Students and faculty looking for ways to make their Friday lunches more interesting do not know what they have been missing.
Founded in 1933, The University of Tennessee science forum is held every Friday from noon to 1 p.m. in the dining room of the Thompson-Boling Arena. People are invited to have lunch in an intellectual setting while hearing from people working in many science fields.
“It’s to help people keep up with advances in science, engineering and medicine in a fast moving age,” said Mark Littmann, professor in journalism and electronic media. “Students can come anytime. There’s never a charge.”
Attendants can hear a 40-minute presentation followed by a question and answer session. In the past, forum titles have included: “100 Years of Einstein’s Legacy,” “Taking Care of Antiques in Your Home” and “When Ants Rule the World. Oh wait, they already do.”
Littmann said that while science lunches are convenient, people do not have to be science experts to enjoy them.
“Most of us have to eat at noon on Friday anyway,” he said. “These are not technical talks, almost all the time you can follow what they talk about.”
Some of the forums scheduled for this year include: “Use It or Lose It! — Anybody Can Exercise, Even at 92,” “Lifelong Learning and Lasting Love: What Can Neuroscience Teach Us?” and “Computational Ecology: Environmental Problem Solving for the 21st Century.”
Littmann, the program’s chair, tries to schedule events as timely as possible. The “Computational Ecology” talk will be given nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina.
“I’m always watching for people who have done publishing, won awards or been written up in newspapers,” Littmann said. “These are mostly UT professors, and they’ve done some pretty distinguished things. For me this is the neatest part of all, I get to meet these guys and hear what they’re doing. That’s kind of the excitement of it.”
This Friday, Gregory S. Baker, Jones/Bibee associate professor of earth and planetary sciences, will give a talk titled “Fire and Ice: Geophysical Imaging in Jordanian Archaeology and Alaskan Glaciology.”
“I tend to work on a very diverse range of problems,” Baker said. “My specialty involves remotely imaging the inside of the earth.”
The talk will highlight Baker’s efforts to use Near Surface Geophysics to help archaeologists in Jordan image a 4th century Roman Fort. By using electrical and magnetic techniques including ground penetrating radar and electromagnetic waves, Baker can image up to 600 feet underground.
According to Martha Rider, president of the science forum, one of President John Petersen’s goals is to make UT a premier research university. The science forum is a place where everyone can learn about the diverse array of interesting UT science research projects.
Other benefits of attending the forum include receiving extra credit in some classes, finding inspiration for a potential major and networking with forum members from UT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Graduate School of Medicine, UT Space Institute and other local businesses.
