Dr. Benjamin T. Chu Distinguished Lecture
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April 27, 2027
Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., Ph.D., S.Th.D., University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
7:00 p.m. Ft. Howard Theater, F. K. Bemis International Center, St. Norbert College
Fr. Austriaco is a molecular biologist and moral theologian. He currently serves as Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Sacred Theology at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in the Philippines, and Director of ThomisticEvolution.org.
More on Fr. Austriaco
Fr. Austriaco completed his Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, then earned his Ph.D. in Biology from M.I.T. After his doctoral studies, he did his fellowship at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University College of London.
Fr. Austriaco was ordained a Dominican priest in 2004. He earned his Pontifical Bachelor of Theology (S.T.B.) and then his License in Sacred Theology (S.Th.L.) in Moral Theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, and a Pontifical Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, in 2015. He completed his M.B.A. at Providence College in 2020. From 2005 to 2022, Fr. Austriaco served on the faculty of Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, in the United States.
His laboratory at the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines is developing a yeast delivery platform for both a COVID-19 vaccine and an ASFV vaccine for the Philippines. Prior to the pandemic, his research team interrogated the genetics of programmed cell death using the yeasts, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans, as model organisms.
Fr. Austriaco has published numerous research papers in high-impact journals in science, philosophy and theology. His first book, Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics, was published by the Catholic University of America Press in 2011. It was recognized as a 2012 Choice outstanding academic title by the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Fr. Austriaco is also a fellow of OCTA Research, an independent team of data analysts that provide expert data analysis, forecasts, and recommendations for pandemic management for the national and local government officials in the Philippines. Most recently, he was appointed to the Private Sector Advisory Council, an advisory council to the President of the Philippines, where he is a member of the subcommittee on healthcare.
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St. Norbert College proudly welcomed Dr. Francis Collins as our 2026 Benjamin T. Chu Lecture speaker
The Laboratory and the Cathedral: Both Can Be Places of Worship
What an incredible evening exploring the intersection of faith and science with renowned physician-scientist Dr. Francis Collins.
Dr. Collins shared his deeply personal journey of faith, sparked by a pivotal interaction with a patient, and reflected on how Christianity has shaped his life and vocation. With humility and wonder, he spoke about seeing God’s handiwork throughout his scientific work—something he simply cannot “unsee.”
With more than 500 people registered for Friday’s event, the energy in the room was unmistakable. It was a gathering of curious minds and open hearts, eager to learn how both the laboratory and the cathedral can be sacred spaces of worship. Dr. Collins even surprised the audience with a special gift of song to close the evening!
A beautiful night, gathered for an even greater purpose.
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.
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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.
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Learn more about the man behind the Distinguished Chu Lecture by reading his Giving Story.
"Evolution, Science, and Faith: Grandeur in an Evolutionary View of Life"
by Kenneth R. Miller, Brown University
"When Science Goes Wrong - and Why We Love It!"
by Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ, Vatican Observatory
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