The American Chemical Society’s Chemical & Engineering News in its March 16 edition featured a Science Café coordinated by Dr. Victoria Gelling of NDSU’s Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials. The article, “Science Cafés Hit the Spot,” noted, “You wouldn’t normally expect to find American Chemical Society members gathered for a local section meeting in the middle of a hardware store.” More than 60 community members attended the session held last year at Scheels Home and Hardware in Fargo to hear the research director of the coatings company Valspar talk about chemistry and paint. The article’s author, Linda Wang, points out the success of science cafés around the world in putting the public at ease by talking about science in lay terms in casual settings. The article is online at pubs.acs.org/cen/index.html. 

The NDSU College of Science and Mathematics also began a series of successful science cafés in local venues this past fall. The next Science Café is set for March 31 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Babb’s Coffee House, 604 Main Ave., Fargo. NDSU Geosciences Professor Donald Schwert will lead the discussion: “A Citizen’s Guide to Geologic Survival in Fargo-Moorhead.” Floods, shifting clays, landslides and radon make the F-M region one of the most challenging geologic environments for development. In this science café, Schwert will discuss the geologic setting of the region and how we can better adapt to its many challenges. 

Previous Science Cafés covered topics such as the electoral college, psychology of terrorism and mathematics of the Rubik’s Cube. The events involve face-to-face conversation with a scientist about current science topics, are open to the community and take place in casual settings.