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.
If your group is hosting a STEM-related event, please email science@bwog.com about it to be featured in Science Fair!

Athena Film Festival!

Film Screening: “Radioactive”

  • Friday, February 28, 9:00 PM, Diana Event Oval, click here for more information (Student tickets are $5)
  • “From the 1870s through our 21st century, Radioactive tells the story of pioneering scientist  Marie Curie (Rosamund Pike) through her extraordinary life and her enduring legacies – the passionate partnerships, her shining scientific breakthroughs, and the darker consequences that followed.”

Film Screening: “Woman in Motion”

  • Sunday, March 1, 3:00 PM, Diana Event Oval, click here for more information (Student tickets are $5)
  • “In 1977, with just four months left, NASA struggles to recruit scientists, engineers and astronauts for their new Space Shuttle Program. That is when Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek’s Lt. Uhura, challenges them by asking the question: Where are my people?  She embarks on a national blitz, recruiting 8,000 of the nation’s best and brightest, including the trailblazing astronauts who became the first African American, Asian, and Latino men and women to fly in space.”

Panel immediately following “Woman in Motion”: “Women in Space”

  • Sunday, March 1, 4:30 PM, Diana Event Oval, click here for more information
  • “With the first all-women spacewalk in October 2019, and NASA’s goal to land the first woman on the moon by 2024, what was once a dream for many women and girls is now becoming a reality. Numerous films in recent years have also explored the idea of women in space. Following the screening of Woman In Motion the panel will discuss the history of women in space and the connection between the stories on screen and the real-life initiatives.”

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

Predicting Species’ Future Geographic Distributions Using Thermal Performance (Lecture by Marta Lyons, University of Central Florida)

  • Monday, February 24, 11:30 AM, LL103 Diana Center, email Melissa Flores (mflores@barnard.edu) for more information
  • “Using mountaintop salamanders as a study system, I test whether gene flow prevents local adaptation in key eco-physiological traits and then demonstrate how knowledge of these eco-physiological processes can be used to create more robust models for predicting future geographic distributions. Finally, I will show how I am altering this modeling approach to answer questions relating to the influence of climate and disturbance on sea turtle nesting success across the southwest of the United States.”

The Coronavirus epidemic in China and beyond: A panel discussion

  •  Monday, February 24, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM, click here for more information
  • “Please join us for an interdisciplinary conversation about China’s response to the coronavirus. With Huang Yanzhong, Yang Wan and Nick Bartlett, moderated by Weiping Wu. This panel will feature brief presentations and a conversation about the emergence and recent response to the current outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), with a particular focus on recent efforts aiming to treat and prevent additional infections. Drawing on perspectives from epidemiology, public health and governance, urban planning, and medical anthropology, the panelists will discuss recent developments and reflect on the potential consequences for social life in China and beyond. The event will include extended time for discussion with the audience.”

Data for Good: P. Anandan (Lecture by P. Anandan, CEO of the Wadhwani Institue for AI)

  • Friday, February 28, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM, Northwest Corner Building room 1406, click here for more information
  • Even as we find Artificial Intelligence technologies pervasive in all aspects of our lives and there is every reason to believe this technology will fundamentally transform economic, social, and political realms throughout the world, its impact in day to day matters will primarily be limited to those in the middle and upper economic strata. This leaves out about 3 billion or more people who live in poor communities throughout the world. Yet, the power of AI and the ability to learn and create solutions based on data and real world experience are even more relevant to such underserved communities, whose living conditions are at least in part due to the lack of human expertise and human capacity to address their problems…In this talk, I will describe our progress, the challenges we faced and how we address them, and our directions for the future. We are an independent not-for-profit organization based in Mumbai, India, but with the aim of addressing problems faced by underserved communities throughout the world.

 

Artistic rendering but would be cool if this were real via Pixabay