Ira Flatow, award-winning science correspondent, television journalist and host of Public Radio International’s Science Friday show, is the College of Engineering’s 2018 Distinguished Speaker. 

He will present his talk “Catalysts of Creativity: the inspirations for new ideas” on Thursday, Nov. 8 at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Milt Glick Ballroom on the 4th Floor of the Joe Crowley Student Union. The event, the seventh annual College of Engineering Distinguished Lecture, is free and open to the public. It begins at 5 p.m. with a poster session featuring student engineering projects, and the lecture and Q&A session runs from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Flatow will talk about what sparks creativity and inspires new ideas. From the telephone to the computer mouse, from Hedy Lamarr to Radar O'Reilly, one doesn't have to be an Einstein or a Steve Jobs to be creative, Flatow said. Searching through inventions and patents of the last hundred years, he digs out some of the more unusual, interesting and humorous sparks of imagination for his lectures. 

Reservations to attend the College of Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series can be made at www.unr.edu/engineering-lecture. 

On Science Friday, Flatow brings radio and Internet listeners world wide a lively, informative discussion on science, technology, health, space and the environment. Ira is also founder and president of Science Friday Initiative, dedicated to creating radio, TV and Internet projects that make science "user friendly." 

On television, Flatow has discussed the latest cutting-edge science stories on a variety of programs. He also hosted the four-part PBS series Big Ideas produced by WNET in New York. His numerous TV credits include six years as host and writer for the Emmy-award-winning Newton's Apple on PBS, science reporter for CBS This Morning, and cable's CNBC. He wrote, produced and hosted Transistorized!, an hour-long documentary about the history of the transistor, which aired on PBS. He has talked science on many TV talk shows including Merv Griffin, Today, Charlie Rose and Oprah. He has co-starred twice on the CBS hit series The Big Bang Theory.