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