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Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who is the caucus’ vice-chairman and thus the third-ranking member of the Senate, will visit Brandeis May 6 and deliver this year’s Saul G. Cohen Memorial Lecture.

“A Conversation with Senator Charles Schumer: Can the United States Remain Ascendant?” will be followed by a question-and-answer with the senator, according to the Department of Development and Alumni Relations website. The talk will begin at 3 p.m. and will include a reception at 4:15 at a location yet to be announced.

The Saul G. Cohen lecture was established by friends and family of the longtime Brandeis science professor and varies topics from year to year.

“We are delighted that Senator Schumer has accepted our invitation to deliver the inaugural Saul G. Cohen Memorial Lecture,” Elisabeth Cohen, the professor’s daughter, told the university. “His clarion call for public service and his ideas about making government work for everyday people are more important now than ever.”

Several student groups have co-sponsored the event and offered to help advertise, including both the College Democrats and Democrats for America, and Waltham Group; and also the university offices of Community Service, the Heller School and the Hiatt Career Center.

Schumer, 60, was first elected to the Senate in 1998 after serving the 9th Congressional district, representing parts of Brooklyn and Queens, for 18 years. He successfully led the Democratic Senate campaign committee that took control over the chamber in 2006 and now chairs the Senate Rules Committee.

Schumer, outspokenly liberal on issues like gun control (he co-authored the original Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 that a Republican Congress allowed to later expire in 2004) and abortion (pro-choice group NARAL has given him a 100 percent lifetime rating), has also been known to be more willing to reach across the aisle to preserve Senate procedure, brokering a compromise on a partial filibuster and secret holds reform in the upper house last month.

His talk in May will center on the American position in the world.