Topics for the fall STEAM Café series range from a look at the very
first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace, to a look at the sinking of the Edmund
Fitzgerald in Lake Superior more
than 45 years ago.
STEAM Café, a series of free
informal talks by South Dakota Mines faculty, staff and visiting experts, is
a partnership between the university, South Dakota Public Broadcasting and Hay
Camp Brewing Company.
An acronym for Science,
Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, STEAM Café is held at 6 p.m. the
third Tuesday of each month, at Hay Camp. A food truck will be available at
each STEAM Café for meal purchase, and handcrafted beer will be available for
purchase from Hay Camp.
“STEAM Café is a great
opportunity for community members to engage with Mines staff and faculty to
talk about things happening in the areas of science, technology, engineering,
arts and math,” says Jim Rankin, Mines President. “We invite everyone to check
it out. They won’t be disappointed.”
Sept. 21: Bryce Tellmann –
Defining the Great Plains: Reinventing a Region Through Ideas and Stories
If you ask someone from South Dakota what region of
the country they hail from, you can expect any number of answers: “the
Midwest”; “the Black Hills”; “West River”; “the Great Plains”; “the Northern
Plains”. Regions are notoriously difficult to define, but the ideas and stories
we form about a region affect the lives of people who live there, especially
when it comes to how communities approach environmental, economic and social
challenges. Dr. Bryce Tellmann, instructor in the Department of Humanities and
Social Sciences at South Dakota Mines, will discuss how our regional ideas of
the Great Plains have changed over the past two centuries, what those ideas
mean for communities in the present and how new regional ideas could help us
meet the challenges of the future.
Oct. 19: Erica Haugtvedt
& Duane Abata – Ada Lovelace: First Computer Programmer?
Long before today’s pervasive digital computers, the
first computer programmer was arguably Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace
(daughter of the famous poet, Lord Byron). An exceptional mathematician, she
captured the essence of Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, which was
conceptualized by Babbage but was not constructed in his lifetime. In 1843, she
wrote an algorithm to accompany Babbage’s Engine. Her contribution to calculate
Bernoulli numbers with the Analytical Engine has since been successfully
translated, with minor changes, to the C++ programming language. Dr. Erica
Haugtvedt, assistant professor of Humanities at Mines, and Dr. Duane Abata,
professor of Mechanical Engineering at Mines, will discuss how this
extraordinary Victorian woman achieved her insights through translating between
languages, people, disciplines and between the imaginary and the real.
Nov. 16: Dr. Kathleen
Sheppard – The Temple of Mut at the Luxor Hotel
In 1896, Margaret Benson began excavating at the
Temple of Mut in Karnak near the village of Luxor, Egypt. She was the first
woman to be granted official permission to excavate in Egypt, making this a
groundbreaking season. She made the Luxor Hotel a center of knowledge creation
and dissemination for the excavation – a decision that would have a major
impact on the excavation and her life going forward. Dr. Kathleen Sheppard, associate
professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Missouri
University of Science & Technology, will detail Benson’s three years of
excavation and staying at the Luxor Hotel, culminating in the first major
publication of the site, The Temple of Mut in Asher (1899) with her
partner, Janet Gourlay.
Dec. 21: John Dreyer – Steel Boats and Iron
Men: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the Lore of Ore Boats
The Great Lakes freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald
carried iron ore from 1958 to Nov. 10, 1975, when it sank in Lake Superior
during a severe storm, resulting in the deaths of all 29 crew members. Although
the ship was found shortly afterwards, no bodies were ever recovered, and the
exact cause of her sinking remains unknown. Dr. John
Dreyer, associate professor in the Department of Humanities and Social
Sciences at South Dakota Mines, will discuss this mysterious sinking and why
these large lake boats are so near and dear to thousands of “boat nerds” across
the world. He will also discuss other Great Lakes wrecks, contemporary boats
and a few recipes from boat galleys to try at home.
Jan. 18: NSIN X-Force Fellows
– Problem Solvers for the DoD
Universities across the nation work with the
Department of Defense (DoD) to solve real-world problems through the National
Security Innovation Network (NSIN). Three student teams from Mines will discuss
their work with Ellsworth Air Force Base through NSIN, including researching
software solutions for reverse engineering, designing and testing B-1 parts;
troubleshooting internet network problems; and helping the base consider its
options to become more energy resilient. This presentation is a follow-up to
the NSIN presentation given on July 20, 2021.