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Diversity in academia is in the public spotlight. Yet, despite some important strides for women in academic science careers, many workplaces and their cultures discriminate against women and can endanger them – professionally, psychologically, and even physically. Recent findings have played an important role in shaping new policies at field sites, universities, professional organizations, and funding agencies. Rutherford and Arreola will summarize this work and share suggestions from the evidence and from the recent NASEM (The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine) #ScienceToo report for improving the academic climate for women.

Did you know there may be quantum calculators in your eyes? The bizarre properties of quantum mechanics are now helping neuroscientists more precisely understand how brains and other living things work. Join C2ST for a live recording of “Chicago Brain Buddies” with the dynamic hosts: University of Chicago neurobiology professor Peggy Mason and C2ST Artist in Residence Aaron Freeman. They are joined by physicist Maria Weber for a lively exploration of how quantum entanglement in the retinas of birds help them “see” magnetic north and how electron superpositions (their ability to be in many places simultaneously) may be involved in memory formation and storage.

Watch the Q&A segment here.

Ever wonder if meditation is for you? Or if practicing mindfulness really works? Almost every day, something about meditation and mindfulness appears in the news. The reports suggest that these practices will make us healthier, happier, keep our brains healthy, and make us more successful. Meditation is the new miracle intervention that improves everything for everyone. But what exactly are meditation and mindfulness? How can they be learned, and by whom? In this talk, Dr. Marcia Grabowecky explains what meditation and mindfulness are and the relationship between them. She describes possible mechanisms for the effectiveness of these practices at psychological and neural levels, and how meditation and mindfulness relate to other types of training. She also reviews evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness and meditation from the domains of physical and mental health, experimental psychology, and neuroscience. Finally, Dr. Grabowecky discusses the costs and benefits of adding meditation practices into one’s life.

Watch the Q&A portion of the program here.

Resilience, empathy, and plasticity are important parts of the human experience, but how do these traits actually emerge biologically? Renowned scientists, Dr. Dorothy Kozlowski, Dr. Peggy Mason, and Dr. Janice Urban, will come together to discuss their groundbreaking work in neuroscience. Discussions will focus on the biology of empathy and helping behavior in rats, the incredible ability of the brain to repair itself following traumatic injury, and how the brain develops a stress response and resilience.

Digitalization, data sets, computing, technology, and analytics are all rapidly advancing. Our energy analytics approach and collective tool kit of models and capabilities have advanced considerably over the past decades. Today, we are at yet another precipice of change, with exponential increases in data availability, advanced analytics, and scalable computing power. The presentation will highlight new and emerging capabilities that offer us new, unprecedented capabilities for robust insights for scientific research, energy economics, planning, infrastructure, and related decisions. This program is presented as part of the Distinguished Lectureship Series by the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER). For more information, visit WISER’s webpage: https://web.iit.edu/wiser/seminar-ser…