Dreaming at the Edge of Space-Time: IDEAS Keynote by Dr. Prescod-Weinstein

On Thursday February 26th, 2026, the IDEAS Fellowship will host the award-winning physicist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein as the IDEAS Week keynote speaker. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein will give a talk over dinner, followed by a story circle in which all attendees will be encouraged to participate.

Keynote Speaker Bio

Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work bridges particle physics, cosmology, astrophysics, and Black feminist science studies. Primarily a theorist, she also engages with observational astronomy and in 2022 launched the Cite Black Women+ in Physics and Astronomy Bibliography. She is the author of The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred (2022) and the forthcoming The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie (April 7, 2026), described as “a fresh, charming, socially conscious tour of the mysteries of space-time.” Beyond her scholarship, Prescod-Weinstein co-led the June 10, 2020 Strike for Black Lives and received the inaugural National Academies Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication. You can learn more about her and her work on her website.

IDEAS Week

IDEAS Week is an annual series of public events dedicated to promoting the liberal arts and interdisciplinary education. Each iteration is organized around a theme and the subject of our keynote speaker's lecture. This year's theme, "The Matter of Imagination," explores imagination, its role in our society, and its ways of shaping and reshaping higher education. In addition to the keynote address, we will host Cosmic Conversations, a faculty discussion on the subject of imagination to be held in the Emory Planetarium (2/23), and Holding Space (2/24), an open-mic-style event during which Emory students can present their research, or share poetry, performance, and music related to the IDEAS Week theme.
If you have questions about IDEAS Week or wish to attend our events, please contact Dr. Rose Deighton-Mohammed ([email protected]).

This event is presented by the Institute for the Liberal Arts, with support from our generous cosponsors:

The Hightower Fund

The Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry

The Department of Physics

The Department of Comparative Literature

The Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The Department of Philosophy

The Program in Science and Society

The Program in American Studies

The Tam Institute for Jewish Studies

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