Category: Seminars

Seminars

Extreme Weather: Causes, Effects, and Connections With Climate

Presented by Ethan Butler, Karen McKinnon, Andy Rhines Extreme weather events, from hurricanes to heat waves, seem to be in the news with increasing regularity.But are extreme events actually increasing in frequency? And do they have a connection to our changing climate? Ethan will begin the lecture with an overview of some recent extreme weather events, and their impact on humans, whether due to flooding, … Continue reading Extreme Weather: Causes, Effects, and Connections With Climate

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Seminars

Math in Nature: Finding order in chaos

Presented by Jessica Kunke, Lei Zhu, Stephen Portillo The natural world is so complex and unpredictable that it might seem math could never be a sufficient tool to understand it.  Our lecture aims to widen this view of math and explore how mathematical models and chaos theory give us insights into nature.  The first part of our lecture introduces the concepts of math models and … Continue reading Math in Nature: Finding order in chaos

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Seminars

Big data in the post-genome era: What can the human genome sequence do for you?

Presented by David Kelley, Joseph Vitti, Casey Gifford This year marks the 10th anniversary of the completion of The Human Genome Project. This human DNA sequence brought with it much hope for advances in disease identification and treatment, however progress has been slow. Part of the reason for this lag is the huge amount of data that this and other genomic projects have produced. Tonight, … Continue reading Big data in the post-genome era: What can the human genome sequence do for you?

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GMO Image
Seminars

The Life of a Genetically Modified Organism: From the laboratory to your dinner table

Presented by Natalie Moroz, Steph Guerra, and Sharon Hung GMOs have been making headlines recently, but what exactly is a genetically modified organism? This lecture will start by covering GMOs in the laboratory – how they’re made and how that compares to traditional methods of genetic alteration like selective breeding. We’ll then talk about GMOs on your dinner table – what foods are currently available … Continue reading The Life of a Genetically Modified Organism: From the laboratory to your dinner table

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Neurons
Seminars

Talking Back to the Brain: Using Light to Uncover the Language of Neurons

Presented by Andrea Yung, Christina Welsh, and Matthias Minderer Studying the brain is like learning a foreign language – the language by which neurons communicate. Neuroscientists have made great progress by listening in on the neurons’ conversations. But, to be sure that we understand their language correctly, we have to be able to talk back to the neurons and then study their reaction. Optogenetics is … Continue reading Talking Back to the Brain: Using Light to Uncover the Language of Neurons

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Bees
Seminars

From Dancing Bees to RoboBees: How Honeybees Behave and Why Need Them

Presented by Elizabeth Petrik, Ryan Kuzmickas, and Kevin Ma Honeybees are creating a buzz in the media lately, particularly due to the large numbers of mysterious bee deaths attributed to Colony Collapse Disorder. This lecture will explore how these amazing creatures play an important role in our economy and inspire the future of robotics, as well as what we know about the threats to bee … Continue reading From Dancing Bees to RoboBees: How Honeybees Behave and Why Need Them

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ScienceEd
Seminars

Sparking Scientific Curiosity: (R)evolutions in the way we teach and learn

Presented by Kevin Harlen, Greg Kestin, Katie Dagon, and Ben Morris Science education is a hot topic many of us have heard discussed widely in the media, by politicians and in America’s school systems. This talk will shed light on the different aspects of science education, why they are important and how they will impact us today and in the future. Our presentation will open … Continue reading Sparking Scientific Curiosity: (R)evolutions in the way we teach and learn

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earthrise
Seminars

Earth Formation: The making of planet earth

Presented by Katherine Rosenfeld, Laura Schaefer, Anjali Tripathi For millennia, our understanding of Earth came from our own experiences on the planet. Today, with the ability to observe other planets in the Solar System and planets around other stars, we have a better sense of our place in the Universe and how the Earth formed and evolved. This evening’s lecture will begin with current knowledge … Continue reading Earth Formation: The making of planet earth

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Seminars

Antibiotic Resistance – Super Drugs for Superbugs

Presented by Amy Rohlfing, Marina Santiago, and John Santa Maria Many of us have heard of “superbugs” from the media – deadly bacteria gone wild, that are no longer responsive to antibiotic treatments. Our lecture will begin with Amy’s description of what bacteria are, what antibiotics are, and what antibiotic resistance is. We will concentrate on the antibiotic penicillin as an example in this lecture.  … Continue reading Antibiotic Resistance – Super Drugs for Superbugs

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Seminars

Living Factories: Engineering Cells to Manufacture Molecules

Presented by Kevin Bonham Single-celled microorganisms are everywhere, and are intimately linked to many aspects of our life. Some can cause disease, others decompose our waste, and many even help us digest our food – there are 10 times more bacteria cells in your body than human cells! But in the last few decades, scientists have been learning how to tinker with these tiny life … Continue reading Living Factories: Engineering Cells to Manufacture Molecules

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