The talk, which is free and open to the public, is the 22nd Annual Beckman Lecture, hosted by UIUC's Center for Advanced Study and works to emphasize the benefits of basic research as reflected in the development of new technology and in the general economic benefit to society.

In 2004, Koonin joined BP, one of the world's largest energy companies, as group chief scientist. As Chief Scientist at BP, Steve Koonin is responsible for all science within this major multinational and the research it sponsors within Universities.   As the frontiers of science move to questions that can only be tackled by large and multi-disciplinary teams, Steve has emerged as one of the great visionaries of our time concerning how this can be achieved.  BP was the first major energy company to state publicly that the industry had to address climate change.  A major part of Steve Koonin's role is in identifying opportunities to advance and realize renewable energy. 

The annual Beckman Lecture, named in honor of the character and career of Arnold O. Beckman, strives to provide notable examples of the process by which fundamental discovery is translated into products for general societal use. Recent  Beckman lecturers have included N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor InfoSys Technologies Limited, Bangalore, India,  Edward Penhoet, President and Chief Program Officer, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, San Francisco and Vinton Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist of Google.