Calendar

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

NEW LOCATION! We are excited to announce that we are moving one of our regular Science Pub events to the Kennedy School Theater! We will be there every 3rd Tuesday of the month!

Plastics, Bivalves, and a Straw Cape

with Nancy Judd of Recycle Runway; Britta Baechler, PhD Candidate, Portland State University; and Chanel Hason of Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation

December 17, 2019 | Doors Open @ 5:30PM | 7-9PM | Suggested donation $5pp

We’ve all seen the video of a sea turtle with a straw up its nose, but there’s a lot more to the story of plastic pollution than we all think. For instance, did you know that plastic pollution in the ocean was first reported in research articles in the early 1970s? Or that micro plastics have been found in clams and oysters right here in Oregon? What about that straws and stirrers are the third most common item found in beach cleanups?

Come for a unique presentation blending science, art, and activism from three people working to change the story of plastic here in the Pacific Northwest.  We’ll be hearing from Nancy Judd, Britta Baechlor, and Chanel Hason, who will be sharing how plastics are impacting some of our smallest critters, and what is being done to raise awareness of plastic pollution both here and across the US. Nancy will also lead audience members in an arts integration activity to reflect upon Britta’s research in creative ways.

BIOS:

Nancy Judd is an internationally recognized artist, environmental advocate and teaching artist. For over 20 years she has been creating art exhibitions made from trash that engage people in conversations about how we live on the earth. Nancy exhibits her work in public airports and museums and one of her pieces is in the Smithsonian Museum’s permanent collection. In her work as a teaching artist, Nancy provides arts integration to students in classrooms and adults in training settings. www.NancyJudd.com.

Britta Baechler is a graduate student in the Applied Coastal Ecology lab at Portland State University conducting research on microplastics in razor clams and Pacific oysters on the Oregon Coast. She became concerned about the state of the marine environment after encountering marine debris and trash while studying and working in the Caribbean, Aleutian Islands, Northern Mariana Islands and here in the Pacific Northwest. 

Chanel Hason is the volunteer Chair and Communications Lead of the Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation for over 2 years. She graduated from CSU Monterey Bay with a B.S. in Environmental Science Technology & Policy, focusing on Marine and Coastal Ecology. More recently, she attended PSU earning a M.S. in Leadership for Sustainability Education. Her background in marine conservation and environmental education are what drives her to be an active citizen scientist. 

Science Pub Portland at McMenamins Kennedy School is a monthly event that is open to anyone and everyone – no scientific background required. Just bring your curiosity, sense of humor, and appetite for food, drinks and knowledge!

Kennedy School Theater has everything from pizza to burgers to popcorn and candy. Food and drink are welcome in the theater. Parking is free for the event. Doors open at 5:30pm.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Photo by Joe Klementovich

What’s in your Snowpack? Community Snow Observations and the Value of Citizen Science

With David F. Hill, PhD, Professor, Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University

January 7, 2020 | Doors Open @ 6PM | Theory will be open from 5-7PM

PLEASE NOTE: Science Pub at OMSI will now be the first Tuesday of the month.

$5 advance purchase for guaranteed seats; $5 suggested donation at the door. Tickets will be available online or at the OMSI front desk until 2pm the day of the event; see below for details.

If you don’t live in it, it can be easy to ignore snow. Tire chains, show shovels, down jackets…all someone else’s problems. But in the Pacific Northwest and other mountain environments, even if you don’t live in it, snow is an essential and unavoidable part of our water resources. Snowpack stores water, and slowly releases it to downstream locations in the spring time. Stream ecology, agriculture, and thirsty people all benefit. And, before it melts, let’s not forget the incredible recreational resource that snow provides to the Pacific Northwest. Understanding the distribution and evolution of our snowpack is therefore important, but can difficult for many reasons. It’s cold, the days are short, and it’s hard to get to it to measure it. This talk will discuss some of the ways in which we observe and study snow. It will introduce citizen science as a valuable way to crowd-source unique snow depth information. Wax your boards, tune your edges, and help improve what we know about the snow.

David Hill is a professor at Oregon State University and a National Geographic Explorer. For over 25 years, he has studied how water behaves as is travels from mountain headwaters to coastal environments. He currently co-leads the Community Snow Observations project, one of six citizen science projects funded by NASA to improve understanding of our physical environment. Hill has recently been an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. No matter the hemisphere, if it is spring time, You’ll find him out surveying the snow between mountain summit and trailhead.

OMSI Science Pub at the Empirical Theater is a ticketed event. To guarantee a seat at this event, please buy tickets online or at the OMSI front desk. Advanced tickets will be available for purchase until 2:00pm the day of the event. Please show your ticket at the theater entrance upon arrival.

If the event sells out, we will update the website and Facebook listings accordingly. If the event does not sell out in advance, attendance will be first-come, first-served at the door and at-the-door admission will remain a suggested donation.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Talk to Me: What the Science of Language Tells Us About Communication

With Melissa Baese-Berk, PhD, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Oregon

January 9, 2020 | 6:30-8:30PM; Doors open @ 5PM | $5 Suggested Donation
 

Imagine a world in which you could send a message from one brain to another through the air. While this sounds like science fiction, this is in fact how we communicate through language. The processes of understanding and producing speech are fast and effortless in most circumstances. However, these processes are hugely complex, and our understanding of them is still developing. Further, circumstances that do challenge the speaker or listener (e.g., noisy environments or communication between individuals with different language backgrounds) can inform our understanding of more effortless language processing.

In this talk, Professor Melissa Baese-Berk will discuss the science that underlies communication through language. Specifically, she will address issues of how individuals understand and produce speech, with a special emphasis on how adults learn new languages. She will conclude with discussions of how individuals with different language backgrounds communicate across language barriers.

Melissa is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Oregon where she directs the Speech Perception and Production Laboratory. She earned her BA in Linguistics from Boston University and then her PhD in Linguistics with a specialization in Cognitive Science from Northwestern University. She completed postdoctoral research fellowships at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language, and Michigan State University. Her research examines psycholinguistic aspects of second language acquisition and native/non-native communication. She also enjoys teaching a variety of courses and was awarded the AJ Ersted Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Tykeson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Melissa is also a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher and enjoys cooking, knitting and crocheting and cheering for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs.

Science Pub Eugene is a monthly event that is open to anyone and everyone. No RSVP or scientific background required. Just bring your curiosity, sense of humor, and appetite for food, drinks, and knowledge! For more information or to sign up for our mailing list, email: sciencepub@omsi.edu.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Where the Willamette Valley’s Wild Things Live!

With Samantha Bartling, Visitor Services Manager at the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex

January 13, 2020 | 6-8PM; Doors open @ 5PM | FREE, RSVP Required | REGISTRATION for this Science Pub event will open December 16.

William L. Finley, Ankeny and Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuges are special places for very different reasons, depending on who you ask: family time, solace, hiking, birding, historic buildings, photography, hunting, wildlife viewing, making memories. Samantha Bartling, visitor services manager at the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex, will describe some of the hidden — and not so hidden — beauties of these valley wildlands.

The refuges host seven threatened and endangered species as well as legacy oak trees, colonies of acorn woodpeckers, herds of Roosevelt elk, bobcats, black bear and 200+ bird species.

Bartling graduated from Colorado State University with a B.S. in Natural Resources Management and started her career at the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Panamá and earned a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Cornell University, focusing on community-based management in protected areas.

Share an evening with Bartling exploring your local wildlands and getting an update on the latest science that drives their management.

The Science Pub presentation is free and open to the public.

RSVP for the Next Science Pub 

Due to the continuing popularity of Science Pub, we are implementing a ticketing/RSVP process. Please read the specifics below.

• Limit of two free tickets per person.
• Registration opens three weeks prior to each Science Pub and is limited to the first 100 tickets.
• Available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the link above or by calling 541-737-4717.
• Advanced registration recommended to guarantee a ticket/seat.
• Only register if you plan on attending please.
• If plans change, please cancel your reservation via your initial confirmation email or by calling 541-737-4717.
• Walk-ins welcome, but seating will not be guaranteed and is based on availability.
• Register for the Science Pub listserv by emailing events@oregonstate.edu or 541-737-4717.

Sponsors of Science Pub include Terra magazine at OSU, the Downtown Corvallis Association and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
 
For more information or to sign up for our mailing list, email: sciencepub@omsi.edu.

You can also listen to their podcasts at http://communications.oregonstate.edu/podcast.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

NEW LOCATION! We are excited to announce that we are moving one of our regular Science Pub events to the Kennedy School Theater! We will be there every 3rd Tuesday of the month!

Radon and Landslides - Portland's Two Winter Geological Problems!

with Scott Burns, PhD, Professor of Geology at Portland State University

January 21, 2020 | Doors Open @ 5:30PM | 7-9PM | Suggested donation $5pp

The Portland Metropolitan area is a dynamic geological area with every one of the geological hazards present at some time or another.  But, in winter two of these hazards really affect more people than at other times of the year. First is radon gas, a radioactive gas that comes naturally out of the soil all of the time. As tiny amounts of uranium and thorium break down into lead, they liberate this gas.  In the winter, we close up our homes for energy conservation to keep the heat in, but we are also keeping in the radon gas that comes from the soil through cracks in the home foundations.  Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer deaths in the United States behind smoking.  Certain areas of Portland produce large amounts of radon.  The distribution maps of indoor radon are explained by differences in geological units.  We recommend that all homes be tested, but some areas are really, really important.

Winter time also brings on large amounts of precipitation which leads to increased dangers from landslides.  We have many slopes in the Portland area with weak soils on them which are prone to landslides.  We are concerned about preventing landslides because they are not covered by homeowner's insurance.  Dr. Burns will discuss both of these Portland natural hazards using many examples.  We will also discuss how we can reduce their influences in our lives - saving property and saving lives.

Scott Burns, PhD, is a professor Emeritus of geology and past chair of the Department of Geology at Portland State University where he has taught for 30 years. He has a B.S. degree in chemistry and a M.S. degree in physical sciences from Stanford University and a PhD in geology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Burns specializes in environmental and engineering geology, geomorphology, soils, and quaternary geology. In Oregon, his projects involve landslides and land use, environmental cleanup of service stations, slope stability, earthquake hazard mapping, the Missoula Floods, paleosols, loess soil stratigraphy, radon generation from soils, and the distribution of heavy metals and trace elements in Oregon soils and alpine soil development.

He has won many awards for outstanding teaching and his work in geology, including the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Portland State Alumni Association in 2001, the Richard Jahns Award for engineering geology from GSA and AEG in 2011, and the Outstanding Scientist for Oregon for 2014 from the Oregon Academy of Sciences. He has authored more than 100 publications and received more than 25 research grants. Dr. Burns actively helps local TV and radio stations and newspapers bring important geological news to the public and, for the past 51 years, has been studying wine and terroir—the relationship between wine, soils, geology, and climate.

Science Pub Portland at McMenamins Kennedy School is a monthly event that is open to anyone and everyone – no scientific background required. Just bring your curiosity, sense of humor, and appetite for food, drinks and knowledge!

Kennedy School Theater has everything from pizza to burgers to popcorn and candy. Food and drink are welcome in the theater. Parking is free for the event. Doors open at 5:30pm.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Beyond the "Issues": Living A Science Minded Life

With Troy H. Campbell, Assistant Professor in Marketing Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon

February 4, 2020 | Doors Open @ 6PM | Theory will be open from 5-7PM

PLEASE NOTE: Science Pub at OMSI will now be the first Tuesday of the month.

$5 advance purchase for guaranteed seats; $5 suggested donation at the door. Tickets will be available online or at the OMSI front desk until 2pm the day of the event; see below for details.

“Being a science minded person is not just about correcting others and protesting for science, it is a daily and very personal thing,” Professor Troy Campbell explains. His talk will look beyond “the issues” at the rich beautiful existence of living a science minded life.

“Science mindness,” as he explains, “is an orientation toward the world, where you just keep asking intelligent and constructive questions and look for more detail.” Professor Campbell talks about how he is science minded everyday as an academic, a creative at Disney Imagineering and Netflix Insights, and as an inclusion scientist for Nike and Apple, but also when interacting with strangers, planning dinner parties, or making everyday choices.

The talk will also touch on how we sadly, just see science as for the serious or for the few and not for everyone. There will be lots of fun, interactivity, and lots of nuanced depth as Professor Campbell will touch on why we stop calling it “confirmation bias” and instead “confirmation process”.

In a science minded existence, he says one sees more of existence, because you are constantly asking what else is there. And yes, he says, some may perceive that their life is ‘full’ but we know that those people have seen only a few drops of reality. He will close with a call to show the world that science minded isn’t here to critique you but to offer a better and fuller existence.

Troy Campbell is an assistant professor in the Department of Marketing at the Lundquist College of Business. His expertise and research focus on consumer enjoyment, identity, goals, and overcoming resistance in communication. Campbell's classes cover topics including marketing, storytelling, scientific communication, the science of cool, and experiential design. He sums up his interests as, “I love using scientifically derived insights to make things awesome from experiences to art to social movements to business to education to just an afternoon with my family.” Campbell's work has been featured in journals such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and Management Science.

Campbell received his PhD from Duke University. Before joining the Lundquist College, he worked for Disney Imagineering, Netflix, Apple, and Comic-Con; his academic research has influenced companies including Nike, Daimler, and United Health, as well as the biggest government entities.

OMSI Science Pub at the Empirical Theater is a ticketed event. To guarantee a seat at this event, please buy tickets online or at the OMSI front desk. Advanced tickets will be available for purchase until 2:00pm the day of the event. Please show your ticket at the theater entrance upon arrival.

If the event sells out, we will update the website and Facebook listings accordingly. If the event does not sell out in advance, attendance will be first-come, first-served at the door and at-the-door admission will remain a suggested donation.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Photo by Joe Klementovich

What’s in your Snowpack? Community Snow Observations and the Value of Citizen Science

With David F. Hill, PhD, Professor, Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University

February 13, 2020 | 6:30-8:30PM; Doors open @ 5PM | $5 Suggested Donation
 

If you don’t live in it, it can be easy to ignore snow. Tire chains, show shovels, down jackets…all someone else’s problems. But in the Pacific Northwest and other mountain environments, even if you don’t live in it, snow is an essential and unavoidable part of our water resources. Snowpack stores water, and slowly releases it to downstream locations in the spring time. Stream ecology, agriculture, and thirsty people all benefit. And, before it melts, let’s not forget the incredible recreational resource that snow provides to the Pacific Northwest. Understanding the distribution and evolution of our snowpack is therefore important, but can be difficult for many reasons. It’s cold, the days are short, and it’s hard to get to it to measure it.

This talk will discuss some of the ways in which we observe and study snow. It will introduce citizen science as a valuable way to crowd-source unique snow depth information. Wax your boards, tune your edges, and help improve what we know about the snow.

David Hill is a professor at Oregon State University and a National Geographic Explorer. For over 25 years, he has studied how water behaves as it travels from mountain headwaters to coastal environments. He currently co-leads the Community Snow Observations project, one of six citizen science projects funded by NASA to improve understanding of our physical environment. Hill has recently been an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. No matter the hemisphere, if it is spring time, You’ll find him out surveying the snow between mountain summit and trailhead.

Science Pub Eugene is a monthly event that is open to anyone and everyone. No RSVP or scientific background required. Just bring your curiosity, sense of humor, and appetite for food, drinks, and knowledge! For more information or to sign up for our mailing list, email: sciencepub@omsi.edu.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

“Is the Dead Sea Dead?”

with Scott A. Wells, Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Portland State University

February 18, 2020 | Doors Open @ 5:30PM | 7-9PM | Suggested donation $5pp

The Dead Sea is a terminal lake and is the lowest water body on the earth’s surface. As a result of historic changes in inflows to the Dead Sea, water levels are now receding at more than 1 m per year. There have been many proposed solutions to the ‘dying’ Dead Sea such as reinvigorating the Jordan River by bringing in desalinated water from the Mediterranean Sea and pumping sea water from the Gulf of Aquaba. Water quality impacts on the Dead Sea were evaluated for the latter solution by constructing a suite of mathematical models of the circulation and chemistry in the Dead Sea. Will these proposed ‘solutions’ save the Dead Sea or will they cause other problems?

Scott A Wells, has a Ph.D. from Cornell University in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and graduate and undergraduate degrees from MIT and Tennessee Technological University. He served as Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at PSU from 2002-2014 and currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Environmental Engineering, conducts webinars for EPA in water quality modeling, and teaches workshops on how to perform water quality modeling of surface water bodies.

His current research focus is environmental fluid mechanics and primarily the development of surface water quality and hydrodynamic modeling tools. He has written over 100 technical publications and is a co-developer of the current version of the CE-QUAL-W2 model used throughout the world for hydrodynamic and water quality modeling studies. He has been involved in about 150 water body studies throughout the United States as well as projects in Canada, Iraq, China, Guyana, Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil, Spain, Ukraine and Israel/Jordan.

His work in China in cooperation with Three Gorges University in Yichang focuses on improving water quality in the Yangtze River and evaluating how to control water quality impacts from the Three Gorges Reservoir He has been actively involved in studies for local, state and federal government as they work on improving water quality in surface water systems and in understanding the environmental impacts of reservoirs.

Science Pub Portland at McMenamins Kennedy School is a monthly event that is open to anyone and everyone – no scientific background required. Just bring your curiosity, sense of humor, and appetite for food, drinks and knowledge!

Kennedy School Theater has everything from pizza to burgers to popcorn and candy. Food and drink are welcome in the theater. Parking is free for the event. Doors open at 5:30pm.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Climate Change Tipping Point

With James Watson, PhD, Assistant Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University

March 3, 2020 | Doors Open @ 6PM | Theory will be open from 5-7PM

PLEASE NOTE: Science Pub at OMSI will now be the first Tuesday of the month.

$5 advance purchase for guaranteed seats; $5 suggested donation at the door. Tickets will be available online or at the OMSI front desk until 2pm the day of the event; see below for details.

MORE DETAILS SOON!

OMSI Science Pub at the Empirical Theater is a ticketed event. To guarantee a seat at this event, please buy tickets online or at the OMSI front desk. Advanced tickets will be available for purchase until 2:00pm the day of the event. Please show your ticket at the theater entrance upon arrival.

If the event sells out, we will update the website and Facebook listings accordingly. If the event does not sell out in advance, attendance will be first-come, first-served at the door and at-the-door admission will remain a suggested donation.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Cat Behavior & Training

With Kristyn Vitale, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar at Oregon State University

March 12, 2020 | 6:30-8:30PM; Doors open @ 5PM | $5 Suggested Donation
 

MORE DETAILS SOON!

Science Pub Eugene is a monthly event that is open to anyone and everyone. No RSVP or scientific background required. Just bring your curiosity, sense of humor, and appetite for food, drinks, and knowledge! For more information or to sign up for our mailing list, email: sciencepub@omsi.edu.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Modeling the Evolutionary Ancestors of Dogs and Horses

with Reid Psaltis, Illustrator, Sculptor and Natural History Enthusiast

March 24, 2020 | Doors Open @ 5:30PM | 7-9PM | Suggested donation $5pp

MORE DETAILS SOON

Science Pub Portland at McMenamins Kennedy School is a monthly event that is open to anyone and everyone – no scientific background required. Just bring your curiosity, sense of humor, and appetite for food, drinks and knowledge!

Kennedy School Theater has everything from pizza to burgers to popcorn and candy. Food and drink are welcome in the theater. Parking is free for the event. Doors open at 5:30pm.

Share with your friends:

Pinterest

Toxicity of Oregon Amphibians

With Tom Titus, PhD, Research Biology in the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon

April 9, 2020 | 6:30-8:30PM; Doors open @ 5PM | $5 Suggested Donation
 

MORE DETAILS SOON!

Science Pub Eugene is a monthly event that is open to anyone and everyone. No RSVP or scientific background required. Just bring your curiosity, sense of humor, and appetite for food, drinks, and knowledge! For more information or to sign up for our mailing list, email: sciencepub@omsi.edu.