For centuries, physicists have tried to understand the universe through a reductionist paradigm, by breaking things down into smaller and smaller pieces, in an attempt to reconstruct their large-scale behavior through deterministic laws. Given the immense success of this endeavor, it is not surprising that we even began to apply the idea to ourselves. However, viewing humanity through the lens of reductionism and determinism has the unsatisfying implication that we are nothing more than a collection of atoms controlled by our DNA. Is there a way out of this dilemma?

Quantum indeterminism began to challenge the deterministic view a few decades ago. More recently, new discoveries in condensed matter physics have begun to challenge the paradigm of reductionism in favor of emergence. I will address the inadequacy of quantum indeterminism to relieve the dilemma, and also explain what emergence is, how we know it is real, and discuss some of the implications of the emergence paradigm both for scientific progress and also for the larger question of whether human behavior can ever be captured by the laws of nature.

Erica W. Carlson, PhD, is Professor of Physics at Purdue University. She holds a BS in Physics from the California Institute of Technology (1994), as well as a PhD in Physics from UCLA (2000). A theoretical physicist, Erica researches electronic phase transitions in quantum materials. In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for theoretical insights into the critical role of electron nematicity, disorder, and noise in novel phases of strongly correlated electron systems and predicting unique characteristics."

Erica has been on the faculty at Purdue University since 2003, where she was recently named a "150th Anniversary Professor" in recognition of teaching excellence. Her latest work popularizing science can be found on The Great Courses and YouTube.

We live in a society fractured by questions of race and justice. From whatever angle we approach these questions, the conversations are difficult and divisive. What help can science offer us?

I am a scientist living in St. Louis, Missouri, a dark-skinned Indian in a segregated city, and in the shadow of events in Ferguson, we have been working through these questions anew. In 2017, the conflicts spilled on to the streets, just hundreds of yards from my home. What I saw that night broke me. Here, on Delmar Boulevard, the scientist meets his end. What good is all our scientific progress when … this?

Science is not enough to engage the hard questions of race and justice. This matter of reality extends far beyond science. At a loss, I was driven to ask many more questions. What are the factures? What caused them and how might they be undone? What are the concerns of the Black church? Why are they and their concerns absent from our conversations on faith and science?

These matters of reality are beyond science, but science still offers us some help. And, by offering this help, I am finding a pressing need for scientists in the church. The questions of race and justice bring us to a minefield, but the need outweighs the risks. There is reason for hopefulness. We can find a better way.

S. Joshua Swamidass, MD, PhD, is a physician, scientist, and professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He leads a research group using artificial intelligence to engage scientific questions at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and medicine. In addition, he is currently the scientist-in-residence at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Josh Swamidass is also the founder of Peaceful Science, a speaker with the Veritas Forum, and author of The Genealogical Adam and Eve.

Math is more than just a way to describe the world, and it is more than just a set of skills, like doing arithmetic or factoring a quadratic. Math is a deeply human enterprise that fulfills basic human longings, such as for beauty and truth, and when properly engaged, it builds virtues such as persistence, creativity, and a competence to solve problems you have never seen before. These virtues serve us well no matter what we do in life.

The deep connection between mathematics and human desires shows why people in every culture around the globe do mathematics, not just to build things and conduct commerce, but also for enjoyment and exploration. Broadening the purposes of math in this way--toward human flourishing--allows more opportunities to excite a larger number of students. An incarcerated man--now my friend--has helped me see this more clearly than ever before.

Francis Su is the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and a past president of the Mathematical Association of America. His research is in topological and geometric combinatorics and applications to game theory, voting theory, and the mathematics of fair decisions. He earned his PhD in Mathematics from Harvard University, and he has held visiting appointments at Cornell University and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. In 2013, he received the Haimo Award, a nationwide teaching prize for college math faculty, and in 2018 he won the Halmos-Ford writing award. His work has been featured in Quanta Magazine, Wired, and The New York Times. His book Mathematics for Human Flourishing, winner of the 2021 Euler Book Prize, is an inclusive vision of what math is, who it's for, and why anyone should learn it.

A healthy environment is a necessary ingredient for everyone and everything in God's creation to flourish. Today, we face some of the greatest threats in human history to a healthy environment--from climate change and pollution to biodiversity loss.

Part of being human--made in the imago Dei--is that God has tasked us with an awesome assignment: to take good care of everything he lovingly made (Gen. 1:26). This means we have a responsibility as Christians to act on the environmental challenges we face today: not only for the sake of creation, but just as importantly, for the sake of each other, future generations, and ourselves.

In this presentation, I will discuss how environmental problems threaten our ability to thrive as humans, how our ancestors responded to past changes in climate, and how that can serve as a guide for us to take action today.

Jessica Moerman is a climate and environmental scientist, pastor, educator, and advocate. She serves as Vice President of Science and Policy at the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN). Jessica is also co-founding pastor at Grace Capital City church, which she planted in 2016 with her husband Chris in Washington, DC.

Prior to joining EEN, Jessica was a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy. She received her PhD in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has held research positions at John Hopkins University, University of Michigan, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where she researched how climate has changed throughout Earth’s history.

Jessica regularly speaks on issues related to climate change, pollution, children's health, the clean energy transition, environmental stewardship, and the intersection of science and faith. She has appeared on national media outlets, including the NBC TODAY Show, Good Morning America, and the Christian Broadcasting Network.

Harry Lee (Hal) Poe serves as Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Prior to accepting the Colson Chair, he served as vice president at Union and held earlier teaching and administrative posts at Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and on two occasions at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned both the MDiv and the PhD degrees at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

For his work on the intersection of science and faith, Hal has received numerous awards, grants, and recognitions. With Jimmy H. Davis, professor of chemistry at Union University, he has written several books, including God and the Cosmos: How God Relates to the Physical World (InterVarsity, 2012). Hal and Jimmy won the Templeton Foundation Science and Religion Course Award in 1998. Hal has also written a number of books that deal with the intersection of faith and culture, including Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to his Tell-Tale Stories (Barnes & Noble, 2008). For his theological treatment of Edgar Allan Poe, Hal was named an honorary member of the Poe Studies Association. In addition, Hal has published over 200 articles and reviews, and he has written or contributed to over thirty books.

In 2007, Hal was named a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation and served on the ASA Executive Council from 2011–2015. Hal is married to Mary Anne who serves as associate dean of the School of Social Work at Union University. They have two daughters: Rebecca who is married to Joshua Hays, and Mary Ellen.