Roots A Grassroots Network of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Speakers

Looking for a local scientist to speak at your school, or a headline speaker for your annual conference?

Sharing information with purpose, many of Discovery Institute’s experts, scientists, and scholars are available for select speaking engagements. 

Requests can be submitted below.

In the Sciences

Scientists

Casey Luskin

Associate Director and Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Casey Luskin is a geologist and an attorney with graduate degrees in science and law, giving him expertise in both the scientific and legal dimensions of the debate over evolution. He earned his PhD in Geology from the University of Johannesburg, and BS and MS degrees in Earth Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied evolution extensively at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. His law degree is from the University of San Diego, where he focused his studies on First Amendment law, education law, and environmental law.
Expertise
intelligent design; human origins (hominid fossils, human genetics, and psychology); evolutionary science; fossil record; geology; law; science education policy and academic freedom
Talks
"Introduction to Intelligent Design and Evolution"
"ID Research and the Positive Case for Design"
"The Design of Humanity: What Do Fossils, Genetics, and Psychology Tell Us about Human Origins?"
"Codes within Codes: How Information in Biology and 'Junk DNA' Point to Design"
"The Fossil Record: A Challenge to Darwinism and Support for Intelligent Design"
"The Good Earth: How Our Planet Shows Evidence of Design"
"A Scientific Critique of Common Ancestry"
"Theistic Evolution: Why Go There?"
"Why Intelligent Design Was Not Over at Dover"
"Intelligent Design, Academic Freedom, Evolution Education, and the Law"
"Introduction to Chemical Evolution: History, Problems, and Intelligent Design"
"Evolution’s Failed Predictions"

Jonathan McLatchie

Resident Biologist and Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Dr. Jonathan McLatchie holds a Bachelor's degree in Forensic Biology from the University of Strathclyde, a Masters (M.Res) degree in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Glasgow, a second Master's degree in Medical and Molecular Bioscience from Newcastle University, and a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from Newcastle University. Previously, Jonathan was an assistant professor of biology at Sattler College in Boston, Massachusetts. Jonathan has been interviewed on podcasts and radio shows including "Unbelievable?" on Premier Christian Radio, and many others. Jonathan has spoken internationally in Europe, North America, South Africa and Asia promoting the evidence of design in nature.
Expertise
molecular biology
Talks
"Hallmarks of Design in Nature"
"The Argument from Irreducible Complexity"
"The Design of DNA Replication and Cell Division"

Brian Miller

Research Coordinator and Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Dr. Brian Miller is Research Coordinator and Senior Fellow for the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute. He holds a B.S. in physics with a minor in engineering from MIT and a Ph.D. in physics from Duke University. He speaks internationally on the topics of intelligent design and the impact of worldviews on society. He also has consulted on organizational development and strategic planning, and he is a technical consultant for Ideashares, a virtual incubator dedicated to bringing innovation to the marketplace.
Expertise
origin of the universe; fine tuning of the laws of nature; design behind our planet; thermodynamics; origin of life and information; the application of engineering to biology
Talks
"Evidence for Design in Cosmology, Physics, and Our Planet"
"How Engineering Principles Are Transforming Biology and Pointing to a Creator"
"Detecting Design in Biology, Including in the Origin of Life"
"Explaining the Evidence for Design to Students"
"Understanding the History of the Design Debate and How the Assumption of Design Is Returning to the Sciences"

Douglas Axe

Maxwell Professor of Molecular Biology at Biola University, Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Douglas Axe is the Maxwell Professor of Molecular Biology at Biola University, the founding Director of Biologic Institute, the founding Editor of BIO-Complexity, and the author of Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed. After completing his PhD at Caltech, he held postdoctoral and research scientist positions at the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge Medical Research Council Centre. His research, which examines the functional and structural constraints on the evolution of proteins and protein systems, has been featured in many scientific journals, including the Journal of Molecular Biology, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, BIO-Complexity, and Nature, and in such books as Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt by Stephen Meyer and Life’s Solution by Simon Conway Morris.
Expertise
limitations of molecular evolution; patterns of design in life; inadequacy of physicalism; how worldview affects science; how God reveals himself through his creation
Talks
"How We Know Humans Were Designed"
"How We Know Humans Aren't Just Physical Things"
"What Faith Is, and Why Science Is Completely Dependent on It"
"How Biology Lost Awe, and How to Get It Back"

Günter Bechly

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Günter Bechly is a German paleo-entomologist who specializes in the fossil history and systematics of insects (esp. dragonflies), the most diverse group of animals. He served as curator for amber and fossil insects in the department of paleontology at the State Museum of Natural History (SMNS) in Stuttgart, Germany. He is also a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. Dr. Bechly earned his Ph.D. in geosciences from Eberhard-Karls-University in Tübingen, Germany.
Expertise
discontinuities in the fossil record (explosions, abrupt appearances); evidence from the fossil record against neo-Darwinism and for design; the “waiting time” problem and the species pair challenge; evidence for and against common descent; the fossil record and human origins; scientific and philosophical arguments against materialism and for theistic idealism; cladistics / phylogenetics; fossil record of insects and insect evolution (paleoentomology); amber and its organic inclusions
Talks
"Has Science Buried God?"
"Scientific and Philosophical Arguments Against Materialism and for Theism"
"The Case from Modern Physics Against Materialism and for a Universal Mind"
"What Is Intelligent Design Theory and Its Evidence?"
"Scientific Arguments Against Neo-Darwinism and for Intelligent Design"
"Discontinuities in the Fossil Record: A Problem for Neo-Darwinian Evolution"
"The Waiting Time Problem and a New Challenge for Neo-Darwinism"
"The Question of Common Descent: Pro and Con Arguments"
"Insect Origins - An Argument for Design"
"Human Origins and the Fossil Record"
"My Personal Journey from Materialism and Atheism to Belief in God and Design in Nature"

Michael J. Behe

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Michael J. Behe is Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978. Behe's current research involves delineation of design and natural selection in protein structures. In his career he has authored over 40 technical papers and three books, Darwin Devolves: The New Science About DNA that Challenges Evolution, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, and The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism, which argue that living system at the molecular level are best explained as being the result of deliberate intelligent design.
Expertise
biochemistry; the facade that is Darwinism; Catholicism and evolution
Talks
"Science Stumbles on Design: The Argument for Design from Biochemistry"
"Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: King David Didn't Know the Half of It"
"How a Consilience of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Points to Purpose for Life"

Raymond Bohlin

Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Raymond Bohlin received his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is currently Vice-President of Vision Outreach for Probe Ministries and a Fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He has lectured on more than two dozen college and university campuses, addressing origins issues as well as other science-related topics such as the environment, genetic engineering, medical ethics, and sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Bohlin's work has been published in the Journal of Thermal Biology, Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation and the Journal of Mammalogy. He is the author of The Natural Limits to Biological Change (Probe Books 1984), which he is currently revising and updating, and edited the book Creation, Evolution and Modern Science (Kregel, 2000).
Expertise
molecular biology; evolutionary biology
Talks
“The Biology of Human Uniqueness”
“Is Intelligent Design Science?”
“The Myth of Junk DNA”
“The Inevitable Ethical Quagmire of Human Genetic Engineering”

Stuart Burgess

Professor of Engineering Design at University of Bristol
Dr Stuart Burgess has held academic posts at Bristol University (UK), Cambridge University (UK), and Liberty University (USA). He has published over 180 scientific publications on the science of design in engineering and biology. In the last two Olympics he was the lead transmission designer for the British Olympic Cycling Team, helping them on both occasions to be ranked in first place for track cycling. For the last two decades his gearboxes have been used successfully on all the large earth-observation satellites of the European Space Agency. He has received many national and international awards for design, including the top mechanical engineer award in the UK out of 120,000 professional mechanical engineers.
Expertise
biomechanics in humans and animals; Olympic bike design; spacecraft engineering
Talks
"Standing Up for Intelligent Design in Academia"
"The Incredible Design of Human Hands and Feet"
"The Incredible Design of Animal Joints"
"The Uniqueness of the Human Body"
"Perfect Planet: How the World Is Designed for Mankind"
"Lessons From Designing the Fastest Track Bike in the World"

Michael Egnor

Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics, State University of New York, Stony Brook
Michael R. Egnor, MD, is a Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics at State University of New York, Stony Brook, has served as the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery, and is an award-winning brain surgeon. He was named one of New York’s best doctors by the New York Magazine in 2005. He received his medical education at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital. His research on hydrocephalus has been published in journals including Journal of Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, and Cerebrospinal Fluid Research. He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hydrocephalus Association in the United States and has lectured extensively throughout the United States and Europe.
Expertise
neuroscience, natural theology (proofs for God's existence); intelligent design science; medical ethics
Talks
"Neuroscience and the Human Soul"
"10 Proofs of God's Existence"
"Intelligent Design Science: Theory and Application"
"A Pro-Life Perspective on Medical Ethics: Abortion, Gender Surgery, Physician-Assisted Suicide, and Euthanasia"

Guillermo Gonzalez

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Guillermo Gonzalez is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He received his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1993 from the University of Washington. He has done post-doctoral work at the University of Texas, Austin and at the University of Washington and has received fellowships, grants and awards from such institutions as NASA, the University of Washington, the Templeton Foundation, Sigma Xi (scientific research society) and the National Science Foundation. In 2024, he co-authored the YA novel The Farm at the Center of the Universe with Jonathan Witt.

Titus Kennedy

Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Dr. Titus Kennedy is a field archaeologist working primarily with sites and materials of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world. He has been involved in archaeological projects at 18 sites spanning 6 countries, including directing and supervising multiple projects from the Bronze Age through the Byzantine period. He earned his doctorate from the University of South Africa in Biblical Archaeology with an emphasis on archaeological demographics. He is a research fellow at the Discovery Institute, an adjunct professor at Biola University, and editor of the Near Eastern Archaeological Society bulletin.
Expertise
archaeology; ancient history; biblical archaeology
Talks
"Archaeology and the Exodus: Myth or History?"
"Archaeology of Joshua and Judges: Conquest and Settlement"
"The Kingdom of David and Solomon in Archaeology"
"Biblical Archaeology in Babylonian and Persian Times"
"Jesus of Nazareth in Archaeology and History"

Robert J. Marks II

Director, Senior Fellow, Walter Bradley Center for Natural & Artificial Intelligence
Robert J. Marks Ph.D. is Senior Fellow and Director of the Bradley Center and is Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University. Marks is a Fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America). He was the former Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and is the current Editor-in-Chief of BIO-Complexity. Marks is author of the books Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will Never Do and The Case For Killer Robots. He is co-author of the books For a Greater Purpose: The Life and Legacy of Walter BradleyNeural Smithing: Supervised Learning in Feedforward Artificial Neural Networks and Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. For more information, see Dr. Marks’s expanded bio.
Expertise
artificial intelligence; relationship between Christian faith and science; science-based apologetics (including intelligent design)
Talks
"Non-Computable You: What You Do Artificial Intelligence Never Will"
"Higher Dimensions, Infinities, Biblical Miracles, and God"
"The Mind-Brain Problem: Are We Computers Made Out of Meat?"
"How Christianity Sparked the Origin of Modern Science in Western Europe"
"How to Live Out Loud as a Christian: Lessons from My Hero Walter Bradley"

Paul Nelson

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Paul A. Nelson is currently a Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture and Adjunct Professor in the Master of Arts Program in Science & Religion at Biola University. He is a philosopher of biology who has been involved in the intelligent design debate internationally for three decades. His grandfather, Byron C. Nelson (1893-1972), a theologian and author, was an influential mid-20th century dissenter from Darwinian evolution. After Paul received his B.A. in philosophy with a minor in evolutionary biology from the University of Pittsburgh, he entered the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. (1998) in the philosophy of biology and evolutionary theory.
Expertise
philosophy of science; apologetics; evolution; intelligent design
Talks
"The Case Against Universal Common Descent"
"New Developments in Biology That Point to Intelligent Design"
"Why Intelligent Design Is Good Science"

Emily Reeves

Research Scientist, Center for Science and Culture
Emily Reeves is a biochemist, metabolic nutritionist, and aspiring systems biologist. Her doctoral studies were completed at Texas A&M University in Biochemistry and Biophysics. Emily is currently an active clinician for metabolic nutrition and nutritional genomics at Nutriplexity. She enjoys identifying and designing nutritional intervention for subtle inborn errors of metabolism. She is also working with fellows of Discovery Institute and the greater scientific community to promote integration of engineering and biology. She spends her weekends adventuring with her husband, brewing kombucha, and running near Puget Sound.
Expertise
biochemistry; metabolism; systems biology; biology and engineering
Talks
"Systems Biology and the Case for Intelligent Design"
"Signatures of Design in Nature’s Energy Pipeline"
"The Amazing Design of How Blood Sugar is Controlled"
"Blood Sugar Regulation: A Case Study in Systems Biology"
"Complex I: An Amazing Molecular Pump"

Jay W. Richards

Senior Fellow at Discovery, Senior Research Fellow at Heritage Foundation
Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., is the Director of the DeVos Center and William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, and Editor-at-Large of The Stream. Richards is author or editor of more than a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Infiltrated (2013) and Indivisible (2012); The Human Advantage; Money, Greed, and God, winner of a 2010 Templeton Enterprise Award; The Hobbit Party with Jonathan Witt; The Privileged Planet with Guillermo Gonzalez, coming out in a second edition in 2024; The Price of Panic: How the Tyranny of Experts Turned a Pandemic Into a Catastrophe with Douglas Axe and William Briggs; and Eat, Fast, Feast. His most recent book, with James Robison, is Fight the Good Fight: How an Alliance of Faith and Reason Can Win the Culture War.
Expertise
artificial intelligence and intelligent design; economics, wealth, and Christian faith; public policy and natural science; climate change and the environment; the social and theological impact of gender ideology; biology of sex differences
Talks
"Gender Ideology: What It Is, What It’s Doing, and How to Defeat It"
"How an Alliance of Faith and Reason Can Win the Culture War"
"Anti-Human Ideologies: Transhumanism, Gender Ideology, and Deep Ecology"
"The Tyranny of Expertise: The COVID Lockdowns, Climate Catastrophism, and Gender Ideology"
"Why Smart Machines Won’t Replace Us (or: Will Robots Replace Us?)"
"Myths of the Market"
"The Christian Case for Free Enterprise"
"How Cultures Eradicate Poverty and Create Wealth"
"Adam Smith and the Complex Moral Structure of Markets"
"Economics, Materialism, and Purpose in the Universe"
"Why Good Intentions Are Not Good Enough"
"Can Catholics Defend Free Enterprise?"
"Eat, Fast, Feast: How to Develop a Fasting Lifestyle"
"J.R.R. Tolkien’s Vision of Freedom and Flourishing"
"Why Libertarians Need God"
"Defending the Free Exercise of Religion"
"The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Universe Is Designed for Discovery"
"God and Evolution: Are They Compatible?"
"Seven Scientific Signs of Purpose in the Universe (or, Seven Reasons to Believe in God)"
"How to Think Clearly About Climate Change"
"Economics and the Good Life: What Does Money Have to Do With Happiness?"
"Two Forms of Courage"
"Why Economic Conservatism Needs Social Conservatism, and Vice Versa"
"Why Economic and Religious Liberty Stand or Fall Together"
"Don’t Follow Your Passion"
"How to Boost Your Spiritual Superpower"

Geoffrey Simmons

Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Geoffrey Simmons is a retired internist in Eugene, Oregon, as well as an author, lecturer, and Fellow of Discovery Institute. He is the author of What Darwin Didn't Know and Billions of Missing Links, as well as other non-fiction books and six novels (including two medical satires). He is a former governor of the American Academy of Disaster Medicine, a past member of Sacred Heart Medical Center's Emergency Preparedness Committee, and a past president of his local medical society. He has lectured widely on disaster preparedness, and has been a medical correspondent for KABC in Los Angeles and KPNW in Eugene.
Expertise
the human body; modern medicine
Talks
"What Darwin Didn't Know About Nature and the Human Body"
"Billions of Missing Links in Nature and the Human Body"
"If One Knows Darwin's Modern Theories Are Wrong and One Doesn't Believe God Did It, Let's Talk About How Extraterrestrials Might Have Done It?"
"Are We Here to Eventually Re-create Ourselves?"

On Culture

Scholars

Raymond Bohlin

Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Raymond Bohlin received his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is currently Vice-President of Vision Outreach for Probe Ministries and a Fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He has lectured on more than two dozen college and university campuses, addressing origins issues as well as other science-related topics such as the environment, genetic engineering, medical ethics, and sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Bohlin's work has been published in the Journal of Thermal Biology, Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation and the Journal of Mammalogy. He is the author of The Natural Limits to Biological Change (Probe Books 1984), which he is currently revising and updating, and edited the book Creation, Evolution and Modern Science (Kregel, 2000).
Expertise
molecular biology; evolutionary biology
Talks
“The Biology of Human Uniqueness”
“Is Intelligent Design Science?”
“The Myth of Junk DNA”
“The Inevitable Ethical Quagmire of Human Genetic Engineering”

David K. DeWolf

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
David K. DeWolf is a Professor of Law at Gonzaga School of Law in Spokane, Washington and a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. A graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School, Professor DeWolf has clerked for the Honorable Stephen Bistline of the Idaho Supreme Court. He has written a briefing book for public school administrators, Teaching the Controversy: Darwinism, Design and the Public School Curriculum.
Expertise
first amendment law; evolution; intelligent design; academic freedom

Stephen Dilley

Senior Fellow and Academic Mentoring Centers Coordinator
Stephen Dilley (PhD, philosophy) is the Academic Mentoring Centers Coordinator and a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture. Prior to joining Discovery, Dr. Dilley was a professor for 14 years at St. Edward’s University (Austin, TX). He is the editor of Darwinian Evolution and Classical Liberalism (Lexington Books) and co-editor of Human Dignity in Bioethics (Routledge). He has published essays in the The British Journal for the History of Science, The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, and elsewhere.
Expertise
philosophy of science; ethics; philosophy of religion
Talks
"What Is the Proper Relationship Between Science and Faith?"
"How to Respond to Theistic Evolution"
"Why Methodological Naturalism Fails"
"How Questionable Theology Is Used in the Case for Evolution"

Michael Newton Keas

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
After earning a Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Oklahoma, Mike Keas won research grants from such organizations as the National Science Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. He experienced some of the last historic moments behind the Berlin Wall as a Fulbright scholar in East Germany. Keas serves as lecturer in the history and philosophy of science at Biola University and on the board of directors of Ratio Christi, an alliance of apologetics clubs on college campuses. He has written numerous articles, including “Systematizing the Theoretical Virtues” in the top-tier philosophy journal Synthese. This essay analyzes twelve traits of reputable theories, and has generated dialogue across many fields. With a quarter-century of experience teaching science and its history to college students, Keas is qualified to lay out the facts to show how far the conventional wisdom about science and religion departs from reality. He has done so in the ISI book Unbelievable: 7 Myths about the History and Future of Science and Religion.
Expertise
history of science; philosophy of science; biblical theology in relation to science; logic and critical thinking in relation to debates about God’s existence
Talks
"The Greatest Myths About Science and Faith"
"How the Judeo-Christian Tradition Helped Give Birth to Modern Science"
"The Extraterrestrial Enlightenment Myth: A Critique of Naturalistic Deity"
"How to Integrate Science With Genesis 1-3: Accurately Interpreting Nature and Scripture"
"The Case Against Scientism—The Belief That Only Science (Not Religion) Is Reasonable"

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He is the author of six books including The Lord Will Gather Me In: My Journey to Jewish Orthodoxy and, with Senator Joseph Lieberman, The Gift of Rest. A former senior editor at National Review, he has contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He received an A.B. magna cum laude from Brown University in 1987. Born in Santa Monica, CA, he lives on Mercer Island, WA.
Expertise
evolution; intelligent design; faith and science; culture; rhetoric; media

Robert J. Marks II

Director, Senior Fellow, Walter Bradley Center for Natural & Artificial Intelligence
Robert J. Marks Ph.D. is Senior Fellow and Director of the Bradley Center and is Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University. Marks is a Fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America). He was the former Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and is the current Editor-in-Chief of BIO-Complexity. Marks is author of the books Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will Never Do and The Case For Killer Robots. He is co-author of the books For a Greater Purpose: The Life and Legacy of Walter BradleyNeural Smithing: Supervised Learning in Feedforward Artificial Neural Networks and Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. For more information, see Dr. Marks’s expanded bio.
Expertise
artificial intelligence; relationship between Christian faith and science; science-based apologetics (including intelligent design)
Talks
"Non-Computable You: What You Do Artificial Intelligence Never Will"
"Higher Dimensions, Infinities, Biblical Miracles, and God"
"The Mind-Brain Problem: Are We Computers Made Out of Meat?"
"How Christianity Sparked the Origin of Modern Science in Western Europe"
"How to Live Out Loud as a Christian: Lessons from My Hero Walter Bradley"

Paul Nelson

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Paul A. Nelson is currently a Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture and Adjunct Professor in the Master of Arts Program in Science & Religion at Biola University. He is a philosopher of biology who has been involved in the intelligent design debate internationally for three decades. His grandfather, Byron C. Nelson (1893-1972), a theologian and author, was an influential mid-20th century dissenter from Darwinian evolution. After Paul received his B.A. in philosophy with a minor in evolutionary biology from the University of Pittsburgh, he entered the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. (1998) in the philosophy of biology and evolutionary theory.
Expertise
philosophy of science; apologetics; evolution; intelligent design
Talks
"The Case Against Universal Common Descent"
"New Developments in Biology That Point to Intelligent Design"
"Why Intelligent Design Is Good Science"

Nancy Pearcey

Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Nancy Pearcey is the author of Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality. Her earlier books include The Soul of Science, Saving Leonardo, Finding Truth, and two ECPA Gold Medallion Award Winners: How Now Shall We Live (coauthored with Harold Fickett and Chuck Colson) and Total Truth. Her books have been translated into 18 languages. She is professor and scholar in residence at Houston Christian University. A former agnostic, Pearcey has spoken at universities such as Princeton, Stanford, USC, and Dartmouth. She has been quoted in The New Yorker and Newsweek, highlighted as one of the five top women apologists by Christianity Today, and hailed in The Economist as "America's pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual."
Talks
"The Proper Relationship Between Faith and Reason"
"The Harmful Social, Political, and Cultural Consequences of Darwinism and Materialism"
"How Christian Beliefs Helped Establish Modern Science"

Jay W. Richards

Senior Fellow at Discovery, Senior Research Fellow at Heritage Foundation
Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., is the Director of the DeVos Center and William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, and Editor-at-Large of The Stream. Richards is author or editor of more than a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Infiltrated (2013) and Indivisible (2012); The Human Advantage; Money, Greed, and God, winner of a 2010 Templeton Enterprise Award; The Hobbit Party with Jonathan Witt; The Privileged Planet with Guillermo Gonzalez, coming out in a second edition in 2024; The Price of Panic: How the Tyranny of Experts Turned a Pandemic Into a Catastrophe with Douglas Axe and William Briggs; and Eat, Fast, Feast. His most recent book, with James Robison, is Fight the Good Fight: How an Alliance of Faith and Reason Can Win the Culture War.
Expertise
artificial intelligence and intelligent design; economics, wealth, and Christian faith; public policy and natural science; climate change and the environment; the social and theological impact of gender ideology; biology of sex differences
Talks
"Gender Ideology: What It Is, What It’s Doing, and How to Defeat It"
"How an Alliance of Faith and Reason Can Win the Culture War"
"Anti-Human Ideologies: Transhumanism, Gender Ideology, and Deep Ecology"
"The Tyranny of Expertise: The COVID Lockdowns, Climate Catastrophism, and Gender Ideology"
"Why Smart Machines Won’t Replace Us (or: Will Robots Replace Us?)"
"Myths of the Market"
"The Christian Case for Free Enterprise"
"How Cultures Eradicate Poverty and Create Wealth"
"Adam Smith and the Complex Moral Structure of Markets"
"Economics, Materialism, and Purpose in the Universe"
"Why Good Intentions Are Not Good Enough"
"Can Catholics Defend Free Enterprise?"
"Eat, Fast, Feast: How to Develop a Fasting Lifestyle"
"J.R.R. Tolkien’s Vision of Freedom and Flourishing"
"Why Libertarians Need God"
"Defending the Free Exercise of Religion"
"The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Universe Is Designed for Discovery"
"God and Evolution: Are They Compatible?"
"Seven Scientific Signs of Purpose in the Universe (or, Seven Reasons to Believe in God)"
"How to Think Clearly About Climate Change"
"Economics and the Good Life: What Does Money Have to Do With Happiness?"
"Two Forms of Courage"
"Why Economic Conservatism Needs Social Conservatism, and Vice Versa"
"Why Economic and Religious Liberty Stand or Fall Together"
"Don’t Follow Your Passion"
"How to Boost Your Spiritual Superpower"

Wesley J. Smith

Chair and Senior Fellow, Center on Human Exceptionalism
Wesley J. Smith is Chair and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. Wesley is a contributor to National Review and is the author of 14 books, in recent years focusing on human dignity, liberty, and equality. Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and has been honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia. Wesley’s most recent book is Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers to patients of the modern bioethics movement.
Expertise
bioethics; euthanasia/assisted suicide; distinction between animal welfare and animal rights; radical environmentalism and “nature rights”
Talks
"The Danger of 'Undignified Bioethics'"
"Euthanasia Destroys the Morality of Society"
"Animal Welfare Yes, Animal Rights, No"
"The Importance of Medical Conscience"
"Only Human Beings Should Have Rights"
"Human Exceptionalism Is the Necessary Predicate to Universal Human Rights."

Melissa Cain Travis

Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Melissa Cain Travis earned a PhD in Humanities with a philosophy concentration from Faulkner University, an MA in Science and Religion from Biola University, and a BS in Biology from Campbell University. She is the author of Thinking God’s Thoughts: Johannes Kepler and the Miracle of Cosmic Comprehensibility (2022), Science and the Mind of the Maker: What the Conversation Between Faith and Science Reveals About God (2018), and a contributor to The Story of the Cosmos: How the Heavens Declare the Glory of God (2019). In addition to teaching graduate courses for Colorado Christian University's Lee Strobel Center, she serves on the Executive Council of the Evangelical Philosophical Society and as President of the Society for Women of Letters. She is part of the core writers team for The Worldview Bulletin and the Christian Research Journal, and regularly lectures at universities, seminaries, and churches around the country.
Expertise
intelligibility of the universe; intersection of science and Christianity (philosophy, history, and theology); science fiction film and literature in cultural apologetics; philosophy of mind; incoherence of scientific materialism; biological and cosmic design arguments
Talks
“Kepler’s Liturgy, Einstein’s Miracle: Theistic Implications of Cosmic Comprehensibility”
“Tapping into the Transcendent: How Human Reason Undercuts Naturalism”
“Cosmic Graveyards and Noble Lies: The Madness of Scientific Materialism”
“Crushing the Copernican Cliché: A World Just Right for Life and Discovery”
“Universe by Design: Cosmic Fine Tuning and the Existence of God”
“Mere Creation: Intelligent Design as a Unifying Perspective on the Origin and Nature of Life”

Richard Weikart

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Richard Weikart is Emeritus Professor of History, California State University, Stanislaus, and author of seven books, including From Darwin to Hitler, Hitler’s Ethic, The Death of Humanity, and Hitler’s Religion. His most recent book is Darwinian Racism: How Darwinism Influenced Hitler, Nazism, and White Nationalism (2022). His PhD dissertation, Socialist Darwinism, earned the biennial prize of the Forum for History of Human Sciences as best dissertation in that field. He has lectured at many universities and other venues in the US and Europe. He also has been interviewed on dozens of radio shows, podcasts, and TV, and appeared in seven documentaries, including Expelled. Some of his lectures and interviews are available on YouTube.
Expertise
modern European intellectual history; history of social Darwinism and evolutionary ethics; history of Nazism
Talks
"Are You the Image of God or a Cosmic Accident?: How the Value of Human Life Points to God"
"Darwinian Racism: How Darwinism Influenced Hitler, Nazism, and White Nationalism"
"Does Darwinism Devalue Human Life?"
"Hitler’s Religion"
"The Dehumanizing Impact of Modern Thought: Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche"

John G. West

Senior Fellow, Managing Director, and Vice President of Discovery Institute
Dr. John G. West is Vice President of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute and Managing Director of the Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. Formerly the Chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at Seattle Pacific University, West is an award-winning author and documentary filmmaker who has written or edited 12 books, including Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science, The Magician’s Twin: C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society, and Walt Disney and Live Action: The Disney Studio’s Live-Action Features of the 1950s and 60s. His documentary films include Fire-Maker, Revolutionary, The War on Humans, and (most recently) Human Zoos. West holds a PhD in Government from Claremont Graduate University, and he has been interviewed by media outlets such as CNN, Fox News, Reuters, Time magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post.
Expertise
the impact of Darwinian theory on culture (racism, medicine, free speech, religion, morality, sex, and more); the rise of authoritarianism in the name of science; the debate over intelligent design, past and present; the life and works of C.S. Lewis; public school science education policy
Talks
“Scientocracy: The Growing Threat of Authoritarianism in the Name of Science”
“Darwin, Racism, and the Devaluation of Human Life”
“Darwin’s Three Big Ideas That Impacted Society”
“God and Evolution: Are They Compatible?”
“Intelligent Design: Why It Matters to Science and Society”
“The Debate Over Intelligent Design in the Early Church”
“Seven Myths About the Debate Over Evolution”
“The Magician’s Twin: C.S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society”
“C.S. Lewis and Evolution”
“C.S. Lewis and Intelligent Design”
“Junk Science in the Bedroom: How Alfred Kinsey Degraded Human Sexuality in the Name of Science”

Jonathan Witt

Executive Editor, Discovery Institute Press and Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Jonathan Witt, PhD, is Executive Editor of Discovery Institute Press and a Senior Fellow with the Center for Science and Culture. His co-authored books include Intelligent Design Uncensored (IVP), A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature (IVP), and The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot (Ignatius Press). Witt is also the lead writer and associate producer for Poverty, Inc., winner of the $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award and recipient of over 50 international film festival honors. His latest book is a YA novel co-authored with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, The Farm at the Center of the Universe.
Expertise
the interrelationship between science and culture, with an emphasis on the destructive impact of Darwinism and the positive cultural impact of intelligent design and Judeo-Christian theism; the relationship between Darwinism on the one hand and Romanticism, naturalism, modernism, and postmodernism on the other hand; how the arts and sciences jointly point to a designing genius behind nature; J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth novels as a defense of Christianity, political freedom, and limited government
Talks
“A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature"
“Darwinism and Intelligent Design in Literature and Film"
"The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot"

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