Millennium Café

No Millennium Café due to Spring Break. We will return March 21st.

Few know about the Center for Security Research and Education (CSRE) at Penn State—I'm here today to change that. CSRE is a catalyst, bringing Penn State, government organizations, and industry together to tackle national security challenges. In this talk, I will share how the Center sponsors research, enriches educational opportunities, and works as an interdisciplinary super-connector. Ideas and feedback are welcome. 

Presenter: Lisa Witzig  |  Center for Security Research & Education

A brief introduction to heterogeneous catalysis and what structure-function relationships across length and timescales can teach us. The Noh research group develops heterogeneous catalysts for atom-efficient chemical transformations of existing and emerging sustainable feedstocks.

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a gaseous signal transmitter, which regulates various cellular processes in the human body. In my group, we are developing polymer-based delivery systems for this gaseous drug and exploring their use in therapeutic applications. I will discuss how material design impacts H₂S delivery and its biological actions in cardiovascular system as well as cancer.  

Our design and use of technology are fraught with moral implications that involve autonomous agency, value assumptions, unintended consequences, and even justice. Algorithmic bias, questions of moral agency for robots, datamining practices and policies, the social effects of AI and the consequences of increasingly pervasive surveillance technologies – all pose central questions in the field of technology ethics. My talk is aimed at encouraging avenues of critique that examine our technological ethos that often prioritizes efficiency, promotes datafication, and encourages a “cyber-centric” view of life.

Presenter: Patrick Lee Plaisance  |  Bellisario College of Communications

I will talk about opportunities available through the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program. The I-Corps program offered through Invent Penn State will be running a 3-week virtual short course starting March 10^th to help faculty members and/or graduate students explore the commercial potential of their research. The short course will qualify individuals to participate in the I-Corps National Teams Program, which provides $50,000 in grant funding, and significantly increases the chances of securing future SBIR / STTR funding.

Presenter: Derek Goss  |  NSF I-Corps Program Manager – Office of the Senior Vice President for Research