Talks

Previous Talks

Cosmic Mergers and Acquisitions: How Galaxy Mergers and Supermassive Black Holes Shape Galaxy Growth

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/bumps-her-head-and-sees-the-stars/

Jenny Greene is an assistant professor of astrophysics at Princeton University. Her research focuses on supermassive black holes and the galaxies that they live in. She also teaches algebra in NJ state prisons through the Prison Teaching Initiative.

Dawkins walks into a madrassa: How evolution is used in promoting ‘clash of civilizations’ narrative

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2018/03/28/and-decides-to-bring-up-a-politically-charged-topic/

Salman Hameed, aka “Mr. Universe” on Monte Belmonte’s WRIS radio program, is Charles Taylor Chair and associate professor of integrated science & humanities in the school of Cognitive Science at Hampshire College. His primary research interest focuses on understanding the reception of science in the Muslim world and how Muslims view the relationship between science & religion.

Shining Light on and in the Brain: Using Lasers and Viruses to Understand Brain Circuits in Songbirds

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2018/01/23/and-orders-a-light-beer/

Luke Remage-Healey is a professor of psychological and brain sciences at UMass. Research in the Healey lab is focused on the neural basis of natural behavior. They study songbirds as their research model for understanding vocal learning and brain plasticity.

Do Be So Sensitive: Stretchy Sensors for Wearable Devices and Soft Robotics

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2017/12/12/and-orders-a-soft-drink/

Kristen Dorsey, Assistant Professor of Engineering at Smith College, focuses on the fabrication and characterization of micro-scale sensors and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). She likes to understand “why things go wrong” by investigating device reliability and stability. Her current and previous work has had applications in actuation, gas chemical sensing, and inertial sensing.

What a mouse can tell us about Autism and other brain-immune links

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/braintree/

Jared Schwartzer, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Education, and Neuroscience and Behavior at Mount Holyoke College, is a behavioral neuroscientist studying preclinical models of neurodevelopmental disorders including Autism Spectrum Disorders. He is particularly interested in understanding how genetic and environmental interactions alter the development of the brain to produce behavioral and cognitive deficits.

How a virus builds itself

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/atmospheric_pressure/

Vinothan Manoharan is a Wagner Family Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Physics at Harvard. In his lab, he and his team use light scattering, optical microscopy, spectroscopy, synthesis and other experimental techniques to understand the physics of self-organization. For most of these experiments they use colloids, suspensions of particles typically about a micrometer in size.

Engineering Reverse Innovations: Using Emerging Markets’ Constraints to Drive the Creation of High-Performance, Low-Cost, Global Technologies

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/engineering-reverse-innovations/

Amos G. Winter is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and the director of the Global Engineering and Research Lab. Join us as he shares his work in engineering science, where his lab is leveraging science and research to solve applied problems, and how engineering reverse innovations led to disruptive insights in Prof. Winter’s research on drip irrigation and water purification.

A Quantum Mechanic’s Approach to Next Generation Electronics

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/superconductor-with-no-ice/

Joseph Checkelsky is an assistant professor of physics at MIT. His research aims to uncover new physical phenomena that expand the boundaries of understanding of quantum mechanical condensed matter systems and also to open doorways to new technologies by realizing emergent electronic and magnetic functionalities

You’re never too old to play in the sandbox: The physics of soft materials

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/foam/

Kerstin Nordstrom is a Clare Booth Luce assistant professor of physics at Mount Holyoke College where she researches complex fluid flows. Such fluids are commonplace in both nature and industry, yet are still poorly understood, sometimes exhibiting bizarre behavior. Her lab studies a variety of such systems, including avalanching sand, flowing colloids in microfluidic devices, and suspensions of algae.

“Where am I?” and other fundamental questions robots think long and hard to answer

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/and-runs-multiple-simulations-to-plan-the-optimal-route-to-the-drinks/

Joydeep Biswas is an assistant professor of information and computer science at UMass, Amherst. His ultimate research goal is to have self-sufficient autonomous mobile robots working in human environments, performing tasks accurately and robustly.

Remote Sensing: A Tool for Ecological Management

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2016/11/03/movement/

Thomas Millette is a professor of geography at Mount Holyoke College. His research has included using satellite and GIS data to study the causes, nature, and impact of land-cover change and forest degradation in the Middle Mountains of the Nepalese Himalayas, in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans of northeast India, and on the Lake Champlain Basin of Vermont, New York, and Southern Quebec.

Benford’s Law: Why the IRS cares about Algebra and Number Theory (and why you should too!)

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2016/08/23/benford/

Steven J. Miller is an associate professor of mathematics at Williams College. His research is in number theory and probability, especially some problems on the boundary of math and physics. Some of his current projects with undergraduates include a collaboration with the San Diego Padres and working with the IRS to detect tax fraud, as well as some problems in number theory and dynamical systems.

Engineering plant defenses to fight cancer

https://scitechcafe.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/and-taps-a-plant-to-make-drugs/

Professor Susan Roberts is the chemical engineering department head at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where her research focuses on understanding the fundamental complexities in specialized metabolism and development of renewable, engineered plant cell culture systems to synthesize valuable clinical and industrial molecules.

Videos

Physicists Fold Under Pressure

Prof. Chris Santangelo, and Prof. Ryan Hayward at UMass, together withProf. Thomas Hull from Western New England University and research teams from Cornell, have been creating soft, micro-scale polymer gels that can fold into remarkably complex origami shapes which could have applications in bio-medical engineering. In this presentation you’ll see the wizardry of origami and how its mysteries are being unlocked and harnessed by researchers in the Pioneer Valley. June 9, 2014

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Physicists Fold Under Pressure

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Exploring Alien Worlds

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