Nerd Nite

When

Wednesday May 10, 2023: 7:00pm to 9:00pm  Add to Calendar /   Add to Google Calendar

Where

Live! 102 S 1st St

Description

Gather ‘round for an evening of informed and informal talks from a friendly neighborhood expert! We’ll have three speakers, each presenting on a different topic and sharing interesting facts that you never knew you never knew! Past Nerd Nite speakers have led deep dives into topics from the legacy of Louis Pasteur, to the origin of elements, to how a trumpet works, to a dissection of romance novel tropes. So bring a friend, grab a drink, and enjoy an evening among fellow nerds. Be there and be square!

Speakers include: Emma Thornton-Kolbe, Leanne Su, and Kayla Zochowski.

Emma Thornton-Kolbe, a neuroscience graduate student in the Clowney Lab at the University of Michigan, will bring us What’s in a Name?: Nerds Having Fun in the Fruit Fly Genome. In humans and other animals, named genes are usually acronyms related to the disease they are associated with. But scientists have gotten a bit more creative when it comes to fruit flies! Hear about some of their more whimsical choices that are more fun, but are just as useful as those boring acronyms!

Leanne Su, a Ph.D. candidate in the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory at the University of Michigan will be Turning it Up to Eleven teaching us about Scaling Hall Thrusters to High Current Densities. What are those? Just the electric propulsion systems that could eventually TAKE US TO MARS! No big deal, right?

Kayla Zochowski, a biologist who has dabbled in lots of “ologies” including virology, molecular biology, and computational biology, will be diving into our DNA with DNAncestry: Glimpsing the Past with Your Genetic Code. Learn how a tube of spit can turn into information about your ancestors!