Wednesday, November 18, 2020

November Zoom Science Cafe: “2020 Elections: Polarization, Discourse, Democratic Institutions” by Prof. Lynda Powell (UofR)

 For our November Zoom Science Cafe, we are mixing things up a little:


7 pm, Tuesday November 24
“2020 Elections: Polarization, Discourse, Democratic Institutions”
Professor Lynda Powell, Ph.D.
University of Rochester Department of Political Science

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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

Dial by your location
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

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Dr. Powell's academic interests:
American politics. Current research focuses on the influence of campaign contributions in American legislatures and on legislative bipartisanship, polarization and representation. My most recent book, The Influence of Campaign Contributions in State Legislatures: The Effects of Institutions and Politics (University of Michigan Press, 2012) won the Fenno Prize, the best book award of the Legislative Studies Section of APSA, and was the inaugural winner of the Gray Prize, the best book award of the State Politics and Policy Section of APSA. A description of the book can be found here on the publisher's website. Other publications include The Financiers of Congressional Elections (co-authors Peter Francia, John Green, Paul Herrnson, and Clyde Wilcox; Columbia University Press, 2003); Term Limits in the State Legislatures (co-authors John Carey and Richard G. Niemi; University of Michigan Press, 2000); Serious Money: Fundraising and Contributing in Presidential Nomination Campaigns (co-authors Clifford W. Brown, Jr., and Clyde Wilcox; Cambridge University Press, 1995); and articles in journals including the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics and Legislative Studies Quarterly. Teaches courses in American politics. Directs European Political and Business Internships, Washington Semester Program and local internships, including District Attorney Internships and Public Defender Internships.


https://sas.rochester.edu/psc/people/view.php?fid=20
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BKYxIPkAAAAJ&hl=en

Friday, October 16, 2020

October Science Cafe (10/27@7pm): "The Only Surviving Hominin: Human Origins and Evolution”, by Dr. Howard Ochman (University of Texas, Austin)

Hi everyone, we are excited to announce the speaker for the Rochester Science Cafe's October talk:

Tuesday, October 27 @ 7pm:
"The Only Surviving Hominin:  Human Origins and Evolution”
Dr. Howard Ochman (University of Texas, Austin)
Professor, Department of Integrative Biology


Apologies for any confusion last month with needing registration and/or a passcode for Zoom, that was a late addition to the RIT security protocols for public talks.  The video of the talk is now available online, you can find it here on Youtube.  Note that we were about 2 minutes in when I remembered to start recording.

 Here is what you'll need for all future Zoom meetings of the Science Cafe:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://rit.zoom.us/j/96028743897?pwd=T3NGV0xUcEtTNzFQTkpUVUwwTXpsUT09

Meeting ID: 960 2874 3897
Passcode: 732879

Dial by your location
        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

Saturday, September 12, 2020

September Science Cafe: The Road to a Pandemic COVID-19 Vaccine, by Dr. Angela Branche (UofR)

 Hello to all the devoted friends and attendees of the Rochester Science Cafe!

Starting this Fall, and continuing on until it is deemed safe for us all to meet in person again, the Rochester Science Cafe is moving to Zoom (the Rochester Zience Cafe?).  See below for details on how to join, and how to ask questions.

Our Fall 2020 series will begin on September 22, and continue on monthly.  The first talk will be:

September 22, 7pm:  https://rit.zoom.us/j/96028743897

The Road to a Pandemic COVID-19 Vaccine

Dr. Angela Branche

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases

University of Rochester Medical Center

To join the Cafe,  simply follow the Zoom link above.  Please note that Cafes will be recorded, so we can reach the broadest audience possible.  There will be two ways to ask a question:

  • Write it down in the "Chat", and one of the MCs, either David or Josh, will ask it for you
  • Go to "Participants", and use the "Raise Hand" feature.  Josh or David will unmute you and ask you to go ahead with the question.

We will allow the audience to leave their video on, but we recommend turning it off while you are just listening to save bandwidth, turning it on to ask a question.

During her years at the University of Rochester her focus in research involved the use of viral molecular and immunological diagnostic assays to explore the pathogenesis and host response to acute viral respiratory illnesses in adults. She is currently the clinical director of the NIH Center for Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) New York Influenza Center of Excellence (NYICE) and Co-Principal Investigator for the UR Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit (UR VTEU). Her current research activities explore clinical disease, pathogenesis, development of therapeutics and vaccine biology related to infection with viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens. Studies include assessment of asymptomatic carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae and the impact of pneumococcal vaccination, surveillance of epidemic influenza infections and immunologic mechanisms of protection following natural infection versus vaccination, the development of pandemic influenza vaccines, population-based studies of RSV infection and the development of vaccine and anti-viral agents for RSV. Current efforts also include the study of the pathogenesis and immune response to pandemic SARS Coronavirus 2 infections and clinical interventional trials for the development of COVID19 therapeutic agents and vaccines. She is a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America and the NIH Human Cohorts Steering Committee and NIH IDCRC Emerging Infectious Expert Working Group. Dr. Branche has published several peer-reviewed articles, reviews and book chapters related to respiratory viral pathogens in adults.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

March Science Cafe cancelled -- updates to follow

Dear Rochester Science Cafe Friends,

Out of an abundance of caution over the COVID-19 virus situation we have decided it best to cancel Seth Hubbard's March 24th Science Cafe.

We are taking our lead from local universities and colleges, who have cancelled all unnecessary meetings and gatherings for now.

In lieu of the cafe meeting, we'll try to post more science related content to both here and the facebook page:


Look for notifications there and via email for when we restart.

Stay safe, healthy, and informed!

Best,

Joshua Faber and David Goldfarb

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Spring 2020 Cafe Lineup -- part 1

The Rochester Science Cafe is pleased to announce the first part of our Spring 2020 cafe lineup.  Our first cafe will be this coming Tuesday, January 28, at 7pm.  As always, we'll be at the Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble (3349 Monroe Ave.) upstairs in the community room.  The talk will be:

Tuesday, January 28, 7pm
Artificial Intelligence: Assistant or Adversary?
Dr. George Ferguson
Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, UofR

We will discuss the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence to help us understand what exactly AI is, and whether we should be concerned or elated.


Our February and March Cafes will be:

February 25: Dr. Michael Lam (RIT) -- "Pulsars: Fundamental Physics with Nature's Best Celestial Clocks" 

March 24: Dr. Seth Hubbard (RIT) -- Solar power (title TBD).

More on April and May to come!
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On another note, if you enjoyed our November Cafe on Perception by Edmund Lalor, here are some links that he sent along for further reading: