Science Cafés

Science Cafés provide an opportunity for audiences to discuss current science topics with experts in an informal setting. All Science Cafés take place at Conor O’Neill’s Traditional Irish Pub, 318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor. Cafés take place in October, November, January, February, March, and April. Hors d’oeuvres at 5:30 pm; program 6-7:30 pm. Click here for a map, and here for a Google Street View. Click here for a list of Cafés from previous years.

 

AprSciCafe4

Science Café: Race and Immigration

Wednesday, April 10, 5:30-7:30 pm
Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub,
318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor

How are issues of immigration, law, race and ethnicity interwoven in people’s lives? What are the challenges immigrants face, and how do race and ethnicity relate to these? Can immigrant populations become “racialized” and if so what does that mean? Please join Bridgette Carr of the Human Trafficking Clinic at the U-M Law School, John Garcia of the UM Institute for Social Research, and Laura Sanders and Ramiro Martinez, co-founders of the Washtenaw Interfaith Council of Immigrant Rights.

LofgrenBrown

Science Café:
Climate Change in the Great Lakes

Wednesday, October 10, 5:30-7:30 pm
At Conor O’Neill’s Traditional Irish Pub,
318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor

Climate Change is here.  While the overall warming trend is undeniable, local changes are less predictable.  What will climate change mean for us here in the Great Lakes?  What are the policy implications of what we know?  Join Brent Lofgren from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and Dan Brown from the U-M Great Lakes Integrated Sciences & Assessments Center.

Gordon Kane

Science Café: Finding the Higgs Boson - What’s Next?

Wednesday, November 14, 5:30-7:30 pm
Conor O’Neill’s Traditional Irish Pub,
318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor

     Physicists have developed the Standard Model to successfully explain the behavior of elementary particles and how they interact with each other to form protons, nuclei, atoms, molecules, wine, beer, people, stars and all we see. The Standard Model has long predicted the Higgs Boson, an elementary particle that must exist for the Standard Model to be correct, and would be very unstable and difficult to detect.  This past summer, teams at the Large Hadron Collider finally found evidence consistent with its presence.  What’s it all about?  What’s the evidence?  What does it mean? What are the next steps?  Find out with Gordon Kane, the Victor Weisskopf Distinguished University Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan.

 

JanSciCafe3

Science Café: Race and Public Health

Wednesday, January 23, 5:30-7:30 pm
Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub,
318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor

There is no question that illness and mortality rates are higher for minorities in the United States, even when we control for access to care and socio-economic status. What are the data for our area? What are some of the causes of these health disparities? How can we address them? Our discussion will include program interventions, public policy, and the social determinants of health.  Professor Cleopatra Caldwell (U-M School of Public Health), Professor Amy Schulz (U-M School of Public Health), and Charles Wilson (Washtenaw County Public Health Department).

FebSciCafe3

Science Café: Race and the Legal System

Wednesday, February 27, 5:30-7:30 pm
Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub,
318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor

How unequal is our legal system, and what can we do about it? What does research say about the relationships between race and law enforcement, incarceration, sentencing, and prisoner reentry?  What local programs already support change?  Find out with Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton, Professor Jelani Exum (University of Toledo College of Law), who studies the relationship between race and sentencing, Professor David Harding (U-M Dept. of Sociology, U-M Institute for Social Research), whose research interests include incarceration and prisoner reentry, and Timothy Threat, who will give a firsthand account of the challenges of reentry.

MarSciCafe3

Science Café: Race and Education

Wednesday, March 20, 5:30-7:30 pm
Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub,
318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor

We are familiar with the disparities in educational outcome for students of different races and ethnicities in our public schools - gaps in funding, achievement, graduation rates and disproportionate discipline are some of the challenges our educational systems face. What does our local data look like? What does research say are some of the sources of these gaps and what new projects are underway? Join Dr. Shayla Griffin, Research Fellow at the U-M School of Education, AAPS Board Trustee Simone Lightfoot and Eastern Michigan University Professor Ronald Woods to discuss race and public education.