Science Cafe

Fall 2024 Science Café

The Science Café -- where research scientists and community experts share exciting details of their research, programs, and discoveries -- is back!

This semester, six fascinating evenings are planned, in the Potsdam Civic Center Community Room at 2 Park Street. Each presentation will begin at 7:15 pm. 

See below for more details!

Nova of T Coronae Borealis of 2024 or 2025

Wednesday October 2nd 7:15 p.m.

A nova is expected in 2024 or 2025 in the binary star T Coronae Borealis (the ‘Blaze Star’ in constellation Corona Borealis), located 2900 LY away. It last had a nova outburst in 1946 and eighty years before that, putting it on an eighty year period.

Elaine Fortin (Solar System Ambassador, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Adirondack Sky Center and Observatory) will discuss the understanding of novae, a form of astronomical transient, before and since the surprising knowledge learned from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray telescope launched in 2008.

About 10-15 novae (maybe even double that!) happen in our galaxy each year. Records of novae have only been kept since telescopes have been powerful enough to capture them. It is expected that many stars are recurrent, possibly every thousand years or so but T Coronae Borealis is special because this will be another of its outbursts seen and studied by modern day astronomers. It is hoped to be visible to the naked eye but expected to last only a few days before it returns to its quiescent state.

Things in water: how can electrochemical processes separate good and bad?

Wednesday October 16th 7:15 p.m.

Water contains numerous substances, some of which need to be removed from drinking water for human health or wastewater for the environment. While removing large objects is straightforward, separating small things, such as dissolved ions, present significant challenges. Are good things always good and bad things always bad? It depends and evolves as we learn more about them. Join Dr. Taeyoung Kim (Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Institute for a Sustainable Environment, Clarkson University) in a discussion of how electrochemical processes can be used to either remove unwanted things from water or turn wasted resources into value-added products. 

Embracing the Dynamic Nature of Person Perception

Wednesday October 30th 7:15 p.m.

In our social interactions, we constantly form judgements about others across various contexts. These judgements, from identities to personality traits, are the basis of our emotional and behavioral responses towards others. In this talk, the dominant paradigms in the study of person perception will be discussed, as well as an exciting new complementary approach which I have proposed. 
Shu Jiang (Pschology, St. Lawrence University ) will discuss three critical aspects of person perception: assimilation (i.e., Do perceivers view different targets in a similar manner?), consensus (i.e., Is a target perceived consistently by different perceivers?) and self-other agreement (i.e., Do others view us as we perceive ourselves?). Finally, there will be discussion of how this new dynamic approach of person perception will offer a more comprehensive understanding of how we perceive others.

Identifying Interactions in Complex Networked Dynamical Systems through a Causation Principle

Wednesday November 13th 7:15 p.m.

Understanding cause and effect underpin so many of our most basic scientific questions.  Inferring the coupling structure of complex systems from time series data in general by means of statistical and information-theoretic techniques is a challenging problem in “data-enabled science.” In a presentation by Professor Erik Bollt (Electrical and Computer Engineering and Clarkson Center for Complex Systems Science, Clarkson University) we will discuss a information theoretic approach, but to do so we will first present a bit of the underpinnings of information theory.  This will allow us to present our own optimal causation entropy (oCSE) principle to identify coupling of a complex system from measured data. We will include examples such as the functional brain network as inferred by fMRI, structural health monitoring of structures such as bridges, and inferring who is interacting with whom in collective behavior problems that include animals as well as humans.

Hidden Hazards: A Simple Test to Detect Lead and Chromium, two highly toxic metals, in your drinking water

Wednesday December 4th 7:15 p.m.

The discovery of "Lead" in Flint Michigan's drinking water, as well as in some schools in our district, drew renewed attention to the health risks posed by this toxic metal. Exposure to "Lead" is a serious health concern that has been linked to various neurological disorders and diseases, particularly in young children whose developing brain acts like a sponge. In this presentation, Professor Fadi Bou-Abdallah (Chemistry, SUNY Potsdam) will discuss a simple and inexpensive test that we have recently developed in my laboratory. Our test is based on gold nanoparticles which change color only in the presence of either lead or chromium. Such color change is visible by the naked eye down to 20 parts per billion (ppb). Considering that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the WHO (World Health Organization) recommended the level of these toxins in our drinking water at 15 ppb for lead, and 50 ppb for total chromium, our test offers an easy solution for a simple, quick, and inexpensive method to test drinking water at home, and help address water insecurity in at-risk communities.

 

The Science Café Intercollegiate Committee

Daniel ben Avraham, Clarkson University
Alex Schreiber, St. Lawrence University
Kristine Potter, SUNY Canton
Jessica Rogers, SUNY Potsdam
Beth McCarran, Clarkson University