in political science from BYU and a doctorate in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
The Honorable Wang Yunxiang is executive vice president of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, established in 1949. He will discuss "Sino–U.S. Relations" at an Asian Studies lecture Monday, Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. in 238 Herald R. Clark Building. Wang was consul general of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco from 1999 to 2003 before accepting his current position.
Due to his long career at home and abroad, Wang has developed an informed perspective on Chinese social and economic issues and the changes that have resulted from China's membership in the World Trade Organization.
"Antarctic Dreams: Still Life on the Ice with Meteorites" will be presented by Jani Radebaugh, a new member of the BYU geology faculty, at a Global Awareness lecture on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at noon in 238 Herald R. Clark Building. Her main areas of research address new and exciting topics on three moons: dunes, mountains and volcanoes on Saturn's moon Titan, volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and odd out gassing phenomena on our own moon.
The Antarctic Search for Meteorites program, run by the National Science Foundation, travels to the deep field of Antarctica each summer to look for pieces of debris from outer space.
"The 2005–06 field season was successful in that we collected nearly 250 meteorites," said Radebaugh. "Other projects at the Miller Range field site included reconnaissance work for future meteorite searches, planting ice movement poles and refining GPS measurements for satellite images and geologic maps."
Radebaugh received bachelor's and master's degrees from BYU and a doctorate in planetary sciences from the University of Arizona.
Most lectures are archived online. For more information on David M. Kennedy Center events, see the calendar online at http://kennedy.byu.edu.
Writer: Lee Simons
