Category: Presentations and Talks

Join the Graduate School for a special session with award-winning faculty members from 1 to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9 in 142 Rhatigan Student Center, Harvest Room.

Whether you’re a teaching assistant or an aspiring educator, gain valuable tips from experienced professionals that will help you enhance your teaching skills and classroom effectiveness.

The School of Art, Design and Creative Industries will be hosting Shani Avni, Ismar David Visiting Assistant Curator at the Cary Graphic Arts Collection, RIT, in conjunction with MIDPOINT, a two-day event of typography workshops and lectures. Shani Anvi will share her expertise at a free, open to the public lecture from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10 in 210 McKnight Art Center.

The School of Art, Design and Creative Industries will host Dave Crossland, project manager at Google Fonts, from 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9 in 113B McKnight Art Center in conjunction with MIDPOINT, a two-day event of typography workshops and lectures. Crossland will be sharing his expertise at the free and open lecture.

Come join the School of Education Fall Colloquium at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7 in 110B Woolsey Hall with guest speaker Dr. Priya V. Prasad, associate professor of mathematics at the University of Texas to speak about humanizing grading practices.

Humanizing grading practices have become more popular lately, especially at the college level and in STEM courses. However, many faculty struggle to find ways to incorporate humanizing grading practices into courses with many students or that are governed by strict institutional guidelines. In this discussion, the speaker hopes to connect humanizing grading practices with other pedagogical commitments (such as the Rights of the Learner) to help faculty create their own roadmaps into humanizing their grading practices.

Bring a sack lunch or purchase a treat from the Shawarma Ur’s food truck and join the Ulrich Museum of Art for an artist talk with members of Sip & Stitch, a group of fiber artist friends who enjoy getting together for wine and creative time, from 12:15 to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3.

Known for their recent “yarn bombing” of the Tom Otterness bronze sculpture “Millipede” (Millie), as well as a campus-wide yarn bombing in 2014, this group of 16 artists worked for eight months using approximately 25,000 to 30,000 yards of yarn to create 24 sections of handwork — knitting, crochet, cross-stitch and crewel embroidery — which they installed on Aug. 27.

Visit Millie in the garden south of the Ulrich Museum to hear about the artists’ process at this free event.

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).