Event Archive

A talk by Andrew Zwicker, Senator, 16th Legislative District

Brody Lab - Hegeman 107  12:00 pm EST/GMT-5
What role should scientists play in public policy? Do we have any more of an obligation than others to participate in the political process? While technical issues are clearly within the natural purview of a scientist, is a science background equally as valuable in dealing with the economy or education? These are some of the questions this talk will raise, including lessons learned from Zwicker's personal career trajectory to highlight his perspective on the intersection of science and public policy.

A talk by Sasha Fraser, ’24
Brody Lab - Hegeman 107  12:00 pm EST/GMT-5
A variety of techniques can be used to investigate molecular dynamics on ultrafast timescales, and most of these are relatively novel techniques. Currently, most of the techniques employed are spectroscopic techniques, which only provide information about the energetic transitions within a system. In contrast, scattering techniques can provide additional information by instead directly probing the structural dynamics over time. The ability to examine molecular structures and monitor their structural changes on femtosecond timescales is particularly useful, because it can provide information such as the structural pathways that chemical reactions pass through, which was previously not possible to obtain through experimental means. This talk will provide a survey of the ultrafast techniques employed by our group in order to create more comprehensive understandings of molecular structural dynamics on reaction timescales.

A talk from Kate Kiseeva, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History
Brody Lab - Hegeman 107  12:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Diamonds, thought to form in the upper mantle and the mantle transition zone (410–660 km) often incorporate small pieces of surrounding material when they form. These inclusions provide a unique window into the deep mantle, giving researchers much-needed information about the composition of our planet as well as processes which took places millions and billions of years ago. Dr. Kiseeva will give an overview of deep diamonds and their inclusions: how these diamonds form, what minerals they bring, what they tell us about the composition of the deep mantle, and how they relate to the deep carbon cycle.

Kate joined the American Museum of Natural History in November 2023, moving from an academic background. Prior to that sheworked as a Senior Lecturer in Geochemistry at the University College Cork (UCC), Ireland.  In 2012 she received her PhD in experimental petrology from the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.  Kate’s main research interests include the deep carbon cycle, metasomatism in the cratonic mantle, distribution of trace elements during mantle melting, and oxidation state of the mantle transition zone.