It is my pleasure to announce the full Fall 2014 schedule for the Rochester Science cafe, now entering its sixth year (!!!). We have an exciting run of speakers ready for the fall and into the spring, and hope to see everyone there starting in a couple weeks. As always, Cafes will be held on the fourth Tuesday of each month, in the Community Room of the Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble, starting at 7pm, with refreshments provided. Here is the lineup for the fall and beyond:

• September 23: “Mirages, Malaysia Air Flight and other interesting Optical Phenomena”
  Dr. Duncan Moore, Ph.D.
  Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering
  Vice Provost for Center for Entrepreneurship
  University of Rochester 
  
  
  

  Dr. Moore is the Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, as well as Professor of Business Administration in the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, all at the University of Rochester. In 2006, he was also appointed Director for Entrepreneurship at the University and in 2007, he became the Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship. Dr. Moore was president of the Optical Society of America in 1996 and was awarded the Edwin H. Land Medal in 2009.
  
  Professor Moore's major areas of research are in gradient-index materials, computer-aided design (including design for manufacturing methods), the manufacture of optical systems, medical optics (especially optics for minimally invasive surgery), and optical instrumentation. His most recent Ph.D. thesis student topics have been: very high efficiency solar cells; polymer gradient index optics; built-in accommodation system for the eye; terahertz imaging; generalized three-dimensional index gradients; single-point diamond turning of glass; design methods for gradient-index imaging systems; effect of diffusion chemistry on gradient-index profiles formed via sol-gel; quantitative phase imaging in scanning optical microscopy; integration of the design and manufacture of gradient-index optical systems; and interferometric characterization of the chromatic dispersion of gradient-index glasses.
  
  For those interested in more on this topic, he discussed the search for the missing Malaysia Air plane on WXXI's Connections in April.



• October 28: “Aging research: The search for the fountain of youth”
  Dr. Vera Gorbunova, Ph.D.
  Professor of Biology
  University of Rochester
  


• November 25: “Influential Passengers: Bacterial Symbionts That Manipulate Their Hosts”
  Dr. John (Jack) Werren, Ph.D.
  Nathaniel & Helen Wisch Professor of Biology
  University of Rochester
  


• January 27: "Conversing with computers to improve social skills"
  Dr. M. Ehsan Hoque, Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Computer Science
  University of Rochester


• February and beyond: TBA later this fall

March 25 Science Cafe: "Visual perception as a window to brain function” by Dr. Duje Tadin

Hi everyone,
    For our March Cafe, 7:00pm on March 25 at the Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble's Community Room, the speaker and topic will be:


Dr. Duje Tadin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Opthalmology
Center for Visual Science
University of Rochester

To which task is the biggest part of your brain devoted? It is not memory, nor is it reasoning. It is actually visual perception. About a half of the human cortex is involved in processing visual stimuli. This helps explain why even though humans lag far behind machines in memory and computing power, our vision is far superior to even the most advanced computer vision. Understanding vision gives us insights into a wide range of brain functions. My own research has revealed that a simple visual task can strongly predict IQ scores, that as we enter old age some aspects of our vision become enhanced, and that visual tasks where individuals with autism show superior performance may reveal important cues about autism. Join me for a discussion about visual perception as well as questions you may have about the brain and vision.

April's Talk (on the 22nd) will be by Dr. Eric Hittinger of RIT, on "Everything You Wanted to Know About Renewable Energy".

We hope to see everyone there!

More information on hyperspectral imaging

Hi everyone, in response to some requests for links to online information about hyperspectral imaging, last night's speaker, Dr. David Messinger, forwarded along the following:

• US Geological Survey information page: http://speclab.cr.usgs.gov/index.html 

• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory page on Imaging Spectroscopy: http://aviris.jpl.nasa.gov/aviris/imaging_spectroscopy.html 

• An information page by a commercial hyperspectral imaging company, SpecTIR: http://www.spectir.com/technology/hyperspectral-imaging/

On Tuesday, February 25, the Rochester Science Cafe will begin the Spring 2014 series with:

Hyperspectral Imaging: Observing the World in Hundreds of Colors

Dr. David Messinger 
Associate Research Professor
Director, Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory
Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science
Rochester Institute of Technology

Abstract: The color of materials derives from how they absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light. Color can be used to sensitively distinguish among objects of differing materials based on this selective reflectance. In hyperspectral imaging, fine material differentiation is achieved through the use of a dispersive element (such as a prism) to separate out images into hundreds of colors. Applications of airborne hyperspectral imaging include vegetation analysis to detect diseased vegetation and infestations, etc. It is also used widely in geology to map surface mineral deposits. I will talk both about the technology and applications of hyperspectral imaging, along with the challenges of working with this novel form of imaging.

As always, the talk will be at 7pm at the Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble in the Community Room. Coffee and cookies will be provided.

Our March and April talks are scheduled as well:

March 25: Dr. Duje Tadin (UofR): "What visual perception can tell us about the brain"

April 22: Dr. Eric Hittinger (RIT): "Everything You Wanted to Know About Renewable Energy"

We hope to see everyone there.

Rochester Science Cafe announcing Spring 2014 lineup

The Rochester Science cafe will be returning for a full Spring lineup in February. The spring cafes will feature more exciting topics, great discussion, and of course, coffee and cookies, all in our normal time and place, the 4th Tuesday of the Month, 7:00pm, at the Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble. The next three talks will be:

February 25: Dr. David Messinger (RIT): "Hyperspectral imaging: Observing the World in Hundreds of Colors"

March 25: Dr. Duje Tadin (UofR): "What visual perception can tell us about the brain"

April 22: Dr. Eric Hittinger (RIT): "Everything You Wanted to Know About Renewable Energy"


More information about each will follow in the next few weeks. We hope to see everyone there!

November Science Cafe -- November 26, 7pm: Dr. Margot Mayer-Proschel (UofR): "Iron deficiency: a silent threat to fetal brain development"

The November Science Cafe will be tomorrow, November 26, at 7pm, in the Community Room of the  Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble. Refreshments, as always, will be provided.


"Iron deficiency: a silent threat to fetal brain development"
Dr. Margot Mayer-Proschel, Ph.D.
Professor Biomedical Genetics, Neurobiology, and Anatomy
University of Rochester

Multiple risk factors compromise the ability of children to attain their maximal potential, including their cognitive abilities. Among such risk factors is iron deficiency, the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Iron deficiency is particularly frequent during pregnancy and afflicts 50% of pregnant women. Contrary to common perception, iron deficiency - especially during pregnancy - is caused not just by inadequate or delayed iron supplementation but is often a result of impaired iron absorption. Many factors interfere with iron absorption, including diabetes, obesity, celiac and Crohn’s diseases, exposure to polyphenols and pthalates found in tea and coffee, high levels of calcium and exposure to environmental lead.
Iron deficiency during pregnancy is often only noticed because it compromises the overall well being of the pregnant mother. However, its major and far more dangerous impact is on the developing fetus with the serious consequence of impairing fetal brain maturation. This impaired maturation can result in altered behavior, emotional disturbances and learning disability and low IQ. While these impairments are now appreciated and well documented in both humans and animal models iron supplementation of both the mother (which normally does not occur until the third trimester) and the/or the offspring remain ineffective in preventing these neuronal impairments.
Our work has been dedicated over the last decade to understanding how maternal iron deficiency impacts the neurological development of children and why current therapeutic strategies have such a low success rate. In light of a new population based study on over 2000 children and adolescents that showed a clear association between psychiatric disorders and iron deficiency, there is a great urgency in providing information and awareness of the problem and in providing new insights of how to effectively stop the burden of iron deficiency on future generations.

October Science Cafe -- 22 October, 7pm : Dr. Stefan Preble (RIT) -- "Optical Computers - Computing at the speed of light"

The October Science Cafe will be tomorrow, October 22, at 7pm, in the Community Room of the Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble. Refreshments, as always, will be provided.

------------------------------------
October 22: Dr. Stefan Preble
Associate Professor of Microsystems Engineering &
Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering, RIT
Title: "Optical Computers - Computing at the speed of light"

From the website of RIT's nanophotonics group:

Preble's group, R.I.T NanophotonicsGroup, is developing ultrasmall
devices that leverage the high bandwidths, low powers, low latencies
and sensitivities that are possible with light. The devices and
systems we are developing will revolutionize future microprocessor,
communication, and sensing systems. These nanophotonic devices are
primarily integrated on a silicon CMOS platform in order to leverage
the mature fabrication techniques that are used in the
microelectronics industry. This integration will enable unprecedented
electro-optical information systems that one day will be able to
process hundreds of terabits of information on a low cost chip.

--------------------------------------
November 26: Dr. Margot Mayer-Proschel
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Genetics
University of Rochester Medical Center
Title: "Gestational Iron Deficiency"