Meetings at the Northside Events Center & Social Club, 2100 E 71st Street, have begun for those who choose to attend in person. A Zoom option with links on the website will continue indefinitely.

Attendees at all in-person Scientech Club meetings should have up-to-date vaccinations and practice social distancing while attending the meeting. Masks are optional. Attendees who have a known exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 (Defined as being within eight feet proximity of a suspected or confirmed Covid risk person for 15 minutes or more) should be tested 3-5 days after exposure.

Any member experiencing COVID symptoms in the past two weeks, should not attend an in-person meeting unless they have had a negative COVID test.

Our attendance requirements will be continually updated if Marion County guidelines are changed.

UPCOMING MONDAY:

8/22/2022 --- Molecular mechanism of Parkinson's Disease

Speaker: Quyen Hoang PhD --- Dr. Hoang is a nationally renowned researcher on Parkinson's Disease. He was appointed in 2021 by the Dean to be the Director of the IU School of Medicine Center for Electron Microscopy. He received his undergraduate and PhD degrees at McMaster University in Canada. Before joining IU, he was a Senior Research Scientist in a collaborative entity between Brandeis and Harvard University. He is a frequent speaker at scientific meetings worldwide on Parkinson's Disease. (Email: qqhoang@iupui.edu) (Sponsored By: Benny Ko MD)(ID: 731)

Professor Hoang's talk will cover Parkinson`s disease at a molecular level. He will discuss possible paths to a cure for this disease in the future.

8/29/2022 --- Visual problems in children, genetic and acquired.

Speaker: Kathy Haider, MD; Erin Conboy, MD --- Visual Problems and Blindness in Children Kathy Haider, MD, is Director of Clinical Research and Professor of Clinical Opthalmology at the IU School of Medicine. Erin Conboy, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics and Pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine. She established the Ocular Genetics Clinic and the Genetic Immunodeficiency Clinic (Email: khaider@iupui.edu) (Sponsored By: Russell Judd)(ID: 686)

The talk will include diagnosis, testing, and present treatment as well as genetic research into these problems.

9/12/2022 --- Re-Thinking Engineering Education at Marian University

Speaker: Dr. Binh Q. Tran --- Dr. Binh Q. Tran is the founding dean for the E.S. Witchger School of Engineering at Marian University in Indianapolis. He has Bachelor and Master degrees in mechanical engineering from U.C. San Diego and San Diego State University, respectively. He received his Doctorate in biomedical engineering from the University of Iowa. His research interests are related to applications of computer, mobile, and information technologies to advance healthy and successful aging in elderly and underserved populations. He has successfully led research projects in the areas of telehealth/mobile health (m-health), home health care technologies, personal health records, and design and development of biomedical instrumentation, including wearable medical devices. He is a recognized biomedical researcher with prior funding from NIH, NSF, FDA, Dept of Commerce, Dept of Education, Dept of Defense, and other organizations. He also serves on grant panels for NIH, NSF, FDA, and the editorial board of several engineering journals. Dean Tran has over 20 years of experience in academic administration, curricular innovation, and service to the engineering profession. (Email: btran1@marian.edu) (Sponsored By: Jeff Rasley)(ID: 713)

Numerous reports by the Brookings Institution, Indy Chamber, and others have identified key competitive challenges to future economic opportunity and growth in Indianapolis, the region, and the state. These challenges include attracting and retaining technical talent, development of a sustainable and skilled workforce, improving educational attainment for broad segments of our population, and creating a culture conducive to innovation and new business formation. In response to these challenges, Marian University is launching the new E.S. Witchger School of Engineering starting in Fall 2022. Offering degree programs in biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, and mechanical engineering as well as engineering physics, the new engineering school at Marian University is intentionally built to train engineers from and for Indiana in order serve the local and regional economy. This talk with discuss Marian’s approach to widening the funnel of students interested in engineering as a profession, development of a flexible curriculum for engineering and workforce development, and re-thinking the engineering training for the future workforce.

9/19/2022 --- Nobel Prizes for 2021 in Chemistry and Physics

Speaker: Alan Schmidt, Jim Willson --- Alan Schmidt is a retired chemical engineer. He has a BChE from Michigan State and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin. Jim Willson is past president of the Scientech Club. He has a BSCE from Purdue and an MBA from Northwestern. (Email: alan.schmidt@att.net Jimwill7777@gmail.com) (Sponsored By: Jim Willson)(ID: 721)

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan for the development of asymmetric organoctalysis. The prize in physics for 2021 was awarded for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex systems. One half of the prize was jointly awarded to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann for the physical modeling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming. The other half was awarded to Giorgio Parisi for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.

9/26/2022 --- Nobel Prize winners for 2021 in Medicine and Economic Science

Speaker: Tom Lauer and Rick Whitener --- Tom Lauer is the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Biology at BSU. Tom has a BS and MS from Ball State and a PhD from Purdue. Rick Whitener is vice president of the Scientech Club. He has a BA in Economics from Davidson College. (Email: tlauer@bsu.edu RWhitener17@gmail.com) (Sponsored By: Jim Willson)(ID: 720)

The prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. The prize for Economic Sciences was divided between David Card for his empirical contributions to labor economics and jointly to Joshua D. Angrist and Guido W. Imbens for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships.

10/3/2022 --- Geology, Water and Climate

Speaker: Robert Barr --- Robert Barr is a Geologist and research Scientist for the Center for Earth and Environmental Science at IUPUI. Hydrology is his specialty. (Email: rcbarr@iupui.edu) (Sponsored By: Rick Whitener)(ID: 722)

This talk will cover the precipitation patterns in the US and worldwide. He provides evidence that precipitation is coming in increasingly severe events. The presentation also includes information about the severe drought conditions in the US west as well as the latest reports on CO2 emissions with some hopeful trends included.

10/10/2022 --- (TBA)

10/17/2022 --- The Limits of Metrics in Quality Assessment

Speaker: Richard Gunderman --- Professor Indiana University School of Medicine. (Email: rbgunder@IU.edu) (Sponsored By: Rick Whitener)(ID: 717)

This talk focuses on healthcare and how easy-to-measure functions can distract us from more critical issues. Some of the most important things are not measurable at all.

10/24/2022 --- Restoring Smiles to Children

Speaker: Dr. Gregory Borschel --- MD, Chief of Plastic Surgery, Riley Hospital. Dr. Borschel was elected President of the American Society for Peripheral Nerve for 2021 & was reappointed for 2022. He was elected Chair of the Plastic Surgery Research Council for 2020 & was reappointed for a second term for 2022. (Sponsored By: Edward Koolish)(ID: 682)

Dr. Borschel’s practice focuses on pediatric nerve injuries, corneal neurotization, facial paralysis, congenital hand surgery, & microvascular reconstruction. Through nerve-based reconstruction and grafting, Dr. Borschel restores smiles to children suffering from various forms of facial paralysis. Before/after slides and videos will be presented.

10/31/2022 --- (TBA)

11/7/2022 --- Healing in the Warm Glow of a Parasitic Infection: Malaria Therapy for Neurosyphilis at Central State Hospital

Speaker: Sarah Halter --- Sarah Halter is the Executive Director of the Indiana Medical History Museum. She also serves on several Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards including: the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, the John Shaw Billings History of Medicine Society, Easterseals Crossroads, the Association of Indiana Museums, Youth Enhancement and Training Initiative (YETI), and the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science. She is former Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Indianapolis. (Email: shalter@imhm.org) (Sponsored By: Russell Judd)(ID: 729)

Before penicillin, general paralysis, a form of neurosyphilis, was a common cause of institutionalization in mental hospitals like Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane. With no available treatments for the disease, patients there could only expect to receive final care. Once symptoms developed, most died within two years. The 1910 miracle drug for syphilis, Salvarsan 606, had no effect on neurosyphilis, but could one deadly disease be used to treat another? In this talk, Sarah Halter will discuss the development and efficacy of malaria therapy for neurosyphilis, its use at Central State Hospital beginning in 1925, and the gradual abandonment of it in favor of penicillin in the late 1940s.

11/14/2022 --- Lillian Gilbreth, Genius in the art of living

Speaker: Richard Gunderman and David Gunderman --- Richard is a Professor at Indiana University School of Medicine. David is the Lillian Gilbreth Post-Doctoral Fellow at Purdue. (Email: rbgunder@IU.edu) (Sponsored By: Rick Whitener)(ID: 719)

Lillian Gilbreth became one of the first female engineers to earn a PhD. She founded the field of industrial psychology, invented the foot-pedal trash can, partnered with her husband to describe the “one best way” to do work. She bore and parented 12 children, introduced time-motion studies into the operation of her own household, gained renown as the world’s first industrial psychologist, became the first woman full professor in Purdue University’s School of Engineering. She was celebrated in two best-selling books and films, “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “Belles on Their Toes.” The former film starred Indy native Clifton Webb.

11/21/2022 --- Krakatoa 1883

Speaker: William H. Dick --- Scientech Club Historian (Email: whdick42@rds.net) (Sponsored By: William H. Dick)(ID: 730)

Krakatoa was the deadlist volcano in history. Events leading up to the volcano and the aftermath are covered.

11/28/2022 --- (TBA)

12/5/2022 --- (TBA)

12/12/2022 --- Annual Meeting, Elections and Report of Scientech Foundation activities

Speaker: Joyce Mallette and Joe Abella --- Joyce Mallette is President of the Scientech Club. Joe Abella is a member of the Scientech Club board and Vice President of the Scientech Foundation. (Sponsored By: Rick Whitener)(ID: 725)

This will be the required annual meeting of the Scientech Club. Officers for 2023 will be elected. Joe Abella will give a summary of the activities of the Scientech Foundation over the past year.