Tuesday evenings at 5:30 pm
Edwards Hall and online
The 2026 Honors Colloquium, “Interstellar Exploration: Journey Beyond Your Limits,” invites scholars, experts, and the broader community into a bold, thought-provoking conversation that bridges cutting-edge science and the boundless imagination of science fiction. From black holes and distant exoplanets to the origins of the universe and the gravitational waves still rippling through it, the cosmos teems with mysteries that inspire awe and demand answers. Step beyond the safe and familiar horizon of our pale blue dot to explore what awaits when humanity is no longer content to simply look up, but ready to venture out.
Coordinators: Len Kahn, Doug Gobeille, Rob Coyne
Speakers
Realistic Interstellar Travel – The challenges of distance, time, and known physics - Les Johnson
September 15, 2026- To be Announced - To be Announced
September 22, 2026 
Mars Direct: Humans to the Red Planet within a Decade - Robert Zubrin
September 29, 2026
More Than Martians - Tanya Harrison
October 6, 2026
The Final Frontier is Not Space—It’s Trust - Timiebi Aganaba
October 13, 2026
Directed Energy for Relativistic Propulsion - Philip Lubin
October 20, 2026- To Be Announced - To be Announced
October 27, 2026 
History Rhymes: Ethics, Human Rights, and Our Future in Space - Erika Nesvold
November 3, 2026
Science at the Stellar Shores: Sampling the Realms Between the Sun and Stars - Jamie Rankin
November 10, 2026
NASA Scientist: You - Marc Kuchner
November 17, 2026
NASA Space Exploration Technologies for an Oceanography Moonshot - Ved Chirayath
December 1, 2026
Failure is Mandatory: How to Achieve the Impossible - Paul Sutter
December 8, 2026
Special Events
Coming soon!
Learn more about the URI Honors Program.