The 2024 SCS CONFERENCE  (SCS2024)

THEME:

The conference theme is “Critical Issues at the Interface of Science and Faith.”  This encompasses a wide range of topics. 

VENUE AND TIMES:   

The conference will be held on June 7-9, 2024, at the conference center of Mundelein Seminary (also called University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary), renowned for its scenic beauty, and a popular location for retreats and conferences. See this MAP OF THE MUNDELEIN CAMPUS.  Attendees will stay in the Conference Center Lodging (Building E on map); meals and receptions will be in the Dining Hall (Building B); and lectures will be in the Conference Center (Building D).

On Friday evening, June 7, there will be an informal buffet dinner at 6:30 PM, followed by the Opening Reception starting at 8:00 PM.  The lectures are given on Saturday morning and afternoon and on Sunday morning. In early Sunday afternoon there will be the annual “member meeting” of SCS.

INVITED & CONTRIBUTED TALKS:

This year there will be five invited talks and eight contributed talks.  Invited talks are 40 minutes plus 10 minutes Q&A. Contributed talks are 25 minutes plus 5 minutes Q&A.

All five invited speakers have confirmed (exact titles of their talks to be announced):  Prof. Martin Nowak (Harvard Univ.) will give a talk entitled “Does Evolution Lead to God?”.   Prof. David Chiang (Univ. of Notre Dame) will speak about recent developments in Artificial Intelligence.  Prof. Walter Scheirer (Univ. of Notre Dame) will speak about the state of “strong AI”.  Dr. Berta Moritz (Central European Society for Anticancer Drug Research) will speak about Catholic women scientists of the past.  Prof. Alexander Pruss (Baylor Univ.) will speak on why the human mind is not a machine.

The complete set of thirteen speakers and talks can be found in the conference program and schedule:

CONFERENCE PROGRAM & SCHEDULE:

Here is the SCHEDULE of the conference with all speakers and talks included..  It is subject to minor changes.

POSTER SESSIONS & SUBMITTING ABSTRACTS FOR POSTERS:

There will be two Poster Sessions at the conference.

We encourage SCS members and associates to submit abstracts for posters. The deadline is May 21. Poster presentations can be on any subject.  There will be a section for more technical posters on the presenter’s own research, and sections for posters on the conference theme or other topics of broader interest.  Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and should be sent as a Word document to smpbarr@gmail.com    A list of the posters that have already been accepted is HERE, and their abstracts HERE.

TRAVEL AND LODGING:

Mundelein Seminary is about a 40-minute drive from O’Hare International Airport (the closest airport).  From O’Hare one can take a taxi, Uber, or Lyft. A good taxi service is American Taxi 847-255-9600. Presumably most attendees will want to stay at the conference venue during the conference (i.e. for the nights of June 7 and 8), as that is included for those who register for the conference.  Those who need to come a day early or stay a day late due to flight schedules can easily secure a room at an airport hotel near O’Hare for the extra nights. (There are also some hotels in the vicinity of the conference venue.)

The best place to PARK at the conference or to be dropped off by taxi or Uber is the “purple parking lot” on the Mundelein campus. See the MAP OF THE MUNDELEIN CAMPUS.  (It is best to enter into google maps or GPS “St. Mary’s on the Lake, Mundelein, IL” as that will take you directly to the purple parking lot.)

We will be setting up mechanisms for carpooling from the airport to the conference and back.

REGISTRATION FEE & REGISTRATION FORM:

Registration opened on Feb 1, and a link to the registration page will be sent to all SCS members, associates and others eligible to attend on February 1 and periodically thereafter.   (If you receive the link, do not share it with anyone else, as otherwise people not eligible to attend may register, which will create myriad problems for the organizers).  The undiscounted registration fee is $290. For students (grad or undergrad) it will be half of that amount, and for members of religious orders the fee will be waived altogether (though registration is still required).  The registration fee will cover all one’s meals at the conference as well as rooms at the conference venue for the two nights of the conference. If you decide not to stay in the dorm, the registration fee would be $100 less, i.e. $190 for Regular Members and Associates, $45 for students.

LIVE STREAMING of TALKS:  At present, the plan is to live stream the talks.  At some point before the conference the live stream links will be posted on this page.  Anyone will be able to watch the talks by going to those links, without any registration or fee.

More information will be posted here as it becomes available.  If you have questions, email smpbarr@gmail.com