Interdisciplinary conversations intended to promote communication between and among those in natural science and humanities/social science. Our goal is to provide a forum to know about each other's work, to discuss topics and methodological problems common to several fields, and thus promote interdisciplinary projects on campus. Past Brown Bag series have evolved through musings on metonymy and metaphor, to the meaning of metrics, meaning, noise and information.

Brown Bag (BB) continues spring semester with our conversation on: Science’s Audiences. Last semester participants wondered about the differences between reflecting on and doing science. Part of this semester’s conversations will attempt to address that question with a little experiment in format. We have asked three research labs in the fields of developmental biology, bio-inorganic chemistry and laser physics to host a session where BB participants visit and are involved in some regular activity in a research lab. These BB participants will then report on their experience at the following BB session. The lab visit will take place during a regular timeslot for BB, Fridays 2:15-3:15 (give or take a bit) and then participants and anyone interested will meet the following week at the Multicultural Center to discuss the participants' experience with doing science. In addition to this new format, we have a wonderfully diverse series of speakers, so please come join us at our new time, 2:15pm, in the Multicultural Center, as participant or audience.

All are welcome to join us for this series of discussions, Fridays, 2:15-3:30pm, at the Multicultural Center (229 Roberts Road). Contact Sharon Burgmayer or Paula Viterbo or Wil Franklin for additional information. **Note the new time for this semester!** On Line Forum for continuing discussion Link to poster image Archive of Prior Conversations Fall 2004: "Science's Audiences" Spring 2004: "Information, Meaning, and Noise: What's the Difference?" Fall 2003: "What Counts?--Measuring Ourselves and the World" Spring 2003: "The Science of Culture/The Culture of Science" Fall 2002: "The Culture of Science"

Sharon Burgmayer, "Bridges" For an exhibit of Sharon's paintings see Transformation

 

Schedule and Discussion Links

Introductory PowerPoint Presentation

Jan. 28	Paul Grobstein (Biology)	Thinking About Science: Evolving Stories
Feb. 4	Susan White (Chemistry)	Why Teach Molecular Biology in Africa?
Feb. 11	Ted Wong (Biology)	The Long Journey of a Simple Biological Model
Feb. 18	Hiroshi Iwasaki (Theater Program)	Who's Watching? – Imaginary Dialogues
Feb. 25	Tom Deans (Haverford, Director of College Writing)	Writing Across Contexts: Audience and Genre
March 4	Al Dorof (Public Affairs), Dorothy Wright (Science & Technology Newsletter - science journalist), Ruth Guyer (Haverford, General Studies - science journalist)	Bridging the Two Cultures: Communicating Science to the Media
March 11	SPRING BREAK
March 18	Lab visits	Lab visits
March 25	Reports and discussion of lab visits	Reports and discussion of lab lisits
April 1	Paul Grobstein (Biology), Elliott Shore (History), Paula Viterbo (History of Science)	Memory, History, and the Brain II. Whence Nostalgia and the Constraints on Stories?
April 8	Scott Gilbert (Swarthmore, Biology)	The Human Embryo and its Popular Audience: Fictions and Fetuses
April 15	Laura Blankenship (Information Services)	Blogging Science: How Science Gets Spun in the Blogosphere
April 22	Karen Greif (Biology)	Science and Civic Policy
April 29	Anne Dalke (English and Feminist Studies), Al Albano (Physics), Amy Bug (Swarthmore, Physics)	What’s New in Gender and Science?