New Bedford Science Cafe
New Bedford Science Café is usually held on the first or second Tuesday of each month from 6-8 pm at
Last Round Bar & Grille, 908 Purchase Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts
Last Round Bar & Grille, 908 Purchase Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts
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Previous Cafés
June 3rd, 2025: Jen Shakun, the Bioeconomy Initiative Director for the New England Forestry Foundation, will discuss "Green Buildings: Using Wood not Steel & Concrete -- A Solution for Storing Carbon." Missed it? Watch the recording! May 6th, 2025: Blake Diniu, entomologist educator for Plymouth County, will discuss "The New Tick on the Block: The Lone Star Tick and Tick Biology 101." Missed it? Watch the recording! April 1st, 2025: Jamie Jacquart, Assistant Director of Campus Sustainability at The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, will be joined by Glenn Morel, a technician with experience installing heat-pump systems and instructor in the HVAC/R program at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, and Dan Amarante, a graduate of the same program, to discuss "What's the Deal with Heat Pumps?" March 4th, 2025: Anna Von Mertens, visual artist and science writer, will discuss "To Clearly See:How Astronomer Henrietta Leavitt Helped Us Find Our in the Universe." Missed it? Watch the recording! February 4th, 2025: Jennifer Nuzzo, Director of the Pandemic Center and Professor of Epidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health, will discuss "How worried should you be about bird flu (and other pandemic threats?" Missed it? Watch the recording! January 7th, 2025: Sara Quintal, Senior Restoration Ecologist for the Buzzards Bay Coalition, will discuss "The Many Benefits of Retiring Cranberry Bogs: Cleaner Water, Restored Habitat, Climate Resiliency." Missed it? Watch the recording! December 3rd, 2024: Lukas Rieppel teaches the history of science and directs the Science and Technology & Society Program at Brown University and will discuss "Rethinking the Politics of Fossil Collecting." Missed it? Watch the recording! November 12th, 2024: Marissa Perez-Dormitzer, Waste Reduction Manager at Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District, will discuss "Holey Socks, Broken Gizmos, Empty Boxes & Stale Food; New & Better Strategies for Managing our Mountain of Waste." Missed it? Watch the recording! October 1st, 2024: Dr. Michael Wyand, the CEO of Boston-based Oxeia Biopharmaceuticals, will discuss "Clinical Trials for Concussion; A Critical Unmet Medical Need." Missed it? Watch the recording! September 10th, 2024: Megan Ryder and Elizabeth Spurlock, researchers at Boston University's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy [CTE] Center, will discuss "Behind the Brains; Assessing CTE in Life and Death." Missed it? Watch the recording! June 4th, 2024: Laura Ludwig, ocean cleaner and "debris broker", will discuss "Ghost Gear in Local Waters: New Approaches and Strengthened Resolve to Confront Deepsea Pollution." May 7th, 2024: Bill Braun, co-founder and Executive Director of Freed Seed Federation, and Hannah Traggis, FSF's Senior Scientist and Breeding Director, will discuss "Saving Our Seeds: Seeds in situ, in the hands of people." Missed it? Watch the recording! April 2nd, 2024: Grant O'Rielly, PhD, an experimental nuclear physicist and Professor of Physics at UMass Dartmouth, will discuss "The Science of Oppenheimer." Missed it? Watch the recording! March 5th, 2024: Maggie Jackson, an award-winning science writer and technology critic, will discuss "The Wisdom and Wonder of Uncertainty." Missed it? Watch the recording! February 6th, 2024: Sara P. Grady, Ph.D., Senior Coastal Ecologist at Mass Audubon, will discuss "The Oldest Blue Bloods: Horseshoe Crab Ecology and Management." Missed it? Watch the recording! January 9th, 2024: Bill Burke, the National Park historian for Cape Cod National Seashore, will discuss "Excavating the Great Island Tavern, Wellfleet: A place where Native Americans, Whalers & European settlers may have gathered to drink, smoke and socialize, from 1690 to 1740." Missed it? Watch the recording! December 5th, 2023: Laura Gardner, co-chair of the local advocacy group Climate Reality Massachusetts Southcoast, will address "Going Green: Community Electricity Aggregation [CEA] Programs." Missed it? Watch the recording! November 7th, 2023: Kate O'Connor-Giles, Provost Associate Professor of Brain Science at Brown University, will address "Designer Fruit Flies: Using CRISPR to Study Brain Development and Genetic Brain Disorders." October 3rd, 2023: Micheline Labrie, Research Assistant Professor and science lead of the Biodegradability Lab at the School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST), UMass Dartmouth, will address "Testing New Materials for Ocean-Safe Biodegradable Plastics." Missed it? Watch the recording! September 12th, 2023: Alison Smart, Executive Director of the climate literacy initiative Probably Futures, will address "Climate Change; The Future of Heat Around the World and Close to Home." Missed it? Watch the recording! June 13th, 2023: Leslie Kean, investigative journalist, will address "UFOs and Government Acknowledgement: The Phenomenon is Real." Missed it? Watch the recording! May 2nd, 2023: Mark Parsons, a Founder of New Bedford Research & Robotics (NBRR), and James Nanasca, Director of Design Technologies, will address "Retooling the Robotic Arm for a Multitude of Uses, from Architecture to Fashion Design to Telemedicine." Missed it? Watch the recording! April 4th, 2023: Timothy Herbert, a Brown University paleoceanographer, will address "Drilling into the Past for Clues About Our Climate Future" Missed it? Watch the recording! March 7th, 2023: Becket Colson, a mechanical engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, will address "A New Tool For Detecting Ocean Microplastics." Missed it? Watch the recording! February 7th, 2023: Nicole Danaher-Garcia, UMass-D alumna and research associate with the Dolphin Communication Project, will address "Surprise Discovery! These Dolphins Make Peace Not War When Meeting Strangers; What Makes Them Different?" Missed it? Watch the recording! January 10th, 2023: Dan Goulart, manager of the Buttonwood Brook and Apponagansett Bay Restoration Project for the Buzzards Bay Coalition, will address "The Science Behind Restoring Buttonwood Brook; A chemical and biological cleansing." Missed it? Watch the recording! December 6th, 2022: Robert Daylor, civil engineer and senior consultant at Tetra Tech, will address "Climate Change Risks and Options for the South Coast." Missed it? Watch the recording! November 1st, 2022: Chris Cronin, chef at Union Flats Seafood Co. in New Bedford, will address "Underutilized: All the delicious local fish we aren't catching & eating." Missed it? Watch the recording! October 4th, 2022: Seth Lederman, M.D., founder and CEO of Tonix Pharmaceuticals, will discuss "Next Generation Covid Vaccines; The quest for the knockout punch." Missed it? Watch the recording! September 13th, 2022: Justin Ohlson, Forestry Superintendent, and Chancery Perks, Conservation Agent, both arborists with the city of New Bedford , will discuss "Let's Talk Trees -- New Bedford Trees!" Missed it? Watch the recording! June 14th, 2022: Nicholas Sullivan, a Senior Fellow at The Fletcher School at Tufts, will talk about his new book The Blue Revolution: Hunting, Harvesting, and Farming Seafood in the Information Age. Missed it? Watch the recording! May 3rd, 2022: Kyla Bennett, ecologist, lawyer, and whistleblower, will address "Aerial Spreading: Ineffectual and Costly to the Environment." Missed it? Watch the recording! April 5th, 2022: Dr. Ann Partridge, Vice Chair of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, will examine "New and Evolving Strategies for Breast Cancer Development and Treatment." Missed it? Watch the recording! March 8th, 2022: Mary Parks, the founder and director of greencrab.org, will examine "From Problem to Plate: A solution for invasive green crabs." Missed it? Watch the recording! December 7th, 2021: Grant O'Reilly, a nuclear physicist with the Physics Department at UMass Dartmouth, will discuss "Fusion Power: The Carbon-Free Solution, But When? November 9th, 2021: Michael Metzler, former president/CEO of St. Anne's Hospital, will discuss "Inside American Health Care, A Call for Change." Missed it? Watch the recording! October 5th, 2021: Robert Gegear, a professor of biology at UMass Dartmouth, will discuss "More Than Just the Buzz: Using native pollination systems (not just bees) to rewild our backyards." Missed it? Watch the recording! September 14th, 2021: John Miller, Executive Director of New England Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative, will discuss "Harnessing Tidal Energy; The Cape Cod Railroad Bridge Test Site." Missed it? Watch the recording! June 1, 2021 (VIRTUAL): Keith Lovett, Director of the Buttonwood Park Zoo and wildlife conservationist, will discuss "The Role of the Modern Zoo: Utilizing genetic science for the conservation of species." Missed it? Watch the recording! April 6, 2021 (VIRTUAL): Brad Chase, a senior marine fisheries biologist with the Mass Division of Marine Fisheries, will discuss "The Herring are Running: Migratory fish restoration in Massachusetts." Missed it? Watch the recording! March 2, 2021 (VIRTUAL): Alan Poole, Cornell ornithologist, will discuss "The Resplendent Quetzak; Birds as barometers of land use in Central America." Missed it? Watch the recording! February 2, 2021 (VIRTUAL): Jennifer Francis, Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, will discuss "Arctic Meltdown: Why it matters to all of us." Missed it? Watch the recording! January 5, 2021 (VIRTUAL): Scott Cassel (CEO/Founder) and Sydney Harris (Director of Policy) of Boston-based Product Stewardship Institute will discuss "Producer Responsibility: The circular solution to waste pollution." Missed it? Watch the recording! December 1, 2020 (VIRTUAL): Kim Sawicki, PhD student at UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology, will discuss "Ropeless Fishing Gear: Fishing effectively without harming marine mammals." Missed it? Watch the recording! November 10, 2020 (VIRTUAL): Jonathan Kurtis, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Brown University and director of the Lifespan Center for International Health Research, will discuss "A Promising New Strategy for Combating Malaria." Missed it? Watch the recording! October 6, 2020 (VIRTUAL): Jamie Jacquart, Associate Director of Sustainability at UMass Dartmouth, will discuss "Carbon Neutrality: How to Achieve a Net Zero Carbon Footprint by 2030." Missed it? Watch the recording! September 8, 2020 (VIRTUAL): Robert Johnson, Ph.D., senior scientist at Kirtland Air Force Research Laboratory, will discuss "Laser Beacon Adaptive Optics: How an invention for looking into space is revolutionizing astronomy and our understanding of the universe." Missed it? Watch the recording! August 4, 2020 (VIRTUAL): Ellen Langer, Ph.D., Harvard psychology professor, will be discussing "Coping with Isolation: A Mindful Solution." Missed it? Watch the recording! July 14, 2020 (VIRTUAL): Erin Bromage, Ph.D., associate professor at UMass Dartmouth, will join us for a second time, discussing "COVID-19. Where are we now? What can we expect going forward?" Missed it? Watch the recording! June 9, 2020 (VIRTUAL): Adam J. Hawkins, sustainable energy expert, will be discussing "Beneath Our Feet: Geothermal energy and its transformative potential for heating homes, campuses and entire cities." Missed it? Watch the recording! March 10, 2020: Jade Luiz, Ph.D., Curator of Collections at Plimouth Plantation, will be discussing "A Tale of One Village and Two Peoples: Archaeological revelations about the Wampanoag village of Patuxet and its later settlement as Plymouth Colony." February 4, 2020: Erin Bromage, Ph.D., associate professor at UMass Dartmouth, will be discussing "Designing Vaccines: The challenge of keeping farm-raised fish healthy (Yes, fish need vaccinations, too!)." January 7, 2020: Jennifer Fugate, Ph.D., assistant professor at UMass Dartmouth, will be discussion " Why the science behind facial and emotion recognition technology is flawed." December 3, 2019: Mitchelle Agonsi, Amanda Hart, And Ashleigh Novak, graduate students and researchers and UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST), will be discussing "Changing oceans, moving fish: How can the sciecne that informs fisheries management keep up?" November 5, 2019: Mark Litos, co-founder of the New Bedford company Refried Apparel, will be discussing "At the forefront of upcycling textiles and sustainable fashion." October 1, 2019: Nikolay Anguelov, associate professor in the Department of Public Policy at UMass Dartmouth, will be discussing "How fashion impacts the environment; Promoting circularity." September 10, 2019: K.C. Cushman, PhD candidate in forest ecology at Brown University, will be discussing "How Much CO2 Does a Forest Absorb? Solving the Mystery with Lasers & Drones." July 16, 2019: John Rogers, senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists will be discussing "Capturing offshore wind along the east and west coasts: Power, policy and promise." June 5, 2019: Hadley Witt, PhD candidate in Pathobiology at Brown University and a Research Scientist in the Department of Surgery at Rhode Island Hospital will be discussing "Immune-Oncology: Is our immune system the cure for our cancer?" May 7, 2019: Jennifer Thum, Ph.D., Curatorial Fellow and Museum Educator, who will be discussing "Words in the Landscape; Rock Inscriptions and the Egyptians' Relationship to the Natural World." April 2, 2019: Peter Haas, robotics engineer and Associate Director of the Humanity Centered Robotics Initiative at Brown University, who will be discussing "Are Robots Stealing Our Jobs? What to be scared of, and what not." March 6, 2019: Megan Winton, marine scientist and PhD candidate at the School for Marine Science and Technology, who will be discussing "You're gonna need a bigger dataset: How statistics are shedding light on he secret lives of sharks." February 5, 2019: Seth Garfield, aquaculturist at Cuttyhunk Shellfish Farms, who will be discussing "Down on a watery farm: lessons learned by a local shell-fisher and the hurdles that lie ahead." January 8, 2019: Laurel Schaider, research scientist at the Silent Spring Institute, who will be discussing “PFAS contaminants in the nation's drinking water supplies. Where these chemicals come from, how they affect our health, and what we can do to reduce our exposure.” December 4, 2018: Heather Goldstone, NPR science editor and host of Living Lab Radio, who will be discussing “Climate Change in the News; The good, the bad and the ugly.” November 6, 2018: The Mindful Brain - Professor Aminda O'Hare will be discussing "How mindfulness shapes the brain: A case for practicing compassion." O'Hare is an Associate Professor of Psychology studying cognitive neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. October2, 2018: Youth Football and Cognitive Impairment - Laney Evers and Bobby Abdolmohammadi will be discussing "Youth football and the risks of repetitive brain trauma in young athletes. Evers and Abdolmohammadi are research scientists at Boston University School of Medicine's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) center. September 4, 2018: Food Sustainability through Aquaculture - Professor Michael Tlusty will be discussing "Aquaculture as one solution to feeding the next 2 billion; Stepping stones to food sustainability." July 10, 2018: Bees vs. Pesticides - Entomologist Wayne Andrews will be discussing "Bees vs. Pesticides; Time to un-poison our landscape. (And no, bee colony collapse disorder isn't due to only a virus.)" June 12, 2018: Sustainable Farming - Eva Sommaripa will be discussing "Good Food, Good Earth; Harnessing Microbes & Nutrients." Eva is New England's celebrated cultivator of Eva's Garden and a leader in sustainable farming practices. May 1, 2018: Massachusetts Earthquakes - John Ebel will be discussing "Massachusetts Earthquakes: Where, Why, and When?" Dr. Ebel is a professor of Geophysics in the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College and a senior research scientist at the Weston Observatory of Boston College. April 3, 2018: Landing the Mars Rover - Mike Bramble will be discussing "The Contest of Mapping a Suitable Landing Site for the Mars 2020 Rover." Bramble is a planetary geologist and Ph.D. candidate at Brown University. March 6, 2018: Sustainable Building - Kathryn Duff will be discussing "Sustainable House, Sustainable Community: Efficient, Healthy, and Biophilic." Duff is the founder and director of studio2sustain in New Bedford an a leader in environmentally minded design. February 6, 2018: Ocean Wind Turbines - Dr. Anthony Ucci and Paul Vigeant will be discussing "The Intricacies of Building and Installing Ocean Wind Turbines." Ucci is a professor of Engineering at Bristol Community College and Vigeant is the Director of the New Bedford Wind Energy Center. January 9, 2018: Synthetic Biology - Dr. James Griffith, former Chair of Medical Laboratory Science at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Dr. Griffith will be discussing "Synthetic biology: miracle or monster? Redesigning microorganisms into life forms that make rubber, saffron, vanillin (used in vanilla extract), rice, fuels, and much much more. December 12, 2017: Fisheries Management - Cassie Canasta, Debra Duarte, and Robert Wildermuth are graduate students at the School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. They will be discussing successful fisheries management, and how to think beyond the fish. November 14, 2017: Invasive Species - Dr. Jennifer Koop is an assistant professor of Biology at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She will be discussing invasive species in the Galapagos including how they arrived and research to stop them. October 11, 2017: Dr. Tayhas Palmore is a professor of engineering and a professor of chemistry at Brown University. She will be discussing ways in which she is working to capture CO2 and convert it into biofuels, green plastics, and other products. September 19, 2017: Particle Physics - Dr. Grant O'Rielly is an associate professor of physics at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He will be discussing particle colliders, Higgs-Boson, and hints of a new mystery particle. July 11, 2017: Cybersecurity- Dr. Joel Brenner is a Senior Research Fellow at MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative. He served as the head of U.S. counterintelligence under the Director of National Intelligence and as the inspector general and senior counsel of the National Security Agency. He will discuss cybersecurity and how we are to protect the digital systems that control nearly every facet of our lives June 13, 2017: Soil Science - Peter Fletcher and Maggie Payne, a certified soil scientist and a researcher with USDA, respectively, discussed "Hidden in the Dirt: South Coast soils past and present." May 2, 2017: Advances in Fishing Gear - Dr. Pingguo He from SMAST, UMass-Dartmouth, discussed “Advances in fishing gear; Listening to fish & talking to fisherman for the sake of sustaining our fragile fisheries.” |
What is a Science Café? There are dozens, if not hundreds, worldwide. They are informal gatherings, often at a pub or restaurant, between a scientist and a group of interested people. These events offer the chance for the public to question experts in a scientific field. New Bedford Science Café was launched to foster a greater appreciation of science and its enrichment of our world. Café-goers range from techies to those who have little exposure to science but are curious about the evening's topic.
The gap between science and society continues to widen as scientific fields expand and accelerate. The Café is a way for people to keep pace. These events are FREE (except for the beer and food) and open to the public, in an effort to attract a wide audience interested in scientific discussion in a relaxed setting. For more about Science Cafes around the world, visit NOVA's website: www.sciencecafes.org |
