IHMC Ocala Evening Lecture Nov. 3: UF's Rachael Seidler on How Spaceflight Changes the Brain

The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) hosts University of Florida professor Dr. Rachael Seidler for its next Ocala Evening Lecture, "The Effects of Spaceflight on the Human Brain and Behavior," on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, at IHMC's Ocala campus, 15 SE Osceola Ave. in downtown Ocala. According to the IHMC lecture page, a reception starts at 5:30 p.m. and the talk at 6 p.m. Registration on IHMC's Eventbrite page is free.

Dr. Rachael Seidler. Photo: IHMC.

At a Glance

• What: IHMC Ocala Evening Lecture, "The Effects of Spaceflight on the Human Brain and Behavior"


• Speaker: Dr. Rachael Seidler, professor of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology and Neurology at the University of Florida and director of UF's Astraeus Space Institute


• When: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026; reception 5:30 p.m., talk 6 p.m. (Eventbrite lists the event as running to 7 p.m.)


• Where: IHMC Ocala, 15 SE Osceola Ave., Ocala, FL 34471


• Cost: Free; registration is through IHMC's Eventbrite page


• Format: In person

What Will the Lecture Cover?

IHMC's description of the talk says plans for travel to Mars and other deep-space destinations make it critical to understand how spaceflight affects the human brain and behavior, and that studying how people adapt to microgravity shows how the central nervous system responds to an environment it did not evolve for. Seidler will present findings that the spaceflight environment has adverse effects on the brain, including intracranial fluid shifts and changes to gray and white matter. She will also describe the adaptive processes that occur alongside those shifts and how spaceflight-related brain changes are linked to sensorimotor performance.

Who Is Dr. Rachael Seidler?

According to her IHMC biography, Seidler is a full professor in the University of Florida's departments of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology and Neurology and director of the university's Astraeus Space Institute. UF announced her appointment as director of the Astraeus Space Institute in September 2025. She earned her Ph.D. at Arizona State University in 1999, held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Brain Sciences Center at the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and was a professor in psychology and movement science at the University of Michigan before joining UF in 2017.

Her UF Experts profile says she studies the neural control of movement in health and disease, with a focus on motor learning, and that her lab's work includes human brain plasticity with spaceflight and studies with NASA astronauts. IHMC's biography says she has led large research projects funded by the NIH, NSF, NASA and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, and has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers.

What Is IHMC, and Why Is It in Ocala?

According to IHMC's own history page, the institute is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System, created at the University of West Florida. Its main campus is in downtown Pensacola, and its branch campus in Ocala opened in 2010. The institute describes the 28,000-square-foot Ocala campus as home to computer scientists, engineers and linguists working on machine learning, natural language understanding, social cybersecurity and speech analysis.

What Else Does IHMC Offer the Public in Ocala?

The Ocala Evening Lecture Series page lists the next talk after Seidler's on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2026, with Jay Rubin (details to come), and an archive of past Ocala lectures; the most recent was Jeff Becker on Oct. 20, 2026. IHMC also runs Science Saturdays, a hands-on science program for students in grades 3 through 7, held on a Saturday morning each month during the school year at both its Pensacola and Ocala campuses. Grades 3 and 4 attend from 9 to 10:30 a.m. and grades 5 through 7 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; registration opens two weeks before each session, and the Ocala campus line for inquiries is 850-202-4415.

Is Nov. 3 Also Election Day?

Yes. The lecture falls on the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. Our Marion County election results page will carry the results that evening.

More Things to Do in Ocala

Find more ideas in our things to do in Ocala guide, our list of free things to do in Ocala, the Ocala museums guide, and our downtown Ocala guide for dinner and parking near IHMC.

Sources: IHMC lecture page for Rachael Seidler (ihmc.us/lectures/20261103), including the title, description, date, reception and talk times, address and speaker biography; IHMC's Eventbrite registration page (ihmc-20261103.eventbrite.com), including free admission, in-person format and end time; IHMC, "The IHMC Story" (ihmc.us/aboutihmc), including the institute's status, history and Ocala campus; IHMC Ocala Evening Lecture Series and Science Saturdays pages (ihmc.us), including upcoming and past lectures and the Science Saturdays program; University of Florida, "Rachael Seidler named director of UF's Astraeus Space Institute" (news.hr.ufl.edu), Sept. 15, 2025; UF Experts profile for Rachael Seidler (experts.ufl.edu), including her research. Checked Oct. 21, 2026.