Watch the video on our YouTube channel. Read an editorial about the event by Dean of the College of Science, Sastry Pantula.
Science has the power to define our future by creating opportunities for a better world and a healthier people. It doesn’t just start with scientists, it happens one conversation at a time. It certainly takes a village!
The College of Science hosted “Science Worth Spreading,” a series of powerful, stimulating 7-minute talks from scientists in our own backyard at Oregon State University followed by a mind-bending conversation about science. Students, faculty, and community learned about the discoveries, powerful insights and sustainable science happening at OSU at this event, becoming part of the conversation about the impact and value of science.
The free public talks took place on Saturday, April 22 from 9:00 – 11:30 a.m. in OSU’s Learning Innovation Center (LinC), room 100, a 600-person, theater-in-the-round smart arena equipped with wrap-around screens. The atrium was open starting at 9 a.m. for complimentary coffee/tea and the viewing of seven interactive science demonstrations—including the Women in Physics club’s ever-popular hovercraft—by our OMSI Science Communications Fellows.
A free pizza lunch was served after the event to scientists, science students and science fans of all ages.
Science Worth Spreading was hosted by the College of Science and sponsored by the Oregon Academy of Science and the American Chemical Society. The panel of scientists discussed topics ranging from science start-ups in Oregon and our warming oceans to influencing policy for better decision making.
World-renowned marine ecologist and OSU Distinguished Professor, The Honorable Dr. Jane Lubchenco kicked off the event in a welcome video with a clarion call for the importance and value science offers our society in these changing times. She served as the Administrator of NOAA and is currently the inaugural U. S. Science Envoy for the Ocean for the U.S. State Department.
Oregon State’s own Terra magazine editor Nick Houtman emceed the event and led an interactive panel discussion and Q&A.
Program highlights
9:00 a.m. Coffee/tea/beverages in the atrium
9 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Interactive OMSI demos in the atrium
10 a.m. Welcome, Sastry Pantula, Dean of the College of Science and via video Jane Lubchenco
10:10-11:05 a.m. Scientists present short, 7-minute power talks.
Brent Steel, OSU political scientist and director of the Public Policy Graduate Program, “Weaving Science into Policy.”
Ben Dalziel, OSU population biologist and mathematician, “Ecology in the Age of Cities”
Francis Chan, OSU marine ecologist and co-chair of a 20-person member panel of leading West Coast ocean scientists, “Science in our Changing Oceans”
Sandra Loesgen, OSU chemist, “Drugs from Dirt and Oceans”
Eric Rosenfeld – Oregon’s largest investor in science start-ups, “Starting Up with Science”
Vrushali Bokil – OSU mathematician, “From Love to Despair and Health to Disease: How Mathematics Helps Understand Change”
11:05 – 11:35 a.m. Interactive panel discussion/Q&A, led by Nick Houtman, editor of Terra magazine
11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Free pizza lunch in the atrium
