Saturday Morning Science returns to the University of Toledo

The chemistry department began its annual event, Saturday Morning Science, at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 20 on the University of Toledo’s Main Campus.

This is the 11th year of Saturday Morning Science, which hosts guest speakers from around the country. Each speaker for this program devotes an hour or two of their time to educate the public on a wide range of scientific topics.

Steve B. Howell, project scientist for the NASA Kepler Mission, presented Saturday’s lecture regarding exoplanets and the discovery of alien worlds and habitable planets.

“We ask the presenters to talk in a way that should be accessible to the public. We often say middle school age or a little older,” said Joe Schmidt, an organizer of the event and chemistry professor at UT.

The event was held in Wolfe Hall, with approximately 125 people in attendance. It started off with breakfast — provided by Barry’s Bagels — before Howell took the stage.

The main goal of Saturday Morning Science is to broaden people’s scientific interests, according to Schmidt, and though the topics revolve around science, you don’t have to be a scientist to attend.

“Part of the goal of Saturday Morning Science is the idea that most people aren’t scientists, but there is a lot of cool science going on, and from the point of view of both knowing what research your tax dollars are supporting as well as just being aware of science in technology and medicine that affect everyone’s lives,” said John Bellizzi, an organizer of the event and chemistry professor at UT.

Students make up a majority of the audience, which Bellizzi said is due to many classes offering extra credit for attendance. However, the event is open to the public and audience members can range from middle school students to senior citizens.

“To say the least, we try to make them interesting. We are after neat topics that appeal to a broad audience,” Schmidt said.

Each program is led by a different presenter. Bellizzi said there is a focus on professors from both UT and the University of Michigan. The program does usually have a few presenters come in from further away during the course of the year, though.

Schmidt said the topics differ each year, though space, forensics and environment tend to be a recurring theme. Bellizzi and they look for speakers with different job experiences to offer a different perspective.

The talks this spring include the analysis of color fading in masterpieces by Vincent Van Gogh, the human microbe, green chemistry and forensics.

The programs are held in Wolfe Hall Room 1205 at 9:30 am. The next talk will be March 19.

Some presentations are also recorded by WGTE and posted on Knowledgestream.org. For more information about Saturday Morning Science you can visit Saturday Morning Science — University of Toledo on Facebook or #SaturdayMorningScience on Twitter.