This podcast consists of a talk given during our monthly online Vesper service in October 2025. full service, including a lively discussion about the topic, "Science in the Time of Trump" is available to you on YouTube. Our speaker this time is Dr. Suzanne Willis.

She is a professor emerita at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, where Dr. Willis taught physics until her retirement in 2012. Having been interested in science her entire life, Dr. Willis received her bachelor's degree in physics Mount Holyoke College. She then went on to Yale University to complete both her master's and doctoral degrees, again in physics, and in 1988, she joined the faculty at Northern Illinois University.

Dr. Willis remained there until her retirement in 2012, also serving for a time as President of the Faculty Senate and Executive Secretary of the University Council. Her main research focus was experimental, high-energy physics. Since retiring, she has expanded her interests to physics education and public science literacy.

As you are no doubt aware, the current Trump administration is clearly opposed to both science and scientific research. In this talk, Dr. Willis explains the long-term ramifications of this opposition to scientific research currently in progress. She also predicts how academic academic research will fare in the future. With that said, I hope you enjoy this very informative presentation.

What you are hearing on this podcast is an extract of a much longer program, including Q & A. You can find it on YouTube at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ko4RgJ09E&t=819s

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker Barbara Jean Walsh

Hello. My name is Barbara Jean Walsh, and I am a Board Member of UUMUAC, the Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council. (For more information about UUMUAC, please visit our website at UUMUAC.org.)

Each month, it is our pleasure to offer an online vespers service featuring noted speakers who typically share their unique perspectives on liberal religion. This sermon has been extracted from one of those services. I hope it will inspire you to check out UUMUAC more closely.

Our speaker for this podcast episode is Dr. Matthew Shear, who has, in his own words, come from “Practice to Pulpit.” In this program, he is offering us his vision for a Church of the Free Spirit. That explains the “pulpit” part of his journey, but you may be surprised to learn that the “practice” part refers to his optometry practice including his post-grad work at the Baltimore Academy for Behavioral Optometry.

Dr. Shear is deeply interested in how our behavior is affected by misperception of ourselves, and the whole world. He is an engaging speaker with a gift for breaking down complex topics into wonderfully understandable segments. And, as you’ll find out, he is very good at creating acronyms to help us all remember the many segments that together comprise the Church of the Free Spirit.

Please click on FULL TRANSCRIPT to read more.