Cafe Sci Podcast

  Follow along with the slideshow here.   Glass windows are the second greatest human-related cause of mortality to North American birds, accounting for nearly 1 billion deaths annually. In an effort to make the skies safer for our feathered friends, researchers are looking for ways to reduce collisions by making glass more visible to birds. Matt Web, the Urban Bird Conservation Coordinator for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, will present his talk: Beyond the Looking Glass: Bird-Friendly Windows on Monday, May 1. Web will discuss developing research as to why certain types of glass are more prone to avian collisions, as well as how companies are making bird-friendly glass available. Webb is involved in research at Powdermill Nature Reserve, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s field research station located in the Ligonier valley. He and fellow Powdermill avian researchers are using an innovative flight tunnel to safely test bird-friendly glass prototypes to use on new buildings. Webb also started BirdSafe Pittsburgh in 2014, a local partnership of organizations dedicated to bird conservation in southwestern Pennsylvania. Teams of BirdSafe Pittsburgh volunteers spend the early hours of each day through the spring and fall migration combing the sidewalks of Pittsburgh, looking for birds that have collided with windows. Data is collected about each collision found and dead birds are brought back to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to become a part of the permanent museum collection. Birds that survived a collision are captured and brought to Animal Rescue League’s wildlife center for rehabilitation and release. Citizen scientists also monitor the windows of personal homes, helping researchers learn more about what makes some bird-friendly window products more effective than others. Webb has studied birds with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for the past four years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado.   Recorded Monday, May 1, 2017 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA

Dr. David Sanchez Assistent Professor, University of Pittsburgh   Biofilms play a central role in the ecosystem’s ability to sustain life and provide goods and services for economic development. In the biosphere they support key biochemical transformations that clean water, provide fertilizer and allow you to digest your food. What else can they do? Are engineers able to electrically harness the talents of the “best chemists in the world”? Join a discussion with Dr. Sanchez on how engineers are reconceptualizing the role of biofilms in creating innovative sustainable technologies. Dr. Sanchez is an Assistant Professor Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the Assistant Director for the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation at the University of Pittsburgh. His research is focused on fusing sustainability principles and design thinking to address our Water and Energy grand challenges for both natural systems and the built environment. Current projects include engineering biofilm-electrodes, designing hydroponic systems for phytoremediation, improving electrocatalytic water disinfection technologies for aquaculture, and creating real-time environmental quality sensor platforms. Engineering education research also plays a major role in his work as his team looks at creating innovative K-12 engineering programs, infusing Sustainable Design into engineering curricula, and evaluating the role of extra-curricular innovation/entrepreneurship landscape in student formation. He serves as the Faculty Director for the Design EXPO, the Innovation/Entrepreneurship Bootcamp and the university-wide Sustainability Certificate.   Recorded Monday, March 13, 2017 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Is Carbon Capture Realistic? Christopher Wilmer Assistant Professor,Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department,University of Pittsburgh Join University of Pittsburgh professor Chris Wilmer for a discussion of the future of carbon capture technology. This very active area of engineering research explores the development of technologies that can be retrofitted onto fossil fuel-based power plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Retrofitting thousands of coal power plants across the globe would be a massive undertaking, and researchers need to know how feasible such a project would be. In his talk, Wilmer will consider this problem from the molecular scale and ask what the most efficient carbon capture membrane would look like, whether it can realistically help mitigate global warming, and how it compares to existing technologies. Wilmer is an assistant professor in the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on the use of large-scale molecular simulations to help find promising materials for energy and environmental applications.   Recorded Monday, February 6, 2017 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Hello, and welcome to Carnegie Science Center’s newest experiment in podcasting. This is a pilot episode of Science News and Q’s or “SNaQ” for short. It’s  a show designed to highlight science current events and answer user submitted science questions. We hope you enjoy this pilot and will share your feedback with us. Thank you and enjoy Science News and Q’s.   Science Headlines: Spinning Black holes: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/universe-s-brightest-supernova-may-be-something-much-more-exciting-spinning-star-eating Zika Modeling: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/yes-zika-will-soon-spread-united-states-it-won-t-be-disaster Seahorse Genes: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v540/n7633/full/nature20595.html Universal Rhythm: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v540/n7633/full/nature20595.html   In-Depth Discussion: CERN Antimatter Spectroscopy: https://home.cern/about/updates/2016/12/alpha-observes-light-spectrum-antimatter-first-time   Try It At Home: Buy your own spectroscopy glasses! https://www.teachersource.com/product/prism-glasses-double-axis-pkg-of-10/light-color   Sponsor: Cafe Sci at Carnegie Science Center. www.CarnegieScienceCenter.org/CafeSci   Recorded December 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

  Light Up the Sky with Stars Presenter: Diane Turnshek Lecturer, Author, & Astronomer How far do you have to travel to see the stars clearly? Join lecturer, author, and astronomer Diane Turnshek as she discusses how light pollution not only prevents us from living under a sky bright with stars, but also negatively impacts human health and the environment. Turnshek will examine how innovative science and technology can reverse this steady creep of sky glow, allowing us to view the same star-filled sky that all past generations did. Diane Turnshek is a lecturer in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. She has published hard science fiction with a focus on space colonization and first contact. Her love of both astronomy and science fiction led her to crew the Mars Desert Research Station near Bryce Canyon, Utah in 2012, where she turned her attention to dark sky advocacy. Her fight against light pollution has taken many forms, including giving a TEDxPittsburgh talk. Turnshek is also a 2015 Dark Sky Defender award recipient, recognized by the International Dark-Sky Association for her contribution to light pollution mitigation.   Recorded Monday, December 5, 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Michael Whiteman Pittsburgh Riverhounds Director of Sports Science   The Science of Soccer Strength Join Pittsburgh Riverhounds Director of Sports Science Michael Whiteman as he discusses truths and misconceptions about soccer athletes, and how energy systems develop in elite players. During his talk, Whiteman will discuss the various strengthening and endurance exercises soccer players go through to train their muscles and bodies for sports performance.   Whiteman is a Pittsburgh native and holds a certified qualification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Whiteman has trained various professional athletes including NFL players Antonio Brown and Terrelle Pryor. He has been the strength and conditioning coach for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USLPro soccer league since 2011. Whiteman also is the Director of Sports Science for the Riverhounds Development Academy.   Recorded Monday, November 7, 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA. 

Timothy Verstynen Professor Carnegie Mellon University “Neuroscience of Baseball”   In the Blink of an Eye: The Neuroscience of Baseball How does the architecture of the brain allow us to learn complex skills and make fast decisions? What parts of neuroanatomy come into play when a person is trying to stop a 100-mph fastball with a piece of wood? Join Carnegie Mellon University Assistant Professor Timothy Verstynen as he discusses the brain science behind America’s favorite pastime. Verstynen is an assistant professor in Psychology at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University. Recorded Monday, October 3, 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Old Drugs, New Tricks: Putting an End to Traditional Eye Drops Presenter: Morgan Fedorchak Director  Ophthalmic Biomaterials Laboratory   Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, expected to affect up to 3 million Americans by 2020. One of the main risk factors in glaucoma is an unsafe increase in intraocular pressure (IOP).  IOP reduction in patients with glaucoma is typically accomplished through the administration of medicated eye drops several times daily, the difficult and frequent nature of which contributes to patient adherence rates estimated to be as low as 30%.  Newer drug delivery methods for glaucoma aimed at improving patient adherence require clinician administration of invasive injections or implants. This talk will encompass the rational design and testing of a variety of controlled release systems for delivery of ocular drugs as well as the many significant considerations for translating these technologies to the clinic where they may benefit patients. In particular, discussion will focus on our team’s development of a completely unique formulation that provides one month of therapeutic levels of glaucoma medication from a noninvasive eye drop. We believe that this new treatment method may have the ability to overcome the issues inherent to traditional eye drop medication while avoiding the need for more invasive techniques.   Morgan Fedorchak is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Chemical Engineering, and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh and the director of the Ophthalmic Biomaterials Laboratory. She attended Carnegie Mellon University where she obtained her B.S. in both Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering in 2006. She later earned her PhD in bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh in 2011 under Dr. William Federspiel studying hemofiltration and medical devices. Subsequently, she was awarded a fellowship from the Fox Center for Vision Restoration to participate in a collaboration between Dr. Steve Little and Dr. Joel Schuman as a postdoctoral researcher in March of 2011. This work formed the basis for the development of a patent pending drug delivery system for glaucoma that was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal. Her research is currently supported by the National Eye Institute, the Cystinosis Research Foundation, the University of Pittsburgh Center for Medical Innovation, and the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. Recorded Monday, September 12, 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

  From River to Tap: Examining Local Water Quality Presenter: Gina Cyprych Environmental Compliance Coordinator Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority Water: We drink it every day. But have you ever stopped to think about just exactly where your water comes from and how it’s treated? Join Gina Cyprych, Acting Chief Water Quality Officer at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, as she discusses how Pittsburgh’s drinking water is captured from the Allegheny River and treated. The Authority must ensure that the highest quality water is reaching each person, but with the many competing regulations a water utility must uphold, how do they maintain simultaneous compliance given a variety of circumstances? Cyprych has worked at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority for the past 11 years. She received her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management from Columbia Southern University. Recorded Monday, August 1, 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Jonathan Pruitt Assistant Professor Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology University of California - Santa Barbara   Spiders: Myths and Facts  Follow along with the slideshow here. What’s it like to live in a spider society? Join University of California Santa Barbara Assistant Professor Jonathan Pruitt as he discusses “Spiders: Myths and Facts.” Sociality is rare in spiders. Pruitt’s research concerns one species of spider that lives in social groups and how social interactions between the arachnids impacts their behavior and environment. Pruitt’s research explores the ecological consequences of individual variation in behavior for individuals, populations, and communities. Is aggressive behavior rewarded? What mix of docile and aggressive individuals is optimal for a community? Pruitt’s research considers the role of individual differences in patterns of task allocation within societies, and how these patterns impact the long-term performance of groups in different environments. In non-social systems, Pruitt looks at how variation in behavior impacts species interactions across different ecological niches, in both terrestrial and marine systems. Pruitt performed his graduate studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He then conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Davis. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara. Recorded Monday, April 4, 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Nick Nystrom Director of Strategic Applications, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center   Bridges: Connecting Researchers, Big Data, and High-Performance Computing Follow along with the slides HERE! Inferring the causes of disease, tracking the survival of the human race, and enabling natural-language searches of video are just a few of the topics being tackled right here in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. Join us as we explore how the center uses big data and data analytics to better understand challenging problems. As the center’s Director of Strategic Applications, Dr. Nick Nystrom and his team develop hardware and software architectures to enable groundbreaking research, engaging in research and collaborations across diverse disciplines. At Café Sci, Nystrom will discuss researchers’ use of PSC’s newest resources, including “Bridges.” “Bridges” is a data-intensive high-performance computing (HPC) system designed to empower new research communities, bring desktop convenience to HPC, expand campus access, and help researchers facing challenges in Big Data to work more intuitively. Funded by a $9.65 million National Science Foundation award, Bridges consists of three tiers of large-shared-memory resources, dedicated nodes for database, web, and data transfer purposes, high-performance shared and distributed data storage, powerful new CPUs and GPUs, and the new, uniquely powerful interconnection network. From a software perspective, Bridges supports widely-used data analytic software such as R, Java, Python, and MATLAB, integration of Spark and Hadoop with HPC, and virtualization. Nystrom will discuss the importance of converging Big Data and HPC and how Bridges is bringing HPC to nontraditional users and research communities. Nystrom is also a research physicist in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Math, and Physics and a PhD in Computational Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. Recorded on Monday, March 7, 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Neil Donahue Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering Director Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies at Carnegie Mellon University   If  You Can’t See It, It Doesn’t Exist: Connections of Air and Climate Pollution with Policy Decisions Follow along with the slide show here. The effects of climate change, air pollution, and efforts by leaders to address these effects are pressing issues that pervade recent news-cycles – from climate talks in Paris to the increase in “red alert” days in Beijing. Dr. Neil Donahue will discuss “If  You Can’t See It, It Doesn’t Exist: Connections of Air and Climate Pollution with Policy Decisions.” Donahue is a Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University; and a Science & Engineering Ambassador with the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. He directs the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research. Climate pollution is mostly invisible and diffuse. More traditional air pollution — haze and smog — is visible and localized.  However, both cause a world of hurt, and addressing them together may be a key to making progress on both.  The “social costs” of pollution can be very high, with the costs of climate pollution distributed over the globe and over generations, while the social costs of air pollution bourn locally and immediately, including contribution to millions of deaths every year. Donahue will discuss the role of three current research activities towards enabling decision-makers to consider the costs and benefits of policies that could affect both pollution types.  The research includes fundamental experiments about fine atmospheric particles at CERN, the particle-physics research institute in Geneva; a collaboration to model the life-cycle of carbon in regional pollution in China; and development of a decision support tool for city policy makers to compare policy “intervention” options in terms of costs and effectiveness for climate and air-pollution benefits. Donahue seeks to understand how Earth’s atmosphere works and how humans affect the atmosphere. He strives to help all graduating CMU students understand the climate problem and to apply their outstanding problem-solving skills to solutions of this enormous challenge. Donahue’s research focuses on the behavior of organic compounds in Earth’s atmosphere. The world experts in his research group study what happens to compounds from both natural sources and human activity when they are emitted into the atmosphere. Recently, the group’s research has focused on the origin and transformations of very small organic particles, which play a critical role in climate change and human health. Particles scatter light, influence clouds, and kill roughly 50,000 people each year in the U.S., mostly of heart attacks. Donahue earned a degree in physics from Brown University and a doctorate in meteorology from MIT. He spent nine years as a research scientist at Harvard before returning to Pittsburgh in 2000. Recorded on Monday, February 1, 2016 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Jose Padial William and Ingrid Rea Assistant Curator of Amphibians and ReptilesCarnegie Museum of Natural History   Expeditions and Species Discovery in the Amazon Follow along with the slideshow here. For centuries, the Amazon has captivated naturalists, including a Pittsburgh-based scientist who has lead expeditions to tropical forests and discovered fascinating new species of amphibians and reptiles. Dr. Jose Padial, the William and Ingrid Rea Assistant Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, will discuss “Expeditions and species discovery in the Amazon”. The Amazon has been a top destination for naturalists attracted by the diversity of life forms occurring in these forests and by the endless possibilities for discovery. Most species of birds, mammals, frogs, fishes, and invertebrates known in the world live in the tropical rainforests of the Amazon. Still, many areas of the Amazon remain poorly explored, and scientists working in these areas are discovering dozens of new species each year. Padial will explain how he organized expeditions to the tropical forests of the Andes and the Amazon in Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia that uncovered new species of amphibians and reptiles. These discoveries involved traveling to remote locations in the jungle and using scientific methods such as comparative anatomy, DNA barcoding, or bioacustics. His discoveries are helping us to understand the enormous diversity of life forms in the Amazon. Padial, the William and Ingrid Rea Assistant Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, focuses on the systematics of amphibians and reptiles. He earned his PhD and bachelor’s degree in biology at University of Granada in Spain. He also studied zoology at Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg, Germany, and at Institüt für Zoologie of the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany. The video mentioned during the talk shows daily at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Earth Theater. It will be linked here when it becomes available in its finished form online Recorded on Monday, December 7, 2015 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Jeanne M. VanBriesen Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Carnegie Mellon University   Rain, Rivers, and Resources: How Watersheds Change Drinking Water Follow along with the slide show here. How do everyday choices impact the water supply? Carnegie Mellon University professor and Carnegie Science Award winner Dr. Jeanne M. VanBriesen will discuss her research in ““Rain, Rivers, and Resources: How Watersheds Change Drinking Water” on Monday, Nov. 9, from 7 – 9 pm, at Carnegie Science Center. Rivers teem with fish and plants, offer a space for recreation, and provide the source of the water we drink. Rain water, on its way to rivers, runs across watersheds. Watersheds are land surfaces that house activities such as mining, farming, producing electricity, and building homes. These activities pose a challenge to maintaining high quality water for ecosystems, recreation, and potable water supply. VanBriesen will talk about engineering systems that manage the quality and quantity of water resources. She’ll discuss how the choices people make around energy resources in our watersheds affect the options to treat drinking water. VanBriesen, who serves on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board, is the Duquesne Light Company Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research is in environmental systems, including detection of biological agents in water systems and impacts of energy extraction.  She earned her bachelor’s degree in education and her master’s and doctorate degrees in civil engineering from Northwestern University. She is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Delaware and has served on the board of the Association for Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. Earlier this year, VanBriesen was awarded the Environmental Award in the Carnegie Science Awards program for her water quality research. Recorded Monday, November 9, 2015 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

This is the Q&A portion of the talk. The full talk is available in the previous podcast. Jeanne M. VanBriesen Professor of Civil and Environmental EngineeringCarnegie Mellon University   Rain, Rivers, and Resources: How Watersheds Change Drinking Water How do everyday choices impact the water supply? Carnegie Mellon University professor and Carnegie Science Award winner Dr. Jeanne M. VanBriesen will discuss her research in ““Rain, Rivers, and Resources: How Watersheds Change Drinking Water” on Monday, Nov. 9, from 7 – 9 pm, at Carnegie Science Center. Rivers teem with fish and plants, offer a space for recreation, and provide the source of the water we drink. Rain water, on its way to rivers, runs across watersheds. Watersheds are land surfaces that house activities such as mining, farming, producing electricity, and building homes. These activities pose a challenge to maintaining high quality water for ecosystems, recreation, and potable water supply. VanBriesen will talk about engineering systems that manage the quality and quantity of water resources. She’ll discuss how the choices people make around energy resources in our watersheds affect the options to treat drinking water. VanBriesen, who serves on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board, is the Duquesne Light Company Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research is in environmental systems, including detection of biological agents in water systems and impacts of energy extraction.  She earned her bachelor’s degree in education and her master’s and doctorate degrees in civil engineering from Northwestern University. She is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Delaware and has served on the board of the Association for Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. Earlier this year, VanBriesen was awarded the Environmental Award in the Carnegie Science Awards program for her water quality research. Recorded Monday, November 9, 2015 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

David Brumley President & DirectorCarnegie Mellon Univeristy’s CyLab   Checking the World’s Software for Exploitable Bugs Follow along with the slide show here. To Carnegie Mellon University’s David Brumley, hacking is “not something just bad guys do.” Brumley, a professor and director of the CyLab Institute at Carnegie Mellon University will discuss the important science behind hacking at Carnegie Science Center’s next Café Scientifique on Monday, Oct. 5, from 7 – 9 pm. Brumley and his team at Carnegie Mellon’s CyLab (cyber security lab) envision a world in which software is automatically checked for exploitable bugs, giving people the ability to trust their computers. The demand for cybersecurity professionals is growing, and Carnegie Mellon University is working to train students interested in the field. Brumley is an associate professor who focuses on software security, with appointments in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Computer Science Department. He is the faculty mentor for the CMU Hacking Team Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), which is ranked internationally as one of the top teams in the world. Brumley’s honors include a 2010 NSF CAREER award, a 2010 United States Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President Obama, the highest award in the U.S. for early career scientists, and a 2013 Sloan Foundation award. Brumley is the 2015 winner of the Carnegie Science Award in the University/Post-Secondary Educator category. He was lauded for recognizing the need for novel approaches to STEM education, leading him to spearhead picoCTF, a national cyber security game and contest targeted at exciting young minds about computer security. Brumley attended the University of Northern Colorado for his bachelor’s degree in mathematics, Stanford University for his master’s degree in computer science, and, most recently, CMU for his PhD in computer science. At Stanford, he worked as a computer security officer, solving thousands of computer security incidents in a four-year span. Recorded on Monday, October 5, 2015 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Dave Speer President & Co-FounderMellonHead Labs   CATTfish and Flamingo, a new way to measure water quality from CMU Why does water quality matter to you? Carnegie Mellon University start-up MellonHead Labs will explain water quality issues and what part can we can play in the water economy. Dave Speer, president and co-founder of MellonHead Labs will speak about: Water quality issues facing Pittsburgh and the nation, how CMU is involved and water and environmental programs, how these programs function and are supported/funded, and the future of water quality monitoring, technology, and IoT (internet of things). CATTfish was created by the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University. The CATTfish system provides a simple and easy way to track water quality at home. In 2014, a new venture, MellonHead Labs, was formed to bring this innovative environmental sensing product to market. The sensor is used by both citizens and industry to track water quality changes over long periods of time and large geographic areas. Cloud-based visualization of large data sets allows easy interpretation of results. Speer is a fourth-generation Pittsburgher who attended University of Delaware for his undergraduate degree, George Washington University for graduate school, and Carnegie Mellon University for his business launch and start-up founding. Recorded on Monday, September 14, 2015 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Dr. Timothy Pearce Assistant Curator & Head, Section of MollusksCarnegie Museum of Natural History   “Wily Land Snails of Pennsylvania:Where Do They Live and Which Are Rare?” Follow along with the slideshow HERE. A local scientist’s work is dramatically increasing what we know about Pennsylvania’s 129 land snail species. For the Pennsylvania Land Snail Atlas Project, Dr. Timothy Pearce collected 17,472 records of Pennsylvania land snails from modern field work and museum specimens, documenting thousands of new county records. Many minute species are now known to be widespread, although they previously seemed to be rare. Dr. Pearce, assistant curator and head of the section of mollusks at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, will discuss his work in, “Wily Land Snails of Pennsylvania: Where Do They Live and Which Are Rare?” at Café Scientifique. Dr. Pearce gained an important historical perspective on ecology while working toward a master’s degree in snail paleontology at University of California at Berkeley, then he continued studying snail ecology for a PhD at University of Michigan. During a year-long post-doctoral study in Madagascar, he helped find more than 600 undescribed land snail species. During his first curator job at the Delaware Museum, he was awarded that institution’s first National Science Foundation grant. His current research at Carnegie Museum of Natural History ecological snail studies in the northeastern and northwestern regions of the United States and in Colombia, South America. Recorded Monday, August 10th, 2015 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Learning Science for Better Learning: Carnegie Mellon University’s “Simon Initiative” Dr. Marsha Lovett Director of the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational InnovationCarnegie Mellon University Many students today receive a 19th-century education that is developed without the benefit of contemporary evidence-based research, Carnegie Mellon University’s Dr. Marsha Lovett asserts. At Carnegie Science Center’s next Café Sci, She’ll discuss how a combination of education-based research plus innovations in educational technology can improve students’ learning outcomes while further advancing our scientific understanding of how learning works. Carnegie Mellon University’s Simon Initiative focuses on leveraging these opportunities and making a difference for local and global learners. The Simon Initiative focuses on the learner and how to improve learning. Dr. Lovett is co-coordinator of The Simon Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and the director of the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation. Her remarks will present recent results, tools, and examples of how educational theories are being applied. Dr. Lovett has published more than 50 research papers and two books, Thinking with Data and How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. The latter is ranked third on The Chronicle’s ”Top 10 Books on Teaching” and has been translated into several languages. She has developed several innovative, educational technologies to promote student learning, including StatTutor and the Learning Dashboard. Dr. Lovett earned her doctorate in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University, and her bachelor’s degree, also in psychology, is from Princeton University. Recorded Monday, May 4th, 2015 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This is the Q&A portion of the evening. Dr. David Snoke Department of Physics and AstronomyUniversity of Pittsburgh   “What is Quantum Entanglement?” Dr. David Snoke, a local professor, will unpack the concept of “quantum entanglement.” The concept is one of those things considered “spooky” about quantum mechanics. It leads to oddities, such as the famous thought experiment “Schrodinger’s Cat,” which is presumably in a state of being both dead and alive. Dr. Snoke, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh, will describe quantum entanglement, using a minimum of math, and will discuss modern experiments which lead to macroscopic entanglement. He’ll discuss what these concepts mean (and don’t mean) for our view of reality. Dr. David Snoke is the head of an experimental optics laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, which studies basic effects of quantum mechanics in semiconductor structures, funded by the National Science Foundation. He has more than 120 publications in journals such as Nature, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. He has published four scientific books, including two textbooks published by Pearson. In 2006, Dr. Snoke was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Prior to coming to the University of Pittsburgh in 1994, he worked in industry at the Aerospace Corporation in California and the Westinghouse labs in Pittsburgh, and he was an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany. His Ph.D. in physics is from the University of Illinois, and his bachelor’s degree, also in physics, is from Cornell University. Recorded on Monday, April 13, 2015 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.