We’re back with Science Fair, Bwog’s weekly curated list of interesting STEM-related talks, symposiums, and events happening on campus. For science and non-science majors alike, our list will bring you events that will satisfy your scientific curiosity for everything from astronomy to zoology, and everything in between.

For anyone, related-majors and non-majors alike:

  • 400 Years of Inequality: A Call to Action – Neighborhood Conversations: Energy Health and Justice and Mass Incarceration, (AT THE MEDICAL CAMPUS)
    • Monday, October 14, 1:30-3:30pm, 722 W 168 St (8th Floor), click here for more information
    • Columbia Mailman is organizing a number of talks and events on Monday, October 14 to educate and engage our community on how the history [of racial injustice] continues to shape health inequalities throughout the United States and how public health can be a lever to change the status quo. Join faculty and community leaders to discuss public health issues that have significantly impacted our Washington Heights neighbors.
  • Digital Wireless: Origins, Evolution and Challenges, Talk by Dr. Andrew Viterbi
    • Tuesday, October 15, 2-3pm, CEPSR Davis Auditorium, click here to register
    • Life in the Twenty-first Century has been inalterably affected by the full emergence of digital wireless connectivity. More than half the denizens of our planet have become both beneficiaries and victims of the fruits of the broadly defined technologies known as digital and wireless. As we’re currently situated in the “Exploitation Era,” we reap unchallenged benefits along with serious challenges.
  • Science for Society : How All of Us Can Join the Conversation to Advance Science in America
    • Wednesday, October 16, 6-7:30pm, CEPSR Davis Auditorium, Click here for more information
    • The existence of climate deniers on the right and vaccine deniers on the left portend a world where dismissing science can have grave consequences. In an attempt to convince decision makers and the public that there is a need to take action, scientists often fail to get their message across… all of us need to have more conversations about science which can only happen if more scientists speak up and make their ideas and their work better understood.
  • What Is Being Done to Address Environmental Health Risks in Harlem?
    • Thursday, October 17, 6:30-8:30pm, Click here for more information
    • There is increasing recognition that toxic chemicals in the environment, as well as poverty, racism, and inequitable access to medical care, contribute to both pediatric and adult disease. The Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health has conducted research in Central and West Harlem, Washington Heights and the South Bronx since 1998 to assess the impact of prenatal exposure to suspected environmental health hazards on growth and development throughout childhood.
  • Columbia Astronomy Public Outreach presents “Life in the Universe”
    • Friday, October 18, 8pm, Pupin Hall, Click here for more information
    • These are free lectures at a public level followed by guided stargazing with telescopes (weather permitting). All events are held at Pupin Hall at Columbia University. Lectures are 30 minutes, stargazing lasts 90 minutes.

Intended for more advanced students of the given subject (but still open to all interested students):

  • “The lymphatic vasculature in the 21st century: developmental mechanisms and functional roles” Biology Department Seminar by Guillermo Oliver (Northwestern)
    • Monday, October 14, 12pm, Click here for more information
    • Unexpectedly, morphological or functional defects in the lymphatic vasculature have been associated with a variety of medical conditions, including obesity, inflammation, hypertension, atherosclerosis, Crohn’s disease, glaucoma and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s. In this seminar I will summarize our current views related to the mechanisms regulating the development of the mammalian lymphatic vasculature as well as the current views related to its functional roles in health and disease.
  • Changing Two Minds Is Better Than One: Biological and Behavioral Experimentation Within Complex Social Relationships
    • Tuesday, October 15, 4:30-6:30pm, Faculty House Skyline Dining Room, register here
    • Experimental interventions are becoming an increasingly popular research methodology in the neural and social sciences. Conventionally, animal and human intervention studies try to reduce the variability and complexity of the environment as much as possible… we spotlight novel research designs that examine interdependent individuals embedded within complex relational systems, from the interactions of couples, to middle-school friendships, to parent-child dynamics.

image via wikimedia commons