A trombone ensemble from the Frost School of Music will perform as part of the global International Trombone Week this Friday, April 8, at 1:25 p.m. in Gusman Concert Hall on the Coral Gables campus. The concert, which is free, will include performances by the trombone choir, two trombone soloists, and a brass quintet. International Trombone Week, which runs through April 10, is an effort by the International Trombone Association to expose millions of people to the sound of the trombone. During the weeklong celebration, the global trombone community, reaching across political borders and language barriers, will present hundreds of trombone-oriented concerts and recitals. For more information, email Tim Conner at [email protected]. For a complete listing of events related to International Trombone Week, click here.

Michael F. Goodchild, professor of geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and director of UCSB’s Center for Spatial Studies, will present “The Changing Face of GIS” on Friday, April 8 at 1 p.m. at the School of Communication, CIB 2055. Geospatial technologies continue to evolve rapidly, creating new possibilities and forcing us to radically reassess existing practices. The first part of the presentation focuses on community mapping, a form of citizen science that is especially relevant in time-critical situations, including emergencies.

The Department of Philosophy presents Laurie Shrage, professor of philosophy and director of the Women’s Studies Center at Florida International University, who will present “Reinventing the Sexual Contract: Sex, Marriage, and Autonomy” on Friday, April 8 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Room 214 of the Memorial Building. Shrage is the author of Abortion and Social Responsibility: Depolarizing the Debate (2003) and Moral Dilemmas of Feminism: Adultery, Prostitution, and Abortion (1994). In 2011-2012 she will be a visiting fellow at the Center for Human Values at Princeton, where she will be drafting a book Reinventing the Sexual Contract: Sex, Marriage, and Autonomy, which explores social and legal alternatives to marriage and the implications for human freedom and dignity. For more information, visit www.miami.edu/phi or call 305 284-4757.

Michael Caterina, professor of biological chemistry at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will present “TRPV Ion Channels: V is for Versatile” on Friday, April 8 from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium. For more information, call 305-243-7108.

The Department of Neurology Research Update will be held on Friday, April 8 at 2 p.m. at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Retter Auditorium. The update will feature a presentation of selected abstracts at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, which will be held from April 9 to 16 at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu.