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The Mac Weekly - April 20, 2007 Citizen Science Class Hosts Café Scientifique at Nina's By Matt Day, Staff Writer Macalester's Citizen Science class will host a Café Scientifique discussion about Biofuels at Nina's Coffee Café Tuesday, April 24, at 7 p.m. The Café Scientifique series of discussions is a grassroots public science initiative focused on open dialogue between experts and average citizens. At bars, coffee houses, and cafés, participants spend an evening discussing topics in modern science. Macalester's Café Scientifique is a class project in Environmental Science's Citizen Science class that will feature Professors Steven Taff and Clarence Lehman of the University of Minnesota. Taff specializes in applied environmental economics and Lehman in ecology and evolution. Professor Roopali Phadke had students attend a Café Scientifique hosted by the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum of Natural History in February. Students used the University of Minnesota model when selecting a venue, looking for speakers, and dealing with advertising, student organizer Annie Berge '07 said. Though a goal of this particular Café is to educate students on the practical application of citizen science, it is also designed to include members of the Saint Paul community. "This should bring people together," Berge said. "We'd like to see students, kids, senior citizens, everybody." Nina's Coffee Café, located off Selby Avenue about three miles northeast of campus, was chosen for the discussion because of its intimate setting. "Nina's is a nice spot. They're use to hosting live music, so they could accommodate us pretty easily," Berge said. The evening will begin with short statements from the two guest speakers, after which the discussion will be open to the audience. The discussion will be specifically focused on the practical economic consequences of using E85 Ethanol and Switchgrass as alternative fuel sources. "The audience does not come for self-improvement or to be lectured to," Café Scientifique founder Duncan Dallas said in an interview with the BBC. "[The public] comes to participate. The public wants to be informed, but also wants to discuss." The first Café Scientifique was held in England in 1998. Since then, events have been held in more than 15 countries and 35 U.S. cities. "It's a really cool project," Berge said. "we're actually participating in citizen science." |
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