David Fitzpatrick, chief executive officer and scientific director of the Max Planck Florida Institute in Jupiter, Florida, will present “Building Cortical Circuits with Experience: Insights from Visual Cortex” on Friday, April 20 from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium.

Casey Dunn, assistant professor of biology at Brown University, will present “Will There Be 10 Million Model Organisms?” on Friday, April 20 from 12:20 to 1:20 p.m. in the Cox Science Center, Room 166. Dunn’s current research projects include the phylogenetic relationships of the major clades of animals, the use of genome and transcriptome data to build phylogenies, and the evolution of morphology, development, and gene function in Siphonophora (Cnidaria). For more information about this event, please contact William Browne at [email protected].

William Whelan, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Miller School of Medicine, will present “Glycogen Revisited” on Friday, April 20 at 12 p.m. in the Gautier Building, Room 118. For more information, please contact Sylka M. Pérez at 305-243-6265 or [email protected].

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens April 11 at UM's Ring Theatre.

The Jerry Herman Ring Theatre presents A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, one of the funniest farces ever written. Taking comedy back to its roots, this light, fast-paced, irreverent romp combines situations from Roman comedies with the slapstick energy of classic vaudeville. The result is a nonstop laugh-fest in which a crafty slave, seeking to earn his freedom, struggles to win the hand of a beautiful courtesan for his young master. With so much advance demand for this Broadway classic, a third week of shows has been added.

Since its Broadway debut in 1962, Forum—book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim—has won several Tony awards, including Best Musical and Best Book.

The Ring Theatre is at 1312 Miller Drive, Coral Gables. Show time is 8 p.m. on April 11 to 14, 18 to 21, and 26 to 28. There is also a 2 p.m. matinee on April 14, 15, 21, and 28.

Regular admission for weeknight and matinee shows is $22; seniors and UM faculty/staff/alumni pay $20; student tickets are  $10. Regular admission for Friday and Saturday nights is $25; seniors and UM faculty/staff/alumni pay $25; student tickets are  $15.

Tickets are on sale currently. Box office hours are 12 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and two hours before each performance.  All major credit cards are accepted. Call the box office at 305-284-3355, visit in person at 1312 Miller Drive, Coral Gables, or go online at www.miami.edu/ring. To purchase tickets with Ovationtix, call 1-866-811-4111 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends.

The College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Art and Art History presents the seventh annual “Salon des Refuses” exhibition from April 2-27 at the CAS Gallery, 1210 Stanford Drive, on the Coral Gables campus.

Named after the celebrated Salon des Refusés exhibition of 1863 in Paris, in which the Impressionists exhibited their revolutionary new paintings that had been “refused” by the French Academy, the UM exhibition will showcase student works that were entered in the annual Juried Student Competition but not accepted.

An opening reception will be held on Friday, April 6 at 5 p.m. in conjunction with the art and art history department’s annual barbeque.

The opening reception for the Juried Student Exhibition will be held at the Lowe Art Museum on Friday, April 13.

A full schedule of exhibitions can be viewed at www.as.miami.edu/art. For more information about the exhibition or CAS Gallery, call 305-284-2543 or email [email protected].