The Department of Comparative Literature will host a speech by Penn State's Allan Stoekl, a professor of French, at 12:30 p.m. today. The speech, "The Logic(s) of Expenditure: Bataille in the Context of Michael Marmot and Robert Frank," is a part of the Compararative Literature Luncheon series.

Penn State's Michael Robbins will speak at 12:10 p.m. today in 108 Wartik Laboratory. Surinder Chopra of the Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology will host the speech, titled "Tissue-Specific Patterning Specified by a Multicopy Pericarp-Color-1 Allele in Maize."

Penn State's Louise Comas will speak at 1 p.m. today in 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building. The Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology will host the event, titled "Diversity of Fine-Root Traits Among Coexisting Temperate Woody Species and Implications for Interactions with Mycorrhizal Fungi."

The Department of Plant Pathology will host a seminar at 3:30 p.m. today in 112 Buckhout Laboratory. Cosima Wiese of Misericordia College will speak about "The Art and Science of Teaching at Undergraduate Institutions."

Michal Misiurewicz of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will speak at 3:35 p.m. today in 106 McAllister Building. The Department of Mathematics will host the speech, titled "On the Tip of the Tongue."

Jimmy Botella of the University of Queensland (Australia) will speak at 4 p.m. today in 317 Mueller Laboratory. Sally Assmann of the Intercollege Program in Plant Biology will host the event, titled "From Disease Resistance to Hormonal Response: How Can a Single G-Protein Control It All?"

Penn State's Michael Teng will speak at 4 p.m. today in 101 Althouse Laboratory. Richard Frisque of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will host the speech, titled "The Multiple Functions of the Respiratory-Syncytial-Virus Nonstructural Proteins in Viral Pathogenesis."

Penn State's Sheila G. West will speak at 4 p.m. today in S-209 Henderson Building. The Graduate Program in Nutrition will host the speech, titled "Why Does a Psychologist Need an Ultrasound? Effects of Nutrients on Vascular Reactivity to Stress."