David Stuart is the David and Linda Schele Professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing and the Director of the Mesoamerican Center at the University of Texas at Austin.  He received his Ph.D in Anthropology from Vanderbilt University in 1995, and taught at Harvard University for eleven years before arriving at the University of Texas, Austin in 2004, where he teaches in the Department of Art and Art History. His primary research focus is the archaeology and epigraphy of ancient Maya civilization, and for the past three decades he has been very active in the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing.  His early work lead to a MacAurthur Fellowship.  He will visit Brown University to speak about the Maya calendar and the popular 2012 end-of-the-world myth.