2026 College for a Day
January 12, 2026
Lectures given by professors from
Bryn Mawr College, Mills College at Northeastern University and Wellesley College
Cost for three lectures and lunch: $60
Registration will close January 8, 2026 at 5pm
8:15 am – Registration and name tag pick-up
8:45 am – Seating opens
9:30 am – Lectures begin
College for a Day
January 12, 2026
8:30 am – Registration and name tag pick-up
8:45 am – Seating opens
9:30 am – Lectures begin
“Transport Properties of 2D Corals and Other Ways Physics Can Help Us Understand Biology”
Professor Asja Radja
Assistant Professor of Physics, Bryn Mawr College
Biology generates robust, flexible, organic networks that provide structure and transfer information in ways that human-made networks do not. Soft corals are tree and mesh networks that distribute food between individuals within a colony. These networks must efficiently route resources while balancing the cost of building new materials and maintaining infrastructure in the face of environmental changes. We systematically compiled an image database of morphologies and measured geometric and topological metrics to find that tree networks are less costly, and mesh networks are more efficient and robust for proportionally little extra cost. This work demonstrates that focusing on biological network systems can bring forth novel information on network optimization and identify how relatively simple growth processes lead to optimized morphologies for survival.
“Human Evolution is Not a Straight Line”
Professor Adam Van Arsdale
Professor of Anthropology, Wellesley College
Human evolution is often depicted as a linear narrative of progress. This is not, in fact, how evolution works, and certainly not how our own evolution has proceeded. This talk will highlight research over the past two decades–drawn from paleoanthropological studies of the fossil record, archaeological discoveries, and genetic analyses–on the many ways human evolution has presented us with surprising twists and turns. Building off of my own fieldwork, as well as the contributions of a multitude of international researchers, I will focus on three case studies that depict extraordinary scientific discoveries and new ways of thinking about our shared evolutionary past – Dmanisi, the earliest fossil human site outside of Africa; Denisova, a cave in Western Siberia that has yielded surprising genetic evidence of our past; and Rising Star Cave in South Africa, which raises questions about what makes us as humans so unique.
“Writing Creatively in the Age of AI”
Professor Stephanie Young
Associate Teaching Professor of English and Creative Writing Program Head
Mills College at Northeastern University
How can we preserve and reimagine writing’s role as a practice of thought and connection when its forms are being redefined? The arrival of generative AI has unsettled one of our most fundamental assumptions: that writing is an exclusively human act. Among educators and in popular media discourse, AI and the humanities are routinely cast as opposing forces. This talk challenges that divide. Drawing on her experience teaching Writing Creatively in the Age of AI—among a vanguard of undergraduate courses in the country to develop AI literacy through creative practice—Professor Young argues that creative writing pedagogy equips students, and all of us, to rethink authorship and collaboration in an age when algorithms compose and edit alongside us. Rather than treating generative AI as a shortcut or a threat, the class invites students to reflect critically on its outputs, examine its influence, and consider together the ethical dilemmas that surround the use of commercial large language models. Far from becoming obsolete, the humanities may offer some of our most vital frameworks for navigating this technological shift.
2026 Speakers
Three Distinguished Professors
Three Dynamic Subjects
Professor Asja Radja
Assistant Professor of Physics, Bryn Mawr College
Asja Radja received her bachelor’s degrees in physics and biochemistry fromthe University of Texas at Dallas in 2012, and her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018. Prior to joining the faculty at Bryn Mawr, Professor Radja served as a Schmidt Science Fellow and then an independent NSF-Simons Quantitative
Biology Fellow at Harvard University from 2020-2022. Asja’s research elucidates the “rules of living patterns” that lead to a variety of shapes and add to our understanding of how life builds itself.
Professor Stephanie Young
Associate Teaching Professor of English and Creative Writing Program Head, Mills College at Northeastern
Professor Adam Van Arsdale
Professor of Anthropology, Wellesley College
Adam Van Arsdale is a professor of anthropology and the longtime chair of the Anthropology Department at Wellesley College. Adam earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Michigan in 2006, with a specialization in paleoanthropology. His early research focused on the Lower Paleolithic site of Dmanisi (Georgia) and has subsequently published research based on fieldwork in Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kenya.
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3501 S. Colorado Blvd.
Cherry Hills Village, CO 80113
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College for a Day 720-443-3110
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