Category: Presentations and Talks

In conjunction with Empty Bowls Wichita, Wichita Ceramic National’s featured artist, Lisa Orr, will give an artist lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3 in the Beren Gallery of the Ulrich Museum of Arts on her softly formed ceramic artworks for the table inspired by the playful and abundant qualities of Mexican earthenware. Orr is an American potter and a teacher of ceramics who has work in both public and private collections and shows her work nationally as well as internationally.

Learn about Lisa’s inspiration and process using gestural animals, stamps, slips, sprigs and multi-hued glazes. Join a reception at 3:30 p.m. with the program following at 4 p.m.

Ohio-based multimedia American artist, J.C. Fontanive, will discuss his kinetic sculpture practice at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10 in the Beren Gallery, Ulrich Museum of Art.

His work imaginatively explores physical machines and moving images, and his talk will emphasize his works that are included in the current Ulrich Museum exhibition, “Dream Machine: Fantasy, Surreality and Play.” Join the reception at 5:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome at this free event.

Join the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for its weekly colloquium series, which takes place every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in 224 McKinley Hall. This week, the department is honored to host Li Yang, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, who will present his seminar, titled “Second-Order Light-Matter Interactions in Emerging Quantum Materials.”

The Barton School of Business is thrilled to welcome Byron Knight, president of Koch Disruptive Technologies, as its distinguished keynote speaker. This exciting fireside chat, titled “Harnessing Disruption: Pioneering the Future of Innovation and Growth in the Business World,” will take place from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23 in 110 Woolsey Hall, Frank A. Boettger Auditorium. The event is open to the public and will include a networking opportunity for attendees afterward.

“Under Byron Knight’s visionary leadership, Koch Disruptive Technologies is at the forefront of investing in groundbreaking innovations that are reshaping industries globally,” said Dr. Larisa Genin, dean of the Barton School of Business. “Hearing Byron share his insights on current investments and future industry trends will provide invaluable knowledge for anyone interested in business and the evolving landscape of innovation.”

The Department of Biological Sciences invites campus to its next departmental seminar at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30 in 218 Hubbard Hall with guest speaker Dr. Matt Wilkins, CEO of Galactic Polymath, on “Societal Impacts: How to win grants, do outreach, and connect science to the unengaged”

Abstract:

It has never been more essential for scientists to connect their work to the public in meaningful ways — particularly those funded by NSF, with Broader Impacts requirements. In recent years, we have seen an upsurge in disinformation, and sophisticated efforts to undermine science, just as the planet faces myriad human-caused threats such as climate change, plastic pollution and the extinction crisis. Yet it has never been harder to reach audiences that aren’t already connected to STEM.

Over more than 15 years of concerted outreach effort, I have encountered these challenges firsthand — from writing blogs in graduate school, to starting and running a scicomm conference and Nerd Nite chapter as a postdoc, to teaching middle school in Nashville, and finally founding Galactic Polymath Education Studio (GP) — to facilitate the flow of knowledge and diverse perspectives from academia to K-12.

GP helps researchers perform outreach on funded projects with the power of a professional team backing them, and win grants by having stellar Broader Impacts proposals. GP specializes in translating current research into mind-expanding, open-access lessons and videos aimed at middle and high school classrooms. Since founding GP in the depths of the pandemic with my own savings, we have been part of 14 funded grant proposals, leading to the production and release of 12 educational units comprising 41 lessons, 55 videos, three web apps and two card games. Topics range from chemical engineering to photonics to conservation to ethnobotany.

In this talk I will highlight specific strategies and outstanding challenges for funding, performing and measuring outreach impact. I will also invite you to share some of your experiences and (hopefully) leave you feeling empowered to take action. We live in a time when mobilizing academic knowledge and growing public STEM engagement is absolutely vital, and our individual impacts will be magnified by working together.

Wilkins bio:

Matt is an evolutionary biologist who has won multiple awards for science communication, including the “Impact Goals Award” from NSF’s Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society. He taught middle school in Nashville, Tennessee for over 4 years and used this firsthand experience to found Galactic Polymath Education Studio (GP).

Join physics for the next Physics Seminar at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2 in 226 Jabara Hall featuring Dr. Dmytro Bozhko from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. There will be cookies and coffee at 1:30 p.m. in 030 Jabara Hall prior to the seminar.

The title of Bozhko’s talk will be “Nonlinear Effects in Magnetic Systems: From Nano to Macro Scales.” The National Science Foundation (CAREER, DMR-2338060) and the Department of Energy (FAIR, DE-SC0024400) fund his experimental studies in the areas of linear, nonlinear and quantum magnonics.

The Physics Seminar Series brings speakers to campus several times each semester and is funded by the Eddy and April Lucas Fund.

Please join mathematics and statistics for a public lecture by Brett Kotschwar from Arizona State University. The lecture, titled “Noncompact shrinking Ricci solitons and their asymptotic geometry” will take place at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4 in 372 Jabara Hall.

Refreshments will be available at 2:30 p.m. in 353 Jabara Hall.

The Barton School of Business is thrilled to welcome Byron Knight, president of Koch Disruptive Technologies, as its distinguished keynote speaker. This exciting fireside chat, titled “Harnessing Disruption: Pioneering the Future of Innovation and Growth in the Business World,” will take place from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23 in 110 Woolsey Hall, Frank A. Boettger Auditorium. The event is open to the public and will include a networking opportunity for attendees afterward.

“Under Byron Knight’s visionary leadership, Koch Disruptive Technologies is at the forefront of investing in groundbreaking innovations that are reshaping industries globally,” said Dr. Larisa Genin, dean of the Barton School of Business. “Hearing Byron share his insights on current investments and future industry trends will provide invaluable knowledge for anyone interested in business and the evolving landscape of innovation.”

Come hear from experts about the different ways that AI can impact our electoral system at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 26 in 209 Hubbard Hall. The panel consists of Dr. Alexandra Middlewood, associate professor of political science and department chair; Dr. Shruti Kshirsager, association professor of computer science; and Dr. Justin Keeler, clinical associate professor in business analytics.

Join Campus Recreation in welcoming NCAA/NJCCA sport official and Wichita State alumnus, John Blazek, as he shares how to make officiating a lucrative business and where it can take you. All are welcome to hear him speak at 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 26 in 218 Hubbard Hall.

Blazek will talk about how officiating is a business, not a hobby, and is centered around people, and how Shockers can start officiating now through WSU intramural sports.

Blazek, who was the starting LB and 1975-76 MVP for the Shockers, is also the supervisor of officials for the D1, D2 National Junior College Basketball Tournament; current NCAA DII National coordinator and NJCAA National official consultant; and the former KCAC and KJCCC men’s basketball supervisor of officials.