Kelly Lecture Series
About the series
A generous fund from the Hugh and Ethel Kelly Gift allowed the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science and the College of Engineering to establish this distinguished speaker series in 2013. The inaugural lecture, presented by Nobel Laureate Steven Chu, was attended by over one thousand members of the Virginia Tech community.
The series honors the Kellys' love for Virginia Tech by providing an opportunity for students, faculty, and the community to interact with visionary leaders. The lectures are a dynamic forum for new knowledge and a catalyst for future research.
About the Kellys
Hugh Kelly was a double alumnus of Virginia Tech, earning a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1937 and a master's degree a year later. Kelly worked as an engineer at AT&T’s famed Bell Laboratories, where he played important roles in groundbreaking projects including the 1962 launch of the Telstar communications satellite, the first private venture in space; he died in 1989. Ethel Kelly, who died in 2012, generously supported Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering as a way of honoring her husband’s legacy.
Upcoming speakers
Dr. Raven Baxter
November 6, 2024 - 2:00 pm
Haymarket Theatre - Squires Student Center
RSVP here
Past speakers
Venita Aspen
April 9, 2024
Haymarket Theatre - Squires Student Center
Rebecca Skloot
& members of the Lacks family
Best selling author & journalist
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
April 11, 2023
Haymarket Theatre - Squires Student Center
Ed Yong
Science journalist, The Atlantic
Pulitzer Prize winner
October 19, 2022
Moss Arts Center
2:30 PM
John Rogers
Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Surgery
Northwestern University
Three Dimensional Electronic Microfliers Inspired by Wind Dispersed Seeds
May 2, 2022
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Presidential Historian &
Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Leadership in Turbulent Times
March 3, 2020
David Leigh
Magic of Molecular Machines
September 30, 2016
Eric Betzig
Nobel laureate
Imaging Life at High Spatiotemporal Resolution
April 19, 2016
Wayne Clough
Secretary Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution
Climate Change: Engineering reality into the debate
October 2, 2015
Steven Chu
Nobel laureate
Former U.S. Secretary of Energy
How to Create a Bell Labs 2.0 in Today's Realities
October 11, 2013