Temple Grandin To Speak at Tech Dec. 4 (Free)

Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin, the autistic activist and one of the most respected scientists in the humane livestock handling industry, will speak Dec. 4 at Virginia Tech and her appearance is open to the public and free.

Grandin, subject of a well-reviewed HBO movie starring Claire Danes, has quite a following among those concerned with animal welfare and her biopic intensified a profile that was already high among many.

Though she had severe autism as a child, her gritty ambition led her to a Ph. D. in animal science from the University of Illinois and she has written quite a lot about  designing animal handling facilities. Her equipment houses about half the cattle in the U.S. at any one time and she has become a noted consultant for the food industry. In the world of autism, she is a rock star.

Grandin's free talk for the public will take place 6:45-745 in the

HBO movie poster.

auditorium in Goodwin Hall on the corner of Prices Fork Road and Stanger Street. The title of the talk is, "The World Needs All Kinds of Minds." She will give a talk at 2 p.m. at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute on the principles of livestock behavior for Tech students, faculty and staff.

Grandin has witten several books, including, The Autistic Brain, Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals, Improving Animal welfare: A Practical Approach, and Different Not Less.