Beginning September 20, Monday Programs will return to in-person meetings at the Northside Events Center & Social Club. Zoom Presentations will be streamed and recorded for viewing on the website.

UPCOMING MONDAY:

9/27/2021 --- TOUR--- Current polar bear research and behind the scenes tour of the Indianapolis Zoo

Contact: Dr. Steven Amstrup --- Dr. Amstrup is chief scientist of Polar Bears International and an adjunct professor at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Before joining PBI, Amstrup was a research wildlife biologist with the United States Geological Survey at the Alaska Science Center, Anchorage AK., where he led polar bear research in Alaska for 30 years. He earned a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Washington (1972), a M.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of Idaho (1975), and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (1995). He is the winner of the 2012 Indianapolis Prize for animal conservation. (Sponsored By: Dr. Rob Shumaker and Rick Whitener)

The Indianapolis Zoo will host Scientech Club members in the Dolphin Pavilion beginning with lunch around 11:15 AM. At noon, Dr. Steven Amstrup will talk about recent research into the status of polar bears and efforts that are underway to help their numbers recover. After the program, zoo staff members bring in some 'animal ambassadors' to visit with club members. Staff from the Center for conservation will also come in to answer questions on their work.

10/4/2021 --- Managing the Midwest electrical grid

Speaker: Tari Jung --- Tari Jung is a Policy Studies Engineer (Market and Grid Strategy) and previously worked in Operations Engineering (System Operations) and Real-time Modeling (System Operations). She has been with MISO for 4.5 years. She has a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering with minor in Data Science. She has participated in various studies of resource adequacy planning and electrification as well as developing MISO’s operations tools. (Email: hjung@misoenergy.org) (Sponsored By: Rick Whitener)

Ms. Jung will discuss how MISO works with the providers of electric power to meet fluctuating demand. The talk with include how changes in the mix of power sources affect this mission.

10/5/2021 --- Board Meeting

10/11/2021 --- Contributions of 2020 Nobel Prize winners in Physics and Economic Science

Speaker: Dick Carter Xiang Li --- Dick Carter is our current Scientech Club President. He has a BS from Purdue University and is a member of the Intl Microelectronics and Packaging Society. Xiang Li is an assistant professor of economics at Butler University. She received a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Oregon in June 2021. At Butler University, she teaches macroeconomics courses such as Introductory Macroeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, and Money and Banking. (Email: gotownrichard@gmail.com xli4@butler.edu) (Sponsored By: Jim Willson)

Dick Carter will summarize the award for Physics which was presented to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for their discoveries that have improved understanding of the universe, including work on black holes. Xiang Li will summarize the award for Economic Science which was presented to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.

10/18/2021 --- Detecting Lies – What works, what doesn’t work, and what may produce a false confession

Speaker: Greg Wright --- President, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Central Indiana Chapter. Greg is a Certified Fraud Examiner. (Email: cfegreg@gmail.com) (Sponsored By: GREG WRIGHT)

Detecting Lies – What works, what doesn’t work, and what may produce a false confession: polygraph; Reid Interviewing Technique; Neuro-Linguistic Programming; Behavior Detection Officer Training; Dr. Mehrabian’s 7% Rule; body language training; the P.E.A.C.E. method; or micro-body language training? Greg is a Certified Fraud Examiner. He has interviewed hundreds of individuals including persons of interest, biased witnesses, unbiased witnesses, and fraudsters.

10/23/2021 --- ANNUAL DINNER (at Woodlland Country Club), Speaker: Tom Lauer

10/25/2021 --- IF IT WEREN’T FOR OPERA… I would not know a thing about AKHNATEN!

Speaker: Ray Busmann --- Ray Busmann was born and raised in Germany, where he hosted classical music radio shows. Since his move to Southern California in 1992, Ray has worked as a teacher for vocational schools, and as a German translator and voice-over artist for feature films. Presently, he is employed by the Los Angeles Public Library and is enjoying his ninth season as a volunteer Community Educator for LA Opera. (Email: raybusmann@gmail.com) (Sponsored By: Alison Brown)

Hear the story of this revolutionary young pharaoh, whose incredible contributions to history and the arts were erased from the world’s memory for 3,000 years. Rediscovered in all his glory and mystery only 100 years ago, Akhnaten is the title character of Philip Glass’ mesmerizing 1984 opera.

11/1/2021 --- Medical quackery: from ancient Greece to its current Golden Age

Speaker: Hunter Heath, MD --- Physician, MD Washington University (St. Louis); former professor of medicine and researcher at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and University of Utah School of Medicine; retired Executive Director of US Medical Division, Eli Lilly and Company. Currently adjunct professor, department of medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis. (Email: calciophile@gmail.com ) (Sponsored By: Rick Whitener)

Medical quackery through most of history represented only deviance from the most widely accepted practices, with the pecuniary interests of the mainstream doctors at stake. With the emergence of scientific medicine, the distinction between quackery and rational, proven medical practices became clearer. However, the digital revolution and public gullibility have made today the Golden Age of Quackery. There are ways to sort out fact from fantasy and protect oneself from being misled.

11/2/2021 --- Board Meeting

11/8/2021 --- Organ transplantation

Speaker: Dr. Jonathan Fridell --- Surgeon, IU dept of organ transplantation (Email: jfridell@iupui.edu) (Sponsored By: Russel.l Judd)

State of organ transplants in 2021. Longevity of transplant recipients, donors, problems.

11/15/2021 --- Evansville's part in the war effort

Speaker: Dona Bone --- Event chairwoman of Evansville Wartime Museum Wartime museum author (Email: DonaBone@mac.com) (Sponsored By: Russel.l Judd)

After Pearl Harbor 600 million dollars in defense contracts came to Evansville. Over 300 products were made for the military. Evansville became the highest producing city per capita in the nation. It was the lead in production of Let's and P-47's. Women in the workforce were important to the production effort.

11/22/2021 --- 1492--The Gift of Tobacco.

Speaker: R.F. ROBISON M.D. --- MEDICAL & RADIATION ONCOLOGIST. FORMER PRES. OF IND. SOCIETY RAD.ONC. 1991-92. FORMER PRES. TERRE HAUTE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE & MED. ED FOUNDATION: 1988-92. CHAIR ASTRO HISTORY COMMITTEE 2010 AND CHAIR ASTRO RAD ONC EDUCATION SESSIONS 2004-10. (Email: hotdog@compuserve.com) (Sponsored By: R.F. ROBISON MD)

From Colonial America until the Civil War the preferred tobacco use was the (a) CHEW, (b) SNUFF, (c) PIPE and (d) CIGAR. The ingredients were absorbed through the oral or nasal cavities. Cigarettes were made from the sweepings on the factory floors and were for the poor to roll their own. A milder Bright Leaf tobacco was produced in 1839 and a cigarette rolling machine was perfected in 1884 prompting J.B.Duke of Durham to promote cigarettes which were mild enough to be inhaled for instant effect. Immigrants doubled the USA population during 1880-1910 and city life favored the more sanitary cigarettes. World War I intensified the need for a more convenient smoke. Prohibition and Women’s Suffrage further encouraged tobacco use until by 1950 half the US population smoked.

11/29/2021 --- Building a durable policy around climate change

Speaker: John Ketzenberger --- Director governmental relations for the Indiana chapter of The Nature Conservancy (Email: john.ketzenberger@tnc.org) (Sponsored By: Jerry Williams)

The Nature Conservancy is among the not-for-profit leaders in attempting to mitigate the effects of climate change. The international organization has pioneered in-field practices to reduce carbon and instill environmental resilience and has instituted an intensive public policy effort to produce bi-partisan, solutions-oriented legislation to address the issue.

12/6/2021 --- Cultural Heritage Chemistry: Science Unravels a Museum Textile Mystery

Speaker: Greg Smith PhD --- Dr. Greg Smith Senior Conservation Scientist Newfields Conservation Science Lab Duke Univ PhD Analytical Chemistry Centre Univ BS Chemistry/Anthropology/Sociology (Email: Gdsmith@discovernewfields.org) (Sponsored By: Helmi Banta)

In 2017 the museum purchased an intact 19th Century Moroccan Arid to complement an 18th century fragment in the collection. Concerns led to a full technical study of the materials and methods used in its construction. Dye analysis proved the use of modern synthetic colorants while spectrography and optical microscopy identified fibers from the second half of the 20th century. Comparison with the authentic fragment allows for compelling material comparisons.

12/7/2021 --- Board Meeting

12/13/2021 --- Annual Meeting and Scientech Foundation Update

Speaker: Dick Carter and Joe Abella --- (Sponsored By: Dick Carter)

We will elect officers for 2022 and get an update on Scientech Foundation activities

1/10/2022 --- Eugenics in Indiana

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

Indiana adopted the first forced sterilization law in the world, and some of its most prominent citizens were eugenicists. In this presentation, we will review the history of this once-prevalent movement, which sought to improve humanity through control of human reproduction.

1/17/2022 --- Scientific Indiana

Speaker: Duane Nickell --- Duane S. Nickell was born and raised in Paducah, Kentucky. His interest in science started at an early age as a result of his dad describing the amazing things he was learning in an astronomy class. As a teen, Nickell read every popular science book he could get his hands on, especially those written by Isaac Asimov or Carl Sagan. Nickell attended DePauw University where he graduated with a double major in physics and mathematics. He went on to earn a doctoral degree in education from Indiana University. Nickell taught physics at the high school and college level in Indianapolis until his retirement in 2017. He is a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, the nation’s highest honor for science teachers. He is also a past president of the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers (HASTI) and the Indiana Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Nickell lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Karen Markman, and several cats. (Email: duane_nickell@yahoo.com) (Sponsored By: Dr. Alan Dale Schmidt)

Scientists with a significant Indiana connection have won a dozen Nobel Prizes. Unfortunately, the names of these scientists are unknown to the vast majority of the state’s citizens. Scientific Indiana celebrates science by presenting biographical sketches of seventeen scientific Hoosier heroes. Scientists who lived, worked or were educated in Indiana have made fundamental contributions to astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics. Astronomer Vesto Slipher discovered that almost all other galaxies were moving away from our own Milky Way Galaxy. Biologist Alfred Kinsey was a pioneer in the field of human sexuality. Chemist Harold Urey discovered deuterium and worked on the Manhattan Project. And physicist Edward Purcell discovered nuclear magnetic resonance, the basis for MRI, one of the most significant medical advances in a century. Presenting at NEC

1/24/2022 --- (TBA)

1/31/2022 --- (TBA)