Tuesday, June 24th, 3:30pm-7:00pm
5th floor of Shepherd Labs, 100 Union St SE (East Bank Campus)
Take advantage of this opportuity to tour the state-of-the-art medical device laboratory facilities and experience connections to surgery suites in 3D. Other features include a CAD/Precision Instruments Lab and Mechanical and Electronics fabrication centers.
6:30 p.m. Reception
7 p.m. Lecture
Digital Technology Center
Room 402, Walter Library
From medicine to entertainment, mathematics is critical to meeting the needs of our future. In this Institute of Technology Public Lecture world-renowned mathematician and University of Minnesota mathematics professor Doug Arnold will highlight interesting examples in which the University’s Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) has solved problems in contemporary life.
Register here for the presentation.
Wednesday May 28, 2008
8:30-5:00
Cowles Auditorium
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota
Registration required, $25 to attend
For additional information and to register for the conference visit their webpage.
This conference will bring together researchers, teachers, business leaders, farmers, advocates and policy makers from around the state to discuss the opportunities and challenges for Minnesota to become a leader in green chemistry, in green engineering and in this more sustainable future.
Nomad World Pub, 501 Cedar Avenue S
$10 Registration Fee Per Team
Wednesday, May 21, 8 p.m.
Do you love science news? Can you name the first person to eat in outer space? Do you own copies of "Blade Runner" or watch "Star Trek" reruns? Then join the Nomad World Pub and the Bell Museum of Natural History for Science Trivia, hosted by Doomtree MC and self-professed science geek, Dessa. Test your knowledge of science and nature with questions ranging from current events to biology 101 to science fiction. Gather a group of up to 5 friends and compete for gift certificates, Bell Museum memberships and other prizes. Pre-registration is recommended but not required. Call 612-626-1897 to secure your spot!
Jeff Welser
Director, SRC Nanoelectronics Research Initiative
IBM Almaden Research Center
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
4:30 p.m. reception
5:00 p.m. seminar
101 Walter Library
In this talk, the scaling challenges facing current CMOS technology will be discussed, along with the ultimate limits for charge-switching based devices. From this motivation, the current status of the NRI program will be discussed, with an overview of the current research topics being investigated at the NRI centers.
Renowned primatologist, Jane Goodall will give a public lecture on Saturday, May 3.
Public lecture: Mayo Memorial Auditorium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Date: Saturday, May 3, 2008
Time: 11 a.m. to noon
Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Time: 3:00-5:00 PM
Location: Twin Cities: A.I. Johnson Great Room, McNamara Alumni Center
This workshop will discuss the unique issues and concerns in preparing proposals within interdisciplinary contexts. Through facilitated discussion and drawing upon the expertise of faculty panelists, this workshop will address:
* How can proposal conceptualizations be expanded to include the potential intellectual contributions that diverse disciplines offer?
* How can complementary expertise outside your discipline be identified and located?
* What is unique about writing interdisciplinary proposals?
* What are the characteristics of a successful interdisciplinary proposal?
* What are the pros and cons of alternative strategies for writing interdisciplinary proposals?
* How can disciplinary differences in language, methodology, and writing styles be addressed to communicate in a single voice?
FFI and registration visit the webpage.
The Bell Museum of Natural History presents the Seeing Climate Change Film & Video Festival, a weekend of films, discussions, workshops, and social gatherings that focus a lens on climate change and global warming.
Featured Films
Everything’s Cool (USA, documentary, 2007)
Thin Ice: Saattuq (France, documentary, 2007)
Arctic Tale (USA, family documentary, 2007)
From Sea to Rising Sea (Canada, documentary, 2005)
Kilowatt Ours (USA, documentary, 2004)
The Last Winter (USA/Iceland, fiction, 2006)
Admission per film
$8 for adults
$5 for students, seniors, and members
Children under 3 years old free
April 23, 2008
Walter Library, University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus
1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
All members of the University community and their guests are invited to this free event.
MSI will hold an open house on April 23, 2008 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. to increase awareness of our services throughout the University of Minnesota community and to showcase the work of the researchers who use our resources.
FFI and registration.
DTC science and technology innovators Lecture Series
Anil Jain
Michigan State University
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
4:30 p.m. Reception
5:00 p.m. Seminar
402 Walter Library
This talk will present an overview of biometric recognition, its advantages and limitations, and the challenges in dealing with accuracy, individuality, fusion and security issues.
April 14, 2008
12:15 pm to 01:15 pm
MPC Seminar Room, 50 Willey Hall
Julian Marshall, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota
This talk will explore how neighborhood- and regional-scale urban form can influence energy, environmental, and health impacts of cities. The talk will present a scaling rule for urban land area expansion over time, offering quantification of urban sprawl (i.e., declining population density), and discuss implications for population exposure to urban air pollution.
Tuesday, April 15, 7 p.m.
Bryant-Lake Bowl, Uptown
$5-$10 (pay what you can)
Advance Tickets Available. Visit bryantlakebowl.com.
It's often been said that happiness is a state of mind, and most of us spend considerable time and effort trying to achieve it. What have scientific researchers learned about happiness? Is our individual outlook, for better or worse, something we've inherited? Does each of us have a happiness "set-point" that we return to despite circumstances? Join us for a discussion with faculty from the University of Minnesota's Center for Twin & Family Research, which explores how genes and environment interact to influence individuals.
Tuesday, April 8, 6 p.m.
Kitty Cat Klub, Dinkytown
Free ($5 suggested donation)
Despite evidence of global warming and its environmental impacts, our demand for energy is steadily rising. In order to close the gap and address the problem, we will need not one but many solutions—from cleaner, more efficient energy sources to creative conservation efforts. A panel of researchers and business leaders will discuss possible ways that we might fuel the future—from increased use of wind and solar power to electricity from microorganisms found in our waste.
"A Universe Full of Nothing: An exploration with Lawrence Rudnick"
Wednesday, April 9, 2008 4:00 PM
Cost: Free! Refreshments will be served.
Room 125
Nolte Center for Continuing Education
Minneapolis Campus
This talk will explore the empty spaces in the universe, and what they teach us about its origins and evolution, from the big bang 13.7 billion years ago, to the present-day birth of new stars and planets. Professor Rudnick will recount his team's recent discovery of a billion light-year void and some of the bizarre time- and space-bending alternatives suggested by cosmologists.
Tuesday, March 18, 7 p.m.
Bryant-Lake Bowl, Uptown, $5–$10 (pay what you can)
Advance Tickets Available. Visit bryantlakebowl.com.
The environmental impacts of global warming are felt by communities worldwide—from droughts and floods that disrupt food systems to the rising sea levels that can displace entire populations. But will global warming disproportionately affect poorer, less developed nations and communities? How might discussions about global warming and political or economic development take this imbalance into account? Join local environmental justice advocates Cecilia Martinez and Shalini Gupta a discussion about global warming and environmental equality. Cosponsored by the Headwaters Foundation for Justice.
Ada Comstock Distinguished Women Scholars Lecture
Professor Maria L. Gini, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Monday, March 31
Cowles Auditorium, Hubert H. Humphrey Center
4:00 p.m.
Reception follows in the Hubert H. Humphrey Center Atrium.
RSVP: women@umn.edu or 612-625-9837
Kolthoff Lectureship in Chemistry
Richard Friend, University of Cambridge, pioneered the study of organic polymers as semiconductors, and his research group has demonstrated that these materials can be used in wide range of semiconductor devices, including light-emitting diodes and transistors.
Tuesday, March 25, 4:15 pm
100 Smith Hall, Minneapolis Campus
Wine and Cheese reception following this lecture in 117 Smith
Dr. Stephen Pacala; Frederick D. Petrie Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Director, Princeton Environmental Institute
Dr. Anne Kapuscinski; Professor, Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology; Director, Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability
THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008
12:00pm - 1:15pm
Princeton ecologist Stephen Pacala and Institute on the Environment founding fellow Anne Kapuscinski introduce the science and policy of climate change adaptation and explore ideas for interdisciplinary research.
For further information visit the Institute on the Environment website.
Presented by Bernard Amadei
Founding President, Engineers Without Borders–USA
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
6:30 p.m. Reception
7 p.m. Lecture
Tate Laboratory of Physics, Van Vleck Auditorium
Register online now! This lecture is free and open to the public.
This lecture by Bernard Amadei, founding president of Engineers Without Borders–USA, will present the challenges and opportunities associated with practicing engineering in developing nations.
Wednesday, January 30th 2008 4:00 pm:
Physics and Astronomy Colloquium in 131 Physics
Speaker: Seth Shostak, SETI Institute
Subject: When Will We Discover the Extraterrestrials?
The scientific hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence is now into its fifth decade, and we still haven't uncovered a confirmed peep from the cosmos. For that matter, we still don’t know if life – at any level of intelligence – exists beyond Earth. Could this mean that finding aliens, even if they’re out there, is a project for the ages – one that might take centuries or longer?
New technologies and new strategies for use in the search for extraterrestrial biology suggest that, despite the continued dearth of hard evidence for life elsewhere or signals from other societies, there is good reason to expect that success might not be far off – that within a few decades we might find evidence of sophisticated civilizations.
Why this is so, what contact would tell us, and what such a discovery would mean, are the subject of this talk on the continuing efforts to establish our place in the universe of thinking beings.
Presenter: Monica Lam
Affiliation: Stanford University
Time: 11:15 - 12:15
Location: EE/CS 3-180
LivePC is a new platform whereby managed virtual desktops are delivered to end users using any PCs (Windows, Linux, and Mac) over the network and on USB drives. The talk describes the journey of how her research group developed the concept of LivePC, starting with research on thin-client computing, and spun out of Stanford in 2005 to commercialize the technology.
Focus The Nation
Wednesday, January 30, 7 p.m.
Bell Auditorium
Free
This national, interactive webcast will feature Stanford climate scientist Stephen Schneider, sustainability expert Hunter Lovins, and green jobs pioneer Van Jones. Following the webcast the Bell Museum and University of Minnesota partners will present a panel discussion on local climate change solutions.
Focus Minnesota: An Evening with Will Steger and Friends
Thursday, January 31, 6-9 p.m.
First Avenue, Minneapolis
Free
Join Will Steger, local bands and entertainers, climate movement activists and experts, and state and local politicians at 6 p.m., January 31, 2008 for "Focus Minnesota: Climate Change Solutions," a public event for all ages at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. More than 20 environmental student-based and non-profit organizations will be on hand with information and resources on global warming solutions and citizen action. The event is organized and sponsored by the University of Minnesota Bell Museum of Natural History and co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs' Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy, Focus the Nation, Focus the U and Metro Transit. Learn more about Focus the Nation.
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Northrup Auditorum
The University of Minnesota’s Physics Force will present a unique mix of physics demonstrations and humor in its annual “Physics Circus.” The show is suitable for adults and children of all ages. It is free and open to the public.
Tuesday, January 8, 6 p.m.
Kitty Cat Klub, Dinkytown
Admission $5
We’ve all seen lichens growing on rocks, trees, or buildings. Yet their unusual and complex structure often goes unnoticed. Though they appear to be a single entity, lichens are actually complex and versatile organisms. Bell Museum Curator of Lichens, Imke Schmitt, will discuss the evolution of lichens, which species provide food, medicines and clothing dyes, and which help out nature by cleaning the air and adding color to the landscape.
Tuesday, December 18, 7 p.m.
Bryant-Lake Bowl, Uptown
Admission $5
City parks characteristically define urban nature—an oasis of the natural world in a man-made environment. But urbanites are craving new ways to experience nature and are interested in exploring emerging trends in green infrastructure and park design to redefine urban nature. Join Laura Musacchio, Associate Professor in the University of Minnesota’s landscape architecture, conservation biology and water resource science programs for a discussion about the redefinition of urban nature.
Michael Tsapatsis will discuss "Molecular Sieve Catalysts, Adsorbents and Films for the Production of Fuels and Chemicals," and Peter Lefebvre will discuss "Hydrogen Production by the Unicellular Green Algae Chlamydomonas."
Noon–1 p.m.
105 Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics.
1500 Gortner Ave.
St. Paul Campus
Tuesday, December 11, 6 p.m.
Kitty Cat Klub, Dinkytown
Admission $5
What secrets do seashells hold? For University of Minnesota Civil Engineering Professor Roberto Ballarini, the natural strength of materials found in seashells may be the key to improving the design of bridges and other human structures. Join Ballarini for a discussion of science, seashells and the potential of bio-inspired design.
What: Professor Lance Neckar, Department of Landscape Architecture, John Carmody, Director of the Center for Sustainable Building Research and Paula Pentel, Geography Department and Urban Studies Program and Golden Valley City Council member discuss how urban areas now and in the future can become greener and more livable.
When: November 29, 12:45 - 1:45 in the Mississippi Room, Coffman Union.
Why: In 2007, for the first time in human history, the world's population is more urban that rural. What are the consequences of urban living on our environment and what role do we, as cities and citizens, have in achieving broader sustainability?
Tuesday, November 20, 7 p.m.
Bryant-Lake Bowl, Uptown
Admission $5
Marc Riedel, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota will discuss his research, which uses computational models and methods inspired by biological systems.
The Department of Civil Engineering's Open House, is sponsored by Barr Engineering, on November 15 beginning at 3 p.m.
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. - Tours of Civil Engineering Building including the Minnesota Traffic Observatory, student research exhibits and ASCE career fair.
4:00 - 5:00 p.m. - Keynote Seminar by Dr. Ballarini: "Bioinspired Design of Structures: Tough Ceramics at the Seashore"
5:00 - 7:00 p.m. - Open House Social with introductions by Dr. Ballarini, Outstanding Achievement Awards ceremony, graduate student presentations, food and door prizes.
For further information visit the CE website.
On November 13 - 14, 2007, the University of Minnesota will be hosting the 3rd Annual Minnesota Nanotechnology Conference, offering presentations and discussions on Nano Energy, Devices, Sensors and Materials.
Registration for the workshop is due by Thursday, November 8, 2007. The poster session and conference talks are free, but registration is required. FFI
Math Matters Lecture
Thursday, November 1, 2007
7:00 pm, Willey Hall 125
M.C. Escher is among the most mathematical of artists. In 1956 he challenged the laws of perspective with his graphic Print Gallery, and found himself trapped by an impossible barrier. Half a century later, mathematician Hendrik Lenstra took everyone by surprise by drawing a fantastic bridge between the intuition of the artist and his own, and completed Escher's work mathematically. This story is presented in the 52 minute film Achieving the Unachievable by documentary filmmaker Jean Bergeron. After the screening, the film's U.S. premier, Bergeron will be available to answer questions.
The showing is free and open to the public.
Thursday, November 1, at 7 p.m.
University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center, St. Paul campus.
Last August, Larry Rudnick announced the discovery of a gaping hole in space, far larger than any previously found. Join University of Minnesota Distinguished Teaching Professor Larry Rudnick, as he shares the story of his fascinating discovery and discusses its cosmic implications.
For further information and tickets look here.
Conversation between philosopher Oliver Pooley and historian of physics Michel Janssen. This event is also part of the Thursdays at Four series.
4:00 p.m., 125 Nolte Center
Speaker: Dr. Ashok Gadgil
Senior Staff Scientist, Environmental Energy Technologies Division,
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Date: Oct. 19, 2007
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Civil Engineering Building Room 210
Dr. Gadgil will illustrate the role of technology in improving livelihoods in developing countries: safe and affordable drinking water for poor communities and improved stoves in refugee camps in Darfur. For further information look here.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 5:00 PM
Room 100, Rapson Hall
The Mississippi River is a Connected Bio-physical System: A talk with Professor Chris Paola on the river as an ecosystem. Chris Paola is a Professor of Earth Sciences, Geology and Geophysics and a principal investigator at the National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics at the University of Minnesota.
Tuesday, October 9, 6 p.m.
Kitty Cat Klub, Dinkytown
Admission $5
Across the river from downtown Minneapolis, the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) sits just below the Stone Arch Bridge. Experts from SAFL will discuss current research projects and innovative, sustainable engineering solutions to major environmental, water-resource, and energy-related problems.
Tuesday, October 16, 7 p.m.
Bryant-Lake Bowl, Uptown
Admission $5
University of Minnesota researcher Ed Cussler (Chemical Engineering & Materials Science), whose quirky experiments have included filling a University swimming pool with a gooey concoction and then testing how it affects swimming speed and outfitting his own dog with artificial gills, will discuss how these experiments and others help us to understand fluid mechanics: the properties of gasses and liquids.
Pradeep Khosla
Time: 11:15 - 12:15
Location: EE/CS 3-180
This talk will address the current state of cybersecurity and argue that this is one of the fields that requires an integration of technologies from various disciplines to create a solution. For further information.
The Edythe and Irving Misel Family Lecture Series
Thursday, October 4, 4:45 p.m., Tate Lab of Physics
Leo P. Kadanoff, University of Chicago
John D. and Catherine T MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor of Physics and Mathematics
In this talk, we examine the development of complexity in fluid flow. Examples include splashing water, necking of fluids, swirls in heated gases, and jets thrown up from beds of sand. In following these specific problems, we soon get to broader issues: predictability and chaos, mechanisms for the generation of complexity and of simple laws, and finally the question of whether there is a natural tendency toward the formation of complex 'machines'. FFI.
4 pm
Monday October 1
University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center, Memorial Hall
Dr. Roderick MacKinnon will highlight the modern understanding of electrical systems in living organisms, specifically the electricity in living cells.
For further information on the events involved in the Honeywell-Nobel Initiative and to register for the lecture visit this website.
Friday, September 28, 2007
7:30 p.m.
Bell Museum Auditorium
$5 Suggested Donation
Seed magazine writers and influential science bloggers gather to discuss new directions in science communication. This lively panel discussion will cover a range of topics, including science and culture, public engagement with science, the role of scientists in the public discussion of science, and communication via the Internet, film, museums and other media. Author and journalist Chris Mooney, American University communications professor Matthew Nisbet, and University of Minnesota anthropologist Greg Laden will join moderator Jessica Marshall, a U of M science journalism professor. A reception in Dinkytown will follow the event. Co-sponsored by the Bell Museum of Natural History; Seed Magazine/ScienceBlogs; The Humphrey Institute's Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy; and the Minnesota Journalism Center.
More than 100 employer representatives will be on hand to talk informally with students in all science, engineering and information technology fields. The event will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Great Hall of Coffman Memorial Union. For further information see this website.
Wednesday, September 19th
12:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Northstar Ballroom
St. Paul Student Center
Prof. Charlie Wyman (UC-Riverside) and Prof. Simon Harvey (Chalmers University, Sweden) will share their perspectives on technical challenges and potential opportunities, and then answer questions in a panel discussion with U of M professors Simo Sarkanen and Roger Ruan, both from the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering.
Monday, September 10, 2007
7:00 p.m.
Loring Pasta Bar, Dinkytown
$5 Admission
Café Scientifique explores the future of science with a panel of University of Minnesota experts. In the coming decades, what new questions and challenges might researchers address? How will new technologies influence the way that we understand the world around us? What role will society play in the future of science, from public discussion to science education and policy?
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Dusk (8:30 p.m.)
Bell Museum Courtyard
Free Admission
A disparate group of people is trapped on a remote island where a doctor is working to make humans twice as small, in order to prevent the problems of over-population. Unfortunately, his experiments have also created some giant shrews (played by dogs wearing carpet remnants). As the shrews run out of smaller animals to eat, they move in on the stranded people.
Bell Museum Courtyard
Thursday August 16, Dusk (8:30 pm)
Free
Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski
Produced by Roger Corman/Gene Corman
Crawling horror... unleashed by the depths of hell to kill and conquer!
When local moonshine-swilling trapper Lem Sawyer sees a giant creature in a swamp near his home, his story is dismissed as a tall tale—but when people start disappearing, the good-looking game warden begins an investigation that ends in terror! 62 minutes
July 14, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Bell Museum
“Rat Fest” is an all-day expo celebrating one of the most maligned and misunderstood creatures: the rat. Rat breeders, scientists, rat enthusiasts, and prize winning rats from around the state will come together to celebrate the rodent’s agility and intelligence, as well as its history and place in our ecosystem. “Rat Fest” goers will get a chance to meet Bell Museum Curator of Mammals Sharon Jansa and talk about current university research on wild rodent populations. Adoption representatives from Animal Humane Society will be on hand to answer questions about rats as pets, and experts from the museum’s Wildlife Information Line will be available to answer questions about living with wildlife. The event is part of the museum’s summer of celebrating “Animals Behaving Badly” —a series of events that playfully explores the quirks and calamities that can happen when wildlife and humans share each other’s backyards.
Friday, July 6, 2007 2:00 PM
Room 155, Nicholson Hall
The symposium "Catastrophe: Imaging and Imagining Disruptions in Time" will open with a workshop intended to explore time thr