J. Mark Sowers Distinguished Lecture Series
The College of Science
premiere lecture series
upcoming Lecture
BJ Casey, Ph.D.
The Christina L. Williams Professor of Neuroscience
Chair, Department of Neuroscience and Behavior
Director, Fundamentals of the Adolescent Brain (FAB) Lab
Barnard College | Columbia University
Law and Neuroscience: The Case of the Adolescent Brain
Thursday, February 12, 2026
7:00 PM
Fralin Hall Auditorium
360 West Campus Drive | Blacksburg, VA
All talks are free and open to the public.
Adolescence is a time of tremendous learning and opportunity. Yet, it is also a period of risk with a steep increase and peak in criminal behaviors during this time. This presentation will highlight empirical evidence of: 1) continued changes in brain and behavior over the life course, but especially during the period of adolescence; 2) significant influences of emotionally charged situations on the adolescent brain and behavior; and 3) a decline in violent offenses as individuals age out of adolescence. These findings will be discussed in the context of emerging policies in the treatment of young offenders in the justice system based on developmental science.
Dr. Casey is a professor and chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Behavior at Barnard College of Columbia University and a member of the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School. She was one of the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the developing human brain. Her scientific discoveries have been published in over 250 scientific articles, cited over 84,000 times and highlighted in U.S. Supreme Court opinions on the sentencing of young offenders. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and of the National Academy of Sciences.
Past Lectures
10/27/25
Lessons from the Lab and the Boardroom: A Hokie’s Journey in Science, Engineering and Entrepreneurship
9/26/24
From Water to Air: How Pollution Impacts Air Quality and Health in Coastal Regions
9/19/23
Particles and Accelerators are Tools: What are they good for?
3/1/23
Divisions in Social Networks and Implications for Inequality and Immobility
09/29/22
The World's Smallest Machines
03/22/22
From SyFy and Marvel Comics to Superstring Theory, Evolution, and the CMB
02/08/22
Discovery of Pulsars: A Graduate Student’s Story
03/10/21
Generating High-Intensity, Ultrashort Optical Pulses
10/24/19
The Importance of Global Scientific Engagement
About the series
The J. Mark Sowers Distinguished Lecture Series in the College of Science at Virginia Tech is a forum for the exchange of new and innovative ideas in scientific fields. The series has attracted national and world-renowned scholars, including a laser physicist, a nanoscientist, an astrophysicist (and also Nobel Laureate), an applied mathematician, the director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and a statistician who specializes in machine-learning. Discussions have delved into brain sciences, speech and hearing development, black holes, and more.
Generously supported by Mark and Debi Sowers, this series provides opportunities for the university community and general public to interact with and learn from eminent scholars and industry experts. Sowers is a Richmond, Virginia-based businessman and developer and longtime supporter of the College of Science. He sponsors the series to share with others his fascination with the sciences, in particular, physical science.
All talks are free and open to the public.