Feature Stories Campus Events All Stories

Rachel Herz, Expert on Psychology of Smell, to Give Keynote Speech for SSA

Rachel S. Herz, a world-renowned expert on the psychology of smell, will give the keynote speech for Washington and Lee University’s Science, Society and the Arts on March 13 in Evans Dining Hall. The title of Herz’ lecture is “The Scent of Desire.”

The luncheon begins at 12:30, with remarks at 1:00 p.m.

Watch live online >

Registration is required to attend the lunch and Herz’ talk, and space is limited. The SSA, plus the luncheon, are open to the W&L community only. About 30 places remain. To register, please visit the SSA website or go to http://ssa.wlu.edu/lunch.asp.

Herz is the author and co-author of both textbooks and popular science books, blogs and numerous research publications and is a consultant to the world’s largest aromachemical companies. She also is an adjunct professor at Brown University and teaches part-time at Boston College.

Herz has conducted research on the sense of smell, emotion, perception, motivated behavior and cognition since 1990.

Herz is the author of “The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell,” which was selected as a finalist for the 2009 AAAS Prize for Excellence in Science Books, and “That’s Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion,” which received numerous accolades.

She earned a B.A. in psychology from Queen’s University and her M.A. and Ph.D. , both in psychology, from the University of Toronto.

W&L’s Science, Society and the Arts is a multi-disciplinary conference involving Washington and Lee undergraduates and law students in the presentation of their academic achievements before an audience of their peers and the faculty. Conference participants share their work via oral presentations, traditional academic-conference-style panels, poster sessions, artistic shows or creative performances.