An out of this world lineup for the URI 2026 Honors Colloquium

Sep 09, 2026 | 5:00 am ET

By Alexander Castro

An out of this world lineup for the URI 2026 Honors Colloquium

A cropped Hubble Space Telescope image of the Messier 4 star cluster. (Photo by NASA, ESA and others )

The University of Rhode Island (URI) is looking to the stars — and beyond — for its annual fall lecture series this year.

For the 2026 edition of the yearly Honors Colloquium, the Kingston campus is inviting a dozen scientists, astronauts and other guests whose expertise covers all things outside Earth’s orbit to give lectures starting Tuesday, Sept. 15, and running through Dec. 8.

The 63rd annual lecture series, titled “Interstellar Exploration: Journey Beyond Your Limits,” begins next Tuesday with an initial outing by former NASA Marshall Space Flight Center chief technologist Les Johnson, who will discuss the feasibility of interstellar travel against the realities of distance, time and what we know about physics. Johnson previously worked in advanced propulsion and power and life-support technologies at NASA.

Mae Jemison, who made history in 1992 as the first Black woman to travel in space, will speak on Sept. 22 about how practical steps might help achieve extraordinary goals.

The remainder of the public lecture series will explore a galaxy of related topics, from the philosophical consequences of the search for new life in the universe to Martian life and the history of the Voyager spacecraft.

Lectures are free, open to the public and will be livestreamed as well, though registration is required to see the lectures in person or virtually.

All but one lecture will be held Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. in Edwards Hall on URI’s Kingston campus.

One lecture will take place on a Monday instead: the Nov. 2 offering on the ethical dimensions of space settlements given by Erika Nesvold, an astrophysics engineer for the physics-based space simulation game “Universe Sandbox.”

“Through this colloquium series, we aim to spark the public’s imagination and investigate the vast opportunities that space exploration presents,” URI Physics Chair Leonard Kahn, whose department is coordinating this year’s programming, said in a statement. “Our speakers will offer insights into humanity’s quest to understand what lies beyond Earth and show how everyday citizens can be part of that effort.”

URI’s intergalactic fall programming includes two additional sci-fi movie screenings beneath the stars, with “Project Hail Mary” on Sept. Monday, 14 and “The Martian” on Sept. 28. Both screenings are at 7 p.m., and the university recommends bringing lawn chairs or blankets to enjoy the screenings.

“Liminality: Before, During, After,” an exhibit of space-themed art, will also run Sept. 21 through Dec. 9 in Lippitt Hall. The group show put on by the school’s art and art history departments promises works in various media which examine “the ambiguous nature of human existence and the spaces we occupy before, during, and after transformation.”

Finally, the school is planning a community read of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2025 novel “Atmosphere,” which is set against the backdrop of NASA’s space shuttle program in the 1980s. The university has not finalized a date yet for this event.

You can register for the lectures and read more about this year’s Honors Colloquium on URI’s website.

Lecture schedule

Lectures require registration for in-person or virtual attendance but are free and open to the public. All lectures take place on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m., excepting Nov. 2’s Monday evening lecture.

Sept. 15: “Realistic Interstellar Travel —The Challenges of Distance, Time, and Known Physics” by Les Johnson, former chief technology officer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, will examine what interstellar travel could look like in the future — and what’s realistically achievable.

Sept. 22: “An Inclusive, Audacious Journey Transforms Life Here on Earth and Beyond” by Mae Jemison — an engineer, physician and former NASA astronaut — will draw on her career to discuss how ambitious ideas can be made actionable. Jemison also leads 100 Year Starship, an initiative looking to make human travel beyond the solar system a reality within the next century.

Sept. 29: Astronautical engineer Robert Zubrin will make the case why we should send humans to Mars within the next 10 years in “Mars Direct: Humans to the Red Planet Within a Decade.”

Oct. 6: “More Than Martians” will see more thoughts on the red planet from planetary scientist Tanya Harrison, who will examine the history and importance of the search for life on Mars, even if humans never find aliens.

Oct. 13: International space lawyer Timiebi Aganaba will ponder what fair and inclusive systems could look like when designed for life on and beyond Earth in “The Final Frontier Is Not Space — It’s Trust.”

Oct. 20: “Directed Energy for Relativistic Propulsion” by UC Santa Barbara physicist Philip Lubin will discuss using directed-energy propulsion to pursue relativistic flight and what this technology might mean for exploration of the solar system.

Oct. 27: Astronomer and director of Cornell University’s Carl Sagan Institute Lisa Kaltenegger’s “Searching for New Earths” will consider the implications of the search for life elsewhere in the cosmos — and what it would mean existentially should life ever be found elsewhere.

Nov. 2: Erika Nesvold, an astrophysics engineer for the physics-based space simulation game “Universe Sandbox,” will consider the ethical challenges of extraterrestrial settlement and what lessons humanity might glean from its terrestrial history in this regard in “History Rhymes: Ethics, Human Rights, and Our Future in Space.”

Nov. 10: “Science at the Stellar Shores: Sampling the Realms Between the Sun and Stars” by Princeton researcher Jamie Rankin will look at humanity’s longest-lasting mission, the Voyager spacecraft, and examine through interstellar exploration through the lens of Voyager’s discoveries and lessons.

Nov. 17: “NASA Scientist: You” by NASA astrophysicist and citizen science officer Marc Kuchner will examine how NASA’s discoveries of exoplanets and samples of interstellar material have been helped by volunteers — and how members of the public can continue participating in NASA science.

Dec. 1: “NASA Space Exploration Technologies for an Oceanography Moonshot” by University of Miami earth sciences professor Ved Chirayath will discuss technologies being developed to explore oceans throughout the solar system.

Dec. 8: “Failure Is Mandatory: How To Achieve the Impossible” by Cosmologist and NASA adviser Paul Sutter will discuss what it takes to reach the stars and the role failure plays in reaching the impossible.