Are we alone in the universe? Tim Gallaudet doesn't believe we are.

Gallaudet, a retired Naval rear admiral, will present a program called "Contact: UFOs, UAPs and Underwater Alien Landscapes" from 7 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24. The program will be held in Gibble Auditorium on the campus of Elizabethtown College, 1 Alpha Drive.

The idea for the lecture came after Congress heard this past November from a variety of experts, both civilian and military, who presented on the topic of alien life as well as the presence of UFOs (unidentified flying objects), UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) and USOs (unidentified submerged objects).

"I was watching the congressional hearings on the government's history and current awareness of UFOs, UAPs and the presence - as strange as it may sound - of alien life here on Earth," said Jesse Waters, director of the Bowers Writers House on campus and organizer of the Elizabethtown program. "I was stunned ... and immediately reached out to Dr. Gallaudet to see if he'd be interested in coming to this community to share his experience as a panelist for those hearings, as well as his own personal engagements with UFO, UAP and USO research."

Gallaudet, an oceanographer and technology consultant, held leadership roles in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Navy. He's now an adviser and board member for various startups and research institutions. A lifelong UAP enthusiast, Gallaudet serves as a research affiliate for Harvard's Galileo Project and advocates for the scientific study of undersea and transmedium UAP.

"I served in the Navy as an oceanographer for 32 years," Gallaudet shared. "Confirmation that UAPs are interacting with humanity came for me in January 2015 when I was serving as the commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. At the time, my personnel were participating in a pre-deployment naval exercise off the U.S. East Coast that included the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. This exercise was overseen by the United States Fleet Forces Command, led by a four-star admiral who also served as my superior officer."

During the exercise, Gallaudet received an email from the operations officer of Fleet Forces Command, detailing the occurrence of near-midair collisions that were interfering with the flights, but which could not be explained.

Attached to the email was a video showing an unidentified object "exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal," Gallaudet recalled. "The implication of the email was clear: The author was asking whether any of the recipients were aware of classified technology demonstrations that could explain these objects."

The next day, the email disappeared from his account and the accounts of other recipients with no explanation, he said, and the incident was never discussed again. From his experience, Gallaudet concluded that the UAP information had been classified.

Now a private citizen, Gallaudet hopes that by holding lectures like this one at Elizabethtown College, he will be able to share his insights on UAPs and give audiences something to think about.

Waters encourages people to come to the program with an open mind.

"Whether you believe in 'little green men' or not or simply wonder about what our government has on record in terms of human experience with life other than ours, this will be a fantastic chance to spend time with someone who's on the cutting edge of this information," he said. "The slides he has and his personal story are compelling and fascinating."

For more information on Gallaudet's presentation, visit https://www.etown.edu/centers/writershouse.