Dickinson to Host President of the National Academy of Sciences
Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of the Sciences, will lecture on misinformation in the AI age and will accept the Joseph Priestley Award on April 3, 2025.
Marcia McNutt to discuss misinformation in the age of AI
by Kylie De La Cruz ‘27
Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, will accept Dickinson’s Joseph Priestley Award and deliver the lecture “Misinformation in the Age of AI.” The ceremony and lecture will take place on Thursday, April 3, at 7 p.m. in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 360 W. Louther St. The event is free and open to the public. It will also be livestreamed and available via a link at www.clarkeforum.org.
McNutt will discuss how social media has created a crisis of misinformation and disinformation and has inhibited progress in solving critical issues. This is particularly true for public-health issues, including adolescent nicotine use, opposition to vaccines and climate change. McNutt also will explore both how artificial intelligence has made it easier to create and spread false information and how it can be part of the solution.
As a geophysicist, McNutt specializes in upper-mantle and lithosphere dynamics on geologic time scales. From 2009 to 2013 she was the director of the U.S. Geological Survey. Prior to working at the USGS, McNutt was the president and chief executive officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, where she oversaw the integration of AI in deep-sea exploration. Her notable career in applied ocean science, engineering and natural-disaster response has earned her a membership to the National Academy of Engineering and a fellowship to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other esteemed organizations.
The Joseph Priestley Award is presented by Dickinson in memory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, to a distinguished scientist whose work has contributed to the welfare of humanity. The award, first presented in 1952, recognizes outstanding achievement and contribution to our understanding of science and the world.
This event is supported by the Priestley Fund and is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues. It is co-sponsored by the departments of biology, chemistry, data analytics, geosciences, environmental studies, mathematics & computer science, psychology and physics & astronomy. For additional information please visit clarkeforum.org or email clarkeforum@dickinson.edu.
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Published February 28, 2025