On Wednesday evening, Oct. 7, at Rice’s Hudspeth Auditorium, students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members gathered for a Rice Interdisciplinary Studies free public lecture titled "Curiosity to Capstone: A Conversation with a Lifelong Learner." The featured speaker was NASA veteran and Rice alumnus John Uri ’22, who shared insights from his 39-year career at NASA, his deep-seated passion for human origins and his transformative journey through Rice’s Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (MIS) program.

Introduced by Rebecca Sharp, Executive Director of Rice Interdisciplinary Studies, the event highlighted how intellectual curiosity transcends career milestones and formal academic boundaries.

"John's journey perfectly embodies the ethos of our Master of Interdisciplinary Studies program," said Sharp. "Our program provides a space where students from different backgrounds and stages of life can take their natural curiosity, explore ideas beyond familiar disciplines and shape their interests into meaningful intellectual inquiry."

A 52-Year Arc of Curiosity

Uri, who was born in Hungary, lived in Switzerland and grew up outside Philadelphia, recalled how his interest in human evolution began in 1970 when he checked out a book from the Los Angeles Public Library as a sixth grader. A photo of a Neanderthal skull sparked a lifelong curiosity that persisted throughout his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where, according to Uri, he “accidentally earned a minor in anthropology” alongside his biology degree.

When Uri moved to Houston in 1987 to pursue his dream of working at NASA, his scientific career took off. Over nearly four decades, Uri served in various mission science roles: conducting space motion sickness research alongside astronauts, managing payload operations aboard the Russian space station Mir, coordinating International Space Station research across global partner agencies, overseeing ground-based radiation research, and overseeing history and knowledge management efforts for NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Yet, despite a distinguished professional record, Uri found himself seeking structured intellectual engagement outside his primary field. After taking continuing studies courses at Rice — where he also met his wife, Susan, 36 years ago — he enrolled in Rice's Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (then Master of Liberal Studies) program.

"He came here because there were still things he wanted to know, questions he wanted to follow, ideas he wanted to explore simply because they fascinated him," Sharp noted. "He didn't come to Rice because he finished one intellectual life and needed to begin another. He simply just wasn't finished learning, and really none of us should be."

Connecting Space, Culture and Neanderthals

During his presentation, Uri reflected on how interdisciplinary thinking connects seemingly disparate subjects. His capstone project, Neanderthals 2.0, examined how evolving discoveries in fossil records and genetics have reshaped modern understanding of Neanderthal cognitive abilities and funerary practices.

"The program makes you go outside your comfort zone," Uri said. "You learn these things because you kind of push yourself a little bit... Every class that I took in some way contributed to my capstone in one way or another."

Uri illustrated this interdisciplinary mindset through stories from his tenure at NASA. He recounted how Rice and NASA have maintained a historical partnership since 1961, when Rice arranged the land donation for the Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center). He also shared anecdotes ranging from the logistics of space station sanitation to how payload specialist Rodolfo Neri Vela introduced tortillas to spaceflight in 1985, solving the persistent microgravity problem of breadcrumbs.

Following the presentation, Uri engaged in a Q&A moderated by Paulina Vieitez, program coordinator for outreach and engagement and current MIS student, covering topics such as space exploration, wildlife on the NASA campus and the personal and professional value of interdisciplinary study.

“One of the things that we've learned at NASA is that you can't just do things in one discipline,” Uri said. “We have to look at everything — everything impacts everything else. It's all interrelated."

The Master of Interdisciplinary Studies at Rice

Rice’s Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (MIS) degree, part of the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, combines a world-class Rice education with the flexibility of a degree plan tailored to meet the varying demands of the program's diverse student body. The MIS is designed for both working professionals and lifelong learners seeking advanced study without being restricted to a single discipline.

To learn more about Rice’s Master of Interdisciplinary Studies degree, visit mis.rice.edu.