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Science Cafe

Cal Poly

the public, open to everybody and that’s one


of the reasons it was started in the library; to
have something that was a little more open to
anybody who was interested in science or those
topics.”
Improbable Vehicles, a three-speaker
series, kicked off as the first Science Café
event. At first, only library faculty helped run
the events, but now Perrine is in charge of the
program.
Past lecture topics have included under-
water archaeology, the ethics of human en-
hancement, genealogy utilizing the tree of life,
S cience Café, a speaker series at Cal Poly,
among others.
“We want to have conversations about
has covered multidisciplinary topics since
science, but that take the cross-disciplinary
2009. It was started with the redesign of
social sciences, political ramifications, ethical
the second floor of the library.
considerations and it’s a conversation, it’s not
The international movement Café Sci-
a lecture, it’s supposed to be interactive,” Per-
entifique, influenced the start of Science
rine said.
Café at Cal Poly.
Cafe Scientifique is usually held in
cafes, bars, according to the Café Scienti-
fique website. Anyone is welcome to explore
the latest ideas in science and technology Upcoming Events
at an event.
At Cal Poly, the reasons for starting •April 15th/16th, (TBD - Open House
Science Café were similar, but also had dif- Weekend)
ferent goals. Creating a Robotic Exoskeleton
“It was started to facilitate more Alumni Russ Angold (BRAE ‘00,
conversation and open dialogue across col- Berkeley Bionics)
leges,” Science Café coordinator Cynthia
Perrine said. “We often get caught up in our •May 4th, 3:30 p.m.
own disciplines and forget that there’s a lot Harm Reduction: Managing illicit
of other perspectives to consider. drug use in SLO County and beyond
“It was meant to promote building Dr. Candace Winstead (Cal Poly)
a community between students, faculty
and staff,” Perrine said. “So it’s open to

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