The Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speakers Series is back for a second year, with programs intended to spark engaging conversations around pressing issues in food and agriculture, biochemistry, medicine and neuroscience.

The series, free and open to the public, includes three speakers: Jan. 12, April 20 and May 24.

Organizers with the UC Davis Humanities Institute said each speaker has been asked to share his vision for university-based research in the 21st century.

The organizers said each program includes the speaker’s presentation, followed by a panel discussion with faculty and policy experts — to advance Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi’s goal of raising local and national awareness of UC Davis research.

Each program is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

"We hope you will mark your calendars to join us for the Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speakers Series, and take part in this dynamic exchange about research, UC Davis, and the future," said Carolyn de la Peña, professor of American studies and director of the UC Davis Humanities Institute.

Here are details on the speakers:

• Jan. 12 — Roger N. Beachy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Beachy has held academic positions at Washington University in St. Louis and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. He is the founding president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.

• April 20 — Emilio Bizzi, president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A neuroscientist, he is an institute professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an investigator with MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research.

• May 24 — Bruce Alberts, president-elect of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and editor-in-chief of Science. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UC San Francisco.