After three years of evening cups of coffee and spirited scientific conversation, the Science Café launches a new year of speakers with a “nutty” professor.
Brian McCarthy, professor of Environmental and Plant Biology, will present his research on chestnut trees during this week’s Science Café, “From the Brink of Extinction: the American Chestnut.”
The chestnut accounted for approximately 25 percent of Appalachian forests before a 1940 blight threatened its vitality as a species, according to the news release.
“After 30 years of breeding, the American Chestnut Foundation may have a blight resistant American chestnut,” McCarthy said in a news release.
A primary goal of Science Café is to shed light on lesser-known topics in the scientific community.
Maggie Krueger, a Pace Student Intern for Science Café and Expos, said the Café aims to “offer students who do not always engage in scientific questioning to see science under a less isolated light.”
While the ideas discussed at the Science Cafés may seem complex, those who are not scientifically minded are welcome.
“The intellectual part of the discussion isn’t really based on the science,” Roxanne Male’-Brune, director of the Grant Development and Projects department said. “It’s based on the perception of the science and maybe the application of the science and the implications of the science, and that I think can be enjoyed by a very broad audience.”
Sponsored by Sigma Xi and the Office of Research and funded by the 1804 Fund, Science Cafés started when the Grant Development and Projects department wanted to create a discussion-based forum to help researchers refine their ideas.
“The first thing the faculty said was, ‘I’ve got my PowerPoint ready, I’m coming,’ and we were like, ‘No, no Powerpoints’” Male’- Brune said. “The idea is it’s not a lecture — it’s a discussion.”
Organized by Sarah Wyatt, an associate professor of plant biology, the speakers are chosen by audience request or recommendations by a council of advisors. Candidates are then screened for proficiency in their area of expertise and in public speaking.
Male’ - Brune said the Café hope to not only to provoke thought among adults in the community but also to inspire children to work toward careers in science.
“The idea is that we know in middle and high school people are beginning to explore the ideas of their career,” she said. “Youth for whatever reason give up the dream of science. ... What we’re hoping to do is instill the idea that science is fun — that it’s not something you do in a laboratory by yourself.”
Free coffee will be provided for the first 50 people who attend.
