Due to concerns over the pandemic, Rochester Science Cafe engagements will be delayed until winter, or as soon it is safe to resume in person meetings. David and I have discussed this at some length, and we just feel that nothing can compare to the in-person experience. We'll be back as soon as we can do that safely for everyone in our Science Cafe community.
Sunday, September 5, 2021
Science Cafe on hiatus for Fall 2021
Hi everyone
Due to concerns over the pandemic, Rochester Science Cafe engagements will be delayed until winter, or as soon it is safe to resume in person meetings. David and I have discussed this at some length, and we just feel that nothing can compare to the in-person experience. We'll be back as soon as we can do that safely for everyone in our Science Cafe community.
Due to concerns over the pandemic, Rochester Science Cafe engagements will be delayed until winter, or as soon it is safe to resume in person meetings. David and I have discussed this at some length, and we just feel that nothing can compare to the in-person experience. We'll be back as soon as we can do that safely for everyone in our Science Cafe community.
Thursday, May 20, 2021
May Science Cafe, 5/25@7pm: "What is Chemical Engineering", by Steven Weinstein and Nate Barlow (RIT)
As we bring this first (and quite possibly only) year of the Rochester Virtual Science Cafe to an end, we wanted to take you on a tour of the chemical, mathematical, and engineering worlds with Dr. Steven Weinstein from RIT's Chemical Engineering department and Dr. Nate Barlow from the RIT's School of Mathematical Sciences:
May 25, 7pm
What is chemical engineering, and how is it different from chemistry?
May 25, 7pm
What is chemical engineering, and how is it different from chemistry?
https://rit.zoom.us/j/96028743897?pwd=T3NGV0xUcEtTNzFQTkpUVUwwTXpsUT09
Chemical engineers develop processes that transform raw materials into useful chemicals that enhance our quality of life. In addition to chemicals found in products used by consumers every day, chemical engineers create novel materials such as nanoscale composites, pharmaceuticals, plastics, fibers, metals, and ceramics. Chemical engineers are trained to design and control chemically reactive processes to achieve desired chemical purity. However, they also use their intricate knowledge of chemistry, engineering principles, and applied mathematics to work in a variety of other applications. These include applied energy systems, biomedical materials and therapies, and strategies to minimize the environmental impact of technological advancements.
A common question that many ask is, “How is chemical engineering different from chemistry?” Typically, chemists create new molecules via chemical reactions, examine the underlying mechanisms involved, and make precise chemical measurements on a bench scale in small volumes. Chemical engineers utilize the initial work of the chemists, but often need to modify the reactions themselves, as they can be too slow to be useful. Additionally, chemical engineers examine how the size of a system affects the chemistry, as both heat transfer and mixing processes get more difficult with increased system size—and the scale need to be larger to meet demand for chemicals. The interaction between size and chemistry is non-trivial and requires bench top and larger scale experimentation in which key parameters are measured. Such parameters are, in turn, inserted into mathematical models to predict larger scales. This is an iterative process and requires intensive chemistry, engineering, and mathematical training to master.
In this Science Café presentation, we will discuss the items above in a casual discussion!
https://www.rit.edu/bwgroup/
Chemical engineers develop processes that transform raw materials into useful chemicals that enhance our quality of life. In addition to chemicals found in products used by consumers every day, chemical engineers create novel materials such as nanoscale composites, pharmaceuticals, plastics, fibers, metals, and ceramics. Chemical engineers are trained to design and control chemically reactive processes to achieve desired chemical purity. However, they also use their intricate knowledge of chemistry, engineering principles, and applied mathematics to work in a variety of other applications. These include applied energy systems, biomedical materials and therapies, and strategies to minimize the environmental impact of technological advancements.
A common question that many ask is, “How is chemical engineering different from chemistry?” Typically, chemists create new molecules via chemical reactions, examine the underlying mechanisms involved, and make precise chemical measurements on a bench scale in small volumes. Chemical engineers utilize the initial work of the chemists, but often need to modify the reactions themselves, as they can be too slow to be useful. Additionally, chemical engineers examine how the size of a system affects the chemistry, as both heat transfer and mixing processes get more difficult with increased system size—and the scale need to be larger to meet demand for chemicals. The interaction between size and chemistry is non-trivial and requires bench top and larger scale experimentation in which key parameters are measured. Such parameters are, in turn, inserted into mathematical models to predict larger scales. This is an iterative process and requires intensive chemistry, engineering, and mathematical training to master.
In this Science Café presentation, we will discuss the items above in a casual discussion!
https://www.rit.edu/bwgroup/
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
April Zoom Science Cafe: Dr. Arie Bodek (UofR): "Particle Physics Then and Now"
The Rochester Science cafe is pleased to announce the penultimate cafe for the Spring 2021 series. On Tuesday, April 27, at 7pm, we will have:
Dr. Arie Bodek, Ph.D.
George E. Pake Professor of Physics
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Rochester
“Particle Physics Then and Now: Quarks, Higgs Bosons and Gravitational Waves"
https://rit.zoom.us/j/96028743897?pwd=T3NGV0xUcEtTNzFQTkpUVUwwTXpsUT09
The final cafe of the Spring will be on Tuesday, May 25, by Profs. Nathaniel Barlow and Steven Weinstein of RIT, more on that soon.
Dr. Arie Bodek, Ph.D.
George E. Pake Professor of Physics
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Rochester
“Particle Physics Then and Now: Quarks, Higgs Bosons and Gravitational Waves"
https://rit.zoom.us/j/96028743897?pwd=T3NGV0xUcEtTNzFQTkpUVUwwTXpsUT09
The final cafe of the Spring will be on Tuesday, May 25, by Profs. Nathaniel Barlow and Steven Weinstein of RIT, more on that soon.
Sunday, February 21, 2021
February Zoom Science Cafe: 2/23@7pm — Dr. Tony Wong (RIT): "Evaluating the Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Rates on College Campuses to Wastewater Surveillance"
The Rochester Virtual Science Cafe will be running this Tuesday, February 23, at 7pm. Needless to say, this month's subject is both timely, and something most of us don't spend a lot of time thinking about. Just to head off any questions, Dr. Tony Wong works on the theory and modeling side, not on the data collection, as far as I know.
Cheers, Josh
Title:
Evaluating the Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Rates on College Campuses to Wastewater Surveillance
Zoom link: https://rit.zoom.us/j/
Passcode: 732879
Abstract:
As college campuses reopen in Spring 2021, we are thrust into yet another large-scale experiment on the efficacy of various strategies to contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Traditional individual surveillance testing via nasal swabs and/or saliva are among the measures that colleges are pursuing to reduce the spread of the virus on campus. Additionally, some colleges are testing wastewater on their campuses for signs of infection, which can provide an early warning signal for campuses to locate COVID-positive individuals. We will discuss the implementation of a new model component for wastewater surveillance within an established epidemiological compartment model for the spread of COVID-19 on college campuses. We use a hypothetical residential university to evaluate the efficacy of wastewater surveillance for maintaining low infection rates. We find that wastewater sampling with a 1-day lag to initiate individual screening tests, plus completing the subsequent tests within a 4-day period can keep overall infections within 5% of the infection rates seen with weekly traditional individual surveillance testing. Our results also indicate that wastewater surveillance can be an effective way to dramatically reduce the number of false positive cases by identifying subpopulations for surveillance testing where infectious individuals are more likely to be found. Through a Monte Carlo risk analysis, we find that surveillance testing that relies solely on wastewater sampling can be fragile against scenarios with high viral reproductive numbers and high rates of infection of campus community members by outside sources. These results point to the practical importance of additional surveillance measures to limit the spread of the virus on campus and the necessity of a proactive response to the initial signs of outbreak.
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For more, you can head to his website on Github: https://tonyewong.
Sunday, January 17, 2021
January Cafe:
Hello everyone, our January Cafe will be Tuesday, January 26, at 7pm.
“Planetary atmospheres: The winds of change in our Solar System”
Dr. Kelly Douglass, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy
Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of Rochester
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Here is what you'll need for next week and all future Zoom meetings of the Science Cafe. If you run into any problems, please reply to this email and I will make sure you can get in.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://rit.zoom.us/j/96028743897?pwd=T3NGV0xUcEtTNzFQTkpUVUwwTXpsUT09
Meeting ID: 960 2874 3897
Passcode: 732879
Join Zoom Meeting
https://rit.zoom.us/j/96028743897?pwd=T3NGV0xUcEtTNzFQTkpUVUwwTXpsUT09
Meeting ID: 960 2874 3897
Passcode: 732879
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
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Dr. Douglass is currently a visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester. Her research interests include observational cosmology, cosmic voids, galaxy formation and evolution, dark matter structure, and statistical analysis of large data sets. She is currently working with SDSS data, studying the large-scale environmental dependence of oxygen and nitrogen abundances (metallicity) in dwarf galaxies, and is a member of the DESI collaboration.
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