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 campus, top experts and major figures to focus on a topic of great concern to society.
The first De Lange Conference, "Human Impact on the Environment," was held in 1991. In 1994, the second conference, "Biotechnology: Science, Engineering and Ethical Challenges for the 21st Century," was presented. The third De Lange Conference, "Sustainable Development: Managing the Transition," took place in 1997, and was teamed with The Woodlands Conference. In 2001, the fourth De Lange Conference, "Neurobiology of Perception and Communication: From Synapse to Society," was presented in association with the Baylor College of Medicine. The fifth De Lange Conference, "Frontiers of Medicine: Society, Pharmacology, and Membrane Biology in the Genomic Era," was presented in 2005, by way of collaboration with The Gulf Coast Consortia. In 2007, the sixth De Lange Conference, "Emerging Libraries," was presented via the Fondren Library and the Computer and Information Technology Institute (CITI). The seventh De Lange Conference, "Transforming the Metropolis: Creating Sustainable and Humane Cities," organized and hosted by Rice University's, Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life; Center for the Study of Environment and Society; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Department of Architecture and Rice Design Alliance; Department of Sociology; and the University of Houston's College of Architecture, will be held March 2-4, 2009, on the Rice University campus.
The De Lange Conference book series is available for the first three conferences, and the fourth conference book will be published in 2008.
