These conferences are held every other year and have the flexibility to range broadly in subject matter and discipline. All are intended to bring to the Rice University campus top experts and major figures to focus on a topic of great concern to society.
1991 — De Lange Conference I: “Human Impact on the Environment”
1994 — De Lange Conference II: “Biotechnology: Science, Engineering and Ethical Challenges for the 21st Century”
1997 — De Lange Conference III: “Sustainable Development: Managing the Transition” (This conference was jointly sponsored by the Energy and Environmental Systems Institute at Rice University and the Center for Global Studies at the Houston Advanced Research Center.)
2001 — De Lange Conference IV: “Neurobiology of Perception and Communication: From Synapse to Society” (This conference was presented in association with the Baylor College of Medicine.)
2005 — De Lange Conference V: “Frontiers of Medicine: Society, Pharmacology and Membrane Biology in the Genomic Era” (This conference was presented in collaboration with the Gulf Coast Consortia.)
2007 — De Lange Conference VI: “Emerging Libraries” (This conference was presented in collaboration with Fondren Library and the Computer and Information Technology Institute.)
2009 — De Lange Conference VII: “Transforming the Metropolis: Creating Sustainable and Humane Cities” (This conference was organized and hosted by Rice University’s Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life, the Center for the Study of Environment and Society, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the School of Architecture and Rice Design Alliance, the Department of Sociology and the University of Houston’s College of Architecture.)
2012 — De Lange Conference VIII: “The Future of the Research University in a Global Age” (This conference was presented in collaboration with Scientia, an institute for the history of science and culture; George R. Brown School of Engineering; and Rice 360° Institute for Global Health Technologies.)
2014 — De Lange Conference IX: “Teaching in the University of Tomorrow” (This conference was presented in collaboration with Scientia, an institute for the history of science and culture, and the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rice University.)
2016 — De Lange Conference X: “Humans, Machines and the Future of Work” (This conference was presented in collaboration with Scientia, an institute for the history of science and culture, and the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology at Rice University.)
2018 — De Lange Conference XI: “Bioelectronics: Our Bioelectronic Future: Smaller, Smarter, Connected”
2022 — De Lange Conference XII: “Technology, Culture, and Society Lecture”