Dr. Benjamin T. Chu Distinguished Lecture

Dr. Francis Collins is 2026's Chu Distinguished Lecturer

Friday, April 17, 2026

Lecture: "The Laboratory and the Cathedral: Both Can Be Places of Worship"

St. Norbert College proudly welcomes 2026 Chu Lecture Speaker, Dr. Francis Collins. Dr. Collins is an internationally renowned physician-scientist who led the Human Genome Project and served under three presidents as the Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) from 1993-2008. A former atheist, Dr. Collins became a Christian during his medical training, and went on to author books on faith and science, including The Road to Wisdom and The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

Registration & details of the day's events are below

St. Norbert College thanks Chu Distinguished Lecture Platinum Sponsors

Maggie & Dr. John Raymond on behalf of the Medical College of Wisconsin

Learn more about the Medical College of Wisconsin at https://www.mcw.edu/

Join us Friday, April 17, 2026

Events are free but registration is required.

Attend some or all of the below April 17th Chu Lecture events by registering HERE.

Friday, April 17 | 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Student Research Forum

See all the exciting student research going on at SNC and the Medical College of Wisconsin at the 2026 Chu Lecture Research Forum. Student researchers will be stationed by their posters to talk about their impactful research. Stop by for refreshments and enjoy a casual walk-through at your own pace.

Mulva Library, 1st floor

Friday, April 17 | 7:00pm - 8:15pm

Dr. Collins' Lecture

"The Laboratory and the Cathedral: Both Can Be Places of Worship"

This is your opportunity to hear Dr. Collins’ riveting lecture! Many people today assume that science and faith are somehow in conflict. Dr. Francis Collins begs to differ. He believes science can be seen as a form of worship, with the laboratory and the cathedral not all that different. Read more below.

Walter Theatre, inside the Abbot Pennings Hall of Fine Arts

Friday, April 17 | 8:15pm - 9:00pm

Post-Reception

Following the lecture, enjoy complimentary refreshments and snacks plus a chance to meet Dr. Collins. He will be available for photographs and book signing. Bring your own book or purchase one at the event.

Michels Ballroom, 2nd floor of Michels Commons

Join us Friday, April 17, 2026

Events are free but registration is required.

Attend some or all of the April 17th Chu Lecture events by registering HERE.

More on Dr. Collins' Lecture...

"The Laboratory and the Cathedral: Both Can Be Places of Worship"

Many people today assume that science and faith are somehow in conflict. As a former atheist who became a Christian during medical training, and then went on to lead the Human Genome Project and serve as the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins begs to differ. He sees God as the author of all creation. Science provides an opportunity to explore that creation, and through scientific discoveries to get a glimpse of God's mind. Collins finds Francis Bacon's words from centuries ago still apt: God gave us two books: the book of God's words (the Bible) and the book of God's works (nature). The two books can't be in conflict, since God is the author of both. Viewed in that way, science can be seen as a form of worship, and the laboratory and the cathedral are not all that different.

More About Dr. Collins...

St. Norbert College is extremely proud to welcome our 2026 Chu Lecture Speaker, Dr. Francis Collins. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As the longest serving director of NIH — spanning 12 years and three presidencies — he oversaw the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, from basic to clinical research.

Dr. Collins' research laboratory has discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, a familial endocrine cancer syndrome, and most recently, genes for type 2 diabetes, and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare condition that causes premature aging.

For more on Dr. Collins, visit his website.

Dr. Benjamin Chu

Learn more about the man behind the Distinguished Chu Lecture by reading his Giving Story.

Learn More

View the 2025 Chu Lecture

"Evolution, Science, and Faith: Grandeur in an Evolutionary View of Life"

by Kenneth R. Miller, Brown University

Learn More

View the 2024 Chu Lecture

"When Science Goes Wrong - and Why We Love It!"

by Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ, Vatican Observatory

Learn More Hot

Dr. Benjamin T. Chu Distinguished Lecture

In honor of Dr. Peter J.W. Debye

The Dr. Benjamin T. Chu Distinguished Lecture celebrates the meeting of faith and reason at Catholic institutions, as well as the major contribution that Norbertines have made through history to the sciences.

The purpose of the Chu Distinguished Lecture is to invite a featured lecturer, a scholar – oftentimes someone who serves as a physical scientist – who not only has reached a level of genuine distinction in their field but who also has demonstrated that faith plays a significant role in their work and/or personal life.

Dr. Benjamin Chu is a 1955 graduate and past trustee of St. Norbert College. One of the college’s earliest Asian students, he was born in China in 1932 and was steered to SNC by Irish Jesuits who ran a high school in Hong Kong. He would go on to a distinguished career as a chemist, researcher and entrepreneur at SUNY-Stony Brook.

While pursuing his graduate and postdoctoral work at Cornell University, Chu studied under the acclaimed physicist and physical chemist Dr. Peter J.W. Debye, winner of the 1936 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Debye would prove to be a major and lasting influence on countless students, including Ben.

Interested in giving to St. Norbert College? Visit https://snc.edu/giving.