KINGSTON, RI – September 19, 2011 – Prominent futurist, best-selling author, and radio and TV personality, Michio Kaku, will deliver the Lifespan keynote address at the University of Rhode Island’s 15th Annual Diversity Week scheduled for Oct. 3-7. The professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York will present “Towards a Multicultural, Scientific, and Tolerant Future for the Planet” on Monday, Oct. 3 at 7 pm in the Edwards Auditorium, at the University’s Kingston Campus.

Applying the insights of their discipline to guide thinking about the future, physicists like Kaku have contributed breadth and depth to discourse about the Earth as a civilization, about the possible existence of other civilization-bearing “parallel universes” in the cosmos, and about the significance of these potential civilizations and universes to the Earth.

In fact, Kaku asserts that an understanding of physics is crucial in helping the Earth to attain the next stage of development as a civilization that has learned to harness and conserve the energy resources of the planet. The choices facing the Earth are, on the one hand, a monocultural, contentious path to the future, and, on the other hand, a multicultural, scientific, tolerant path.

In his most recent book, Physics of the Future, recently on The New York Times best-seller list, Kaku gathers ideas from more than 300 of the world’s leading scientists about quantum leaps during the 21st century taking place in medicine, computers, artificial intelligence, energy production, nanotechnology, and space travel.

Kaku has written several popular books about physics including Parallel Worlds (2006), Einstein’s Cosmos (2005), Hyperspace (1995), and the Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration of the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (2008). He also has appeared on television (Discovery, BBC, ABC, Science Channel, and CNN), written for popular science publications like Discover, Wired, and New Scientist, and has been featured in documentaries, such as Me & Isaac Newton.

Born in San Jose, CA, to Japanese immigrant parents, Kaku earned a B.S. (summa cum laude) from Harvard University in 1968 and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1972. He currently holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York, where he has taught for over twenty-five years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and at New York University.

More information about Kaku and other Diversity Week events is available at http://www.uri.edu/mcc/DiversityWeek/2011/index.html.

The URI Diversity Week Keynote Address is sponsored by the URI Multicultural Center, Lifespan, Inc., MetLife Auto and Home, the URI Student Entertainment Committee, and the URI Office of Community, Equity and Diversity. For more information, contact Mailee Kue at 874-5829 or maileekue@uri.edu.