Tag Archives: Cornell University

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique: “Searching For New Worlds”

Saturday – November 18, 9:30-11:00am

Please RSVP to jrcafe@tacny.org

Milton J Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology – Syracuse, NY


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Speaker: Maryame El Moutamid, Ph.D., Research Associate, Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Carl Sagan Institute

Overview: In the last two decades, thousands of planets have been discovered outside our solar system. Some of them are potentially habitable, i.e. they orbit a region around their star where liquid water may be present on their surface, a necessary condition for life as we know it. Join me in reviewing the latest findings by scientists from around the world on exoplanets as we explore the path forward over the next decade in studying these worlds and searching for signs of life.

Biography: Maryame El Moutamid is a research associate at Cornell University. She is an expert in orbital dynamics and celestial mechanics, especially orbital resonances of satellites and exoplanets. Her current research concerns planetary ring dynamics and satellite orbital dynamics, and their connections with giant planet interior structure in the context of the Cassini/NASA mission. Maryame earned her Ph.D. in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Celestial Mechanics from PSL (Paris Sciences et Lettres) Research University and Paris Observatory in September 2013, and then moved to Cornell University. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, learning more about food from the world, and practicing Judo.

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique, a program for middle-school students founded in 2005, features discussions about topics in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an informal atmosphere and seeks to encourage students to consider careers in these areas. Students must be accompanied by an adult and can explore the MOST at no cost after the event.

Technology Alliance of Central New York

Founded in 1903 as the Technology Club of Syracuse, the nonprofit Technology Alliance of Central New York’s mission is to facilitate community awareness, appreciation, and education of technology; and to collaborate with like-minded organizations across Central New York.

For more information about TACNY, visit www.tacny.org.

CNY Science Announcement – A Sea Change: The Premier Climate Change Event of CNY, 16 October 2015

Greetings fellow astrophiles,

The following announcement came across the CNYO internets recently for a showing of the award-winning film “A Sea Change.” The trailer is linked below and all of the additional information for the event, including the panel discussion after, is provided below.

Syracuse, NY  –  Friday, Oct 16, 7:00 pm, the award winning climate change film, A Sea Change, (aseachange.net) will be shown at The Palace Theater, 2384 James St., Syracuse.  A Sea Change premiered to a standing-room only audience at the Smithsonian Museum, and a standing ovation. The film screened at festivals in North America, Europe, and Latin America, garnering multiple awards and aired on national and international television.

A google map for directions to the Palace Theater

A Sea Change is the story of retired teacher Sven Huseby, whose love for his five-year-old grandson Elias and the world he will inherit compelled Sven, after reading an article in The New Yorker, “The Darkening Sea”  to travel thousands of miles interviewing scientists on ocean acidification – the little known flip side of global warming.

Oceans have absorbed hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide (more than a quarter of all CO2 produced since the start of the Industrial Revolution) causing a 30% increase in acidification threatening all forms of sea life with a calcium-based exoskeletoncoral reefs, shell fish and tiny animals at the bottom of the food chain – pteropods. The burning of fossil fuels is fundamentally reshaping ocean chemistry.

The photography is stunning; the interviews with scientists sobering; Sven’s relationship with his grandson Elias is delightful and moving and the ending hopeful – focusing on solutions being implemented today.  This is a film you want to see if you care about the world you will leave for the next generation.

Immediately following the film there will be Q & A session. The panel consists of Barbara Ettinger,  documentary film maker; Sven Huseby, the main protagonist in the film and Dr. Bruce Monger, climate scientist from Cornell University.  Moderating the panel will be Chris Bolt, WAER news and public affairs director.

Program

5:15 Doors to Palace Theater, food trucks and vendor tables open.
6:15 Symphoria cellist Lindsay Groves welcomes the Sea Change audience to the Palace.
6:45 Program starts
7:00 Movie starts
8:30 Q&A
9:10 Program ends

Ticket prices: (suggested donations) At the door: $10 adults, $8 seniors/students, $6 per family member (seniors age 60+, families consist of at least 1 parent and children under 18 years old).

Advance sale tickets: $8 adults, $5 per senior/student/family member (seniors age 60+, families consist of at least 1 parent and children under 18 years old).

Advance sale tickets available at www.greeningusa.org/aseachange can be picked up at the door and will be held up to 15 minutes prior to the start of the film program.

Green and energy-related nonprofit organizations working on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be staffing display tables in the lobby prior to and after the film along with companies that provide products that help mitigate climate change, such as solar panels, geothermal systems.

The event is family-friendly and film goers can attend straight from work as food trucks will be parked outside along with electric and hybrid cars on display. A cash bar and soft drinks will be available inside. Free parking available.

A special thanks goes to presenting sponsor GreeningUSA (www.greeningusa.org) and partner Syracuse International Film Festival (http://www.filminsyracuse.com).

Panelists

Barbara Ettinger – Director and Co-producer of A Sea Change. Her  first film, Martha and Ethel, was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and distributed theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics. Her most recent film, Two Square Miles, aired nationally on PBS’s Independent Lens in 2006 and 2007.

Sven Huseby – main protagonist in A Sea Change & Co-Producer is a retired independent school head who worked as a teacher and administrator at The Putney School, Vt. for 30 years and currently serves on the board of several environmental organizations. He will be attending the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, Dec. 2015 with the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity.

Bruce Monger – Dr. Monger is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer in the Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University since 1997.  He previously worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. His work has taken him world wide – to  oceanographic conferences in Denmark, Holland & Monaco and providing training for national agencies in Thailand & Argentina. In 2014 his course on Introductory Oceanography at Cornell  was featured in a NYT article as one of the top ten interesting courses in the U.S.

For information on how to support the work of the Climate Change Awareness and Action Committee, the organizing committee for this event contact pwirth2@verizon.net, 315-637-0331.

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique: “Creepy Chemistry”

Saturday – October 18, 9:30-11:00am

Milton J Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology – Syracuse, NY


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Ready to be spooked out of your seat? Join the TACNY Jr. Café on October 18th to see the chemistry behind glowing pumpkins, magical genies, bleeding paper, and mysterious fog. Dr. Neal Abrams from SUNY ESF will present a series of interactive Halloween chemistry demonstrations that will be sure to delight young and old alike. Come make your own slimy worms and celebrate the season!

People interested in learning more about creepy chemistry are invited to attend the free Junior Cafe presentation on Saturday, October 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) in Syracuse’s Armory Square. Walk-ins are welcome, but we ask that people RSVP by emailing jrcafe@tacny.org by October 15, 2014.

Presenter

2014october10_abramsDr. Neal Abrams is an associate professor of chemistry at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). He obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and certification in teaching from Ithaca College, completed his doctorate at Penn State University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University. At ESF, he instructs general chemistry and co-teaches a course in renewable energy. He leads research programs in the areas of renewable energy and methods for teaching science. He is also the faculty advisor for the ESF chemistry club.

Abrams enjoys working with students and educators in the community. As part of this commitment, he instructs renewable energy workshops for teachers, co-instructs a series of courses on the installation of solar panels, and guest lectures in classrooms across Syracuse and CNY as part of the ESF in the High School program. He was also the recipient of the 2010 TACNY Technology Outreach award.

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique, a program for middle-school students founded in 2005, features discussions about topics in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an informal atmosphere and seeks to encourage students to consider careers in these areas. Students must be accompanied by an adult and can explore the MOST at no cost after the event.

Technology Alliance of Central New York

Founded in 1903 as the Technology Club of Syracuse, the nonprofit Technology Alliance of Central New York’s mission is to facilitate community awareness, appreciation, and education of technology; and to collaborate with like-minded organizations across Central New York.

For more information about TACNY, visit www.tacny.org.

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique: “The Dark Side of the Universe”

Saturday – September 20, 9:30-11:00am

Milton J Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology – Syracuse, NY


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We’re back!! Stuff that most of us have seen is made of atoms, tiny particles that cause scientists headaches and lead to inventions like microwaves. However, current observations beyond our planet have led to astonishing mysteries. It seems most of the universe is made of things called dark matter and dark energy. These strange substances are not like anything we have encountered and they imply bizarre consequences for the past and eventual fate of our universe. Dr. Scott Watson will discuss both the evidence and the consequences of nature living on the dark side of the universe.

People interested in learning more about dark matter are invited to attend the free Junior Cafe presentation on Saturday, September 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) in Syracuse’s Armory Square. Walk-ins are welcome, but we ask that people RSVP by emailing jrcafe@tacny.org by September 17, 2014.

Presenters

Watson _small001Prof. Watson is an assistant professor at Syracuse University, working in the fields of theoretical particle physics and cosmology. He received his doctorate in physics from Brown University under the supervision of Robert Brandenberger. He held research positions at the University of Toronto and the University of Michigan before joining the faculty at Syracuse in 2010. He also holds visiting positions at Cornell University and with Stephen Hawking’s group at Cambridge University in England.

Prof. Watson’s research is focused on fundamental questions related to the origin of the universe and its ultimate fate. How did the universe begin? What is its eventual fate? Do atoms represent all of the stuff making up the universe, or do things like dark energy and dark matter control our ultimate fate? Questions like these are at the center of Prof. Watson’s research. Present theories suggest that the seeds for the growth of structures like galaxies and eventually life resulted from the quantum behavior of particles and fields in the very early universe — when it was less than a fraction of a second old. Such a description requires a quantum understanding of gravity with string theory being our leading candidate for such a theory. And so Prof. Watson’s research is also involved in establishing observational implications of string theory.

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique, a program for middle-school students founded in 2005, features discussions about topics in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an informal atmosphere and seeks to encourage students to consider careers in these areas. Students must be accompanied by an adult and can explore the MOST at no cost after the event.

Technology Alliance of Central New York

Founded in 1903 as the Technology Club of Syracuse, the nonprofit Technology Alliance of Central New York’s mission is to facilitate community awareness, appreciation, and education of technology; and to collaborate with like-minded organizations across Central New York.

For more information about TACNY, visit www.tacny.org.

TACNY John Edson Sweet Lecture Series – Brief History And The Future Of Biotechnology

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Onondaga Community College, 101 Whitney Applied Technology Center


NOTE: The lecture will be starting 30 minutes later than usual.


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Adam Lowe Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist at SRC, will present a “Brief History and the Future of Biotechnology”, a talk about how biotechnology has shaped modern society and how it will affect us in the future. People interested in learning more about Biotechnology are invited to attend the free Sweet Lecture presentation on Tuesday, May 14, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Room 101 of the Whitney Applied Technology Center on the Onondaga Community College campus. Networking starts at 6:00 p.m., the speaker is introduced at 6:30 p.m., the presentation is slated to run from 6:45 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and the event ends at 8:30 p.m. following questions from the audience. Admission is free and open to the public. Walk-ins are welcome, but we ask that people RSVP by emailing sweet.lecture@tacny.org by May 10, 2013.

Dr. Adam Lowe is a Principal Research Scientist for the Biotechnology group at SRC. The biotechnology program has active research areas in microbial engineering, bio-nanotechnology, and small molecule detection. The program strives to provide opportunities for innovation and collaboration, both internally and with U.S. Government stakeholders. Dr. Lowe holds a patent on SNP detection using ligase detection reaction coupled surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and has many other bio-nanotechnology patents pending. Dr. Lowe received a B.S. in biology from Salisbury University and his Ph.D. in microbiology from Cornell University, where he was a Presidential Life Sciences Fellow and Nanobiotechnology Integrated Research Fellow. He was named one of the 30 Most Dynamic Graduates of his class from Cornell University.

Technology Alliance of Central New York

Founded in 1903 as the Technology Club of Syracuse, the nonprofit Technology Alliance of Central New York’s mission is to facilitate community awareness, appreciation, and education of technology; and to collaborate with like-minded organizations across Central New York.

For more information about TACNY, visit www.tacny.org.