Humanity 2050: The Future of Our World, Our Universe, and Ourselves

Name: Humanity 2050: The Future of Our World, Our Universe, and Ourselves
Start: 2025-11-11T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-11-11T20:30:00-05:00
Location: Waldron Campus Center at Gannon University

Schedule

Tue Nov 11 2025 at 07:00 pm to 08:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Waldron Campus Center at Gannon University | Erie, PA

What if someone could predict the future? With advancements in science, it looks like more people might be able to. As we are a quarter of the way through the 21st century, Charles Liu, Ph.D., is looking to the halfway point, 2050. We already have limited space tourism, artificial intelligence, and self-driving cars, but what more about the universe might change?
Liu draws on his scientific background to talk about the feasibility of conversations emerging over the future. He has been known to express optimism but temper expectations about the space industry, medicine, and AI. He predicted to Neil deGrasse Tyson that in 25 years there will be a professional sport played in outer space. He'll discuss those ideas and how humans will evolve, too. Liu is a Taiwanese-born American astronomer, educator, author, and science communicator. He serves as professor and chairman of physics and astronomy at the College of Staten Island and the CUNY Graduate Center and is an associate at the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History. His research focuses on galaxy evolution, including collisions, starburst systems, and active galactic nuclei, and he has contributed to major surveys such as COSMOS and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's MaNGA project.
Dr. Liu has written accessible books on astronomy and physics and frequently appears in media and podcasts. He continues to engage in national science initiatives, including work with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and is focused on mentoring the next generation of scientists.