Welcome back to Science Fair, Bwog’s weekly roundup of science events happening around campus. As always, email science@bwog.com if you want your event featured.

The Genealogy of “The Question of Palestine”

• Monday, November 13, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
• Online and in-person. Registration required for in-person location.
• This speaker event and discussion will feature Hadeel Assali, Anthropology Postdoctoral Researcher, Columbia University; Nadia Abu El-Haj, Professor of Anthropology, Barnard College; and Nasser Abourahme, Assistant Professor of MENA Studies, Bowdoin College. More information here. 

Career Journeys with Jason Bordoff

• Tuesday, November 14, 8:45 to 9:45 am
• In-person at the Center on Global Energy Policy (First Floor). Registration required.
• “Please join the Women in Energy initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia SIPA for a conversation featuring Jason Bordoff, Founding Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy. Our discussion will focus on his career journey and how he became one of the world’s leading energy and climate policy experts. How did he turn his interest in energy into a career? What lessons did he learn along the way?” More information here. 

Can Mental Health Save the World?

• Tuesday, November 14, 5 to 8 pm
• In-person at Pulitzer Hall (World Room). Registration required.
• “Just as climate change strains the health of ecosystems, it also strains human health—including mental health. What changes if we consider the climate crisis a mental health crisis? What lessons can we draw from bioethics to address that crisis? And can a mental health lens help us better understand and combat other pernicious and persistent social problems of our time? A discussion at the intersection of mental health, climate change, and bioethics.” More information here.

Energy Democracy and Community Empowerment

• Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 6:30 to 8 pm
• In-person at Altschul Hall
• “Who owns the energy that powers our communities? If energy is power, how might community-owned energy generation challenge entrenched structures of power? Energy Democracy and Community Empowerment brings prominent public figures to discuss community-based renewable energy projects in New York City, from the Renewable Rikers plan to turn the island jail complex into a site for publicly-owned renewable energy production to the Co-ops Go Solar campaign to bring solar energy to low-income homeowners. These, and other initiatives rooted in economic and racial justice, will elucidate the challenges and potential of frontline communities becoming critical stakeholders in the city’s climate adaptation.” More information here. 

Catherine McNeur – Mischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science

• Tuesday, November 14, 7 to 8:30 pm
• In-person at Book Culture (536 West 112th Street). Registration required.
• “Catherine McNeur uncovers the lives and work of Margaretta Hare Morris and Elizabeth Carrington Morris, sisters and scientists in early America. Margaretta, an entomologist, was famous among her peers and the public for her research on seventeen-year cicadas and other troublesome insects. Elizabeth, a botanist, was a prolific illustrator and a trusted supplier of specimens to the country’s leading experts. Together, their discoveries helped fuel the growth and professionalization of science in antebellum America. But these very developments confined women in science to underpaid and underappreciated roles for generations to follow, erasing the Morris sisters’ contributions along the way.” More information here. 

Anthropology Faculty Talk: Paige West

• Wednesday, November 15, 2:10 to 4 pm
• In-person at 465 Schermerhorn Extension (Anthropology Lounge)
• “Paige West speaks about ‘Collaborative Coastal Planning in Papua New Guinea: An Anthropology of Letting Go.’ In New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Indigenous Elders have worked with Indigenous scientists and American anthropologists to develop new kinds of projects focused on socio-ecological and socio-spiritual revitalization. These locally designed and enacted projects are an Indigenous form of coastal planning which refuses both state-planning and conservation organization planning. This talk describes the process of collaboration that resulted in the methodology used to design, enact, and facilitate these projects.” More information here.

Brad Bolman – How to Identify a Mushroom: Standards, Expertise, and Objectivity

• Wednesday, November 15, 6 to 7:30 pm
• Online and in-person at Fayerweather Hall (Room 513). Registration required.
• “Most people know a mushroom when they see one, but very few can identify one with visual cues alone. During the late-nineteenth century, as mycology experienced a major transnational expansion, the lack of standard naming systems or methods for identifying specimens led to debates over the conditions of expertise and experiments in training observers. This talk explores the deceptively simple question of classifying a species in the work of Curtis Gates Lloyd, a Cincinnati-based mycologist who built a massive, international network of amateur observers in the early 20th century; in the first mushroom identification field guides from the mid-century; and in contemporary AI mushroom identification apps to explore the formation of expert judgment and its limits.” More information here. 

Air Pollution Disparities and Equality Assessments

• Wednesday, November 15, 6 to 8 pm
• In-person at Faculty House (Presidential Ballroom). Registration required. 
• “Energy transitions and decarbonization require rapid changes to a nation’s electricity generation mix. There are many feasible decarbonization pathways for the electricity sector, yet there is vast uncertainty about how these pathways will advance or derail the nation’s energy equality goals. We present a framework for investigating how decarbonization pathways, driven by a least-cost paradigm, will impact air pollution inequality across vulnerable groups (e.g., low-income, minorities) in the United States.” More information here. 

The Compound Risk of Heat and COVID-19 in New York City

• Thursday, November 16, 10 to 11 am
• Online over Zoom. Meeting link here. 
• “Climate change is disrupting the fundamental conditions of human life and exacerbating existing inequity by placing further burdens on communities that are already vulnerable. Exposure to risk and its consequences varies by where people live and work. We will examine the overlapping spatial nature and multiplicity of compound risks associated with COVID-19 and extreme heat in New York City. The relationship between a range of natural environmental, built and social environmental, and socio-demographic characteristics, as well as the spatial correspondence of COVID-19 daily case rates across three waves of the pandemic are examined.” More information here. 

Energy Opportunity Forum: Catalyzing Energy for Development and Social Progress

• Friday, November 17, 9 am to 12:15 pm
• Online and in-person at Faculty House. Registration required. 
• “Over half of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa has no access to electricity. Hospitals in these regions struggle to provide healthcare, food, and vaccines get wasted due to lack of cooling, And businesses struggle to improve productivity. At the same time, a third of United States households experience energy insecurity – many forgo food or medicine to pay utility bills, live in unhealthy conditions, or face utility disconnections altogether. Governments, experts, and civil society have highlighted the urgency to accelerate the use of reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy for catalyzing overall well-being and development. How do we unleash this energy opportunity so individuals and communities across the world can realize their fullest life potential?” Information on panels and speakers here. 

Ocean and Climate Physics Seminar with Dr. Aakash Sane

• Friday, November 17, 11 to 12 pm
• Online over Zoom. Contact Isabelle Bunge at ieb2123@columbia.edu for link. 
• “On Friday, November 17th, we will have an OCP Seminar given by Dr. Aakash Sane, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Title: Improving Vertical Mixing in the Ocean Surface Boundary Layer using Machine Learning in a Climate Model.” More information here. 

Astronomy Public Outreach: Trivia, Stargazing, and “Tales from the Stellar Graveyard: The Ghosts of Stars Past“

• Friday, November 17, 6 to 8 pm
• In-person at Pupin Hall 301 (trivia and lecture) and College Walk (stargazing). Registration required.
• “This year’s Public Lecture & Stargazing series is kicking off next Friday, November 17, at 6 pm! Columbia Astronomer Jennifer Mead will be giving a public talk titled ‘Tales from the Stellar Graveyard: The Ghosts of Stars Past’: ‘Even on the large scales of the universe, life and death are intricately intertwined. In this spooky post-Halloween story, we will talk about how astronomers analyze light from the distant universe to unlock the secrets hidden in the tombs of dead stars and how, from the ashes of these stars, new life emerges.’ From 7:10 to 8:10 pm, we will be outside stargazing on College Walk (weather permitting). In parallel with stargazing, we’ll also be holding a small reception indoors to welcome all of you back to Pupin (hot chocolate may be present….)” More information here and here.

Science Fair via Giovanni de la Rosa