South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
continues its partnership with South Dakota Public
Broadcasting and Hay Camp Brewing Company to
present four new STEAM Café talks during spring 2019. STEAM Café is a series of free informal talks
by SD Mines faculty and staff on topics ranging from cutting edge research to
history.
STEAM Café, an acronym for Science,
Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, is held at 6 p.m. the third
Tuesday of each month, at Hay Camp Brewing Company. A food truck will be
available at each STEAM Café where patrons can purchase dinner, and handcrafted
beer will be available for purchase from Hay Camp.
“STEAM Café is a great opportunity
for the community to connect with the staff and faculty at SD Mines to talk
about the amazing things happening in the areas of science, technology, engineering,
arts and math,” said Rachel Mannhalter, SD Mines Training & Development
Coordinator. “We love the idea of this very informal atmosphere where
conversations can happen, and connections can be made.”
January 15
Dinosaurs: A Catalyst for Critical Thought
Darrin Pagnac, PhD., Associate Professor in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Dinosaurs provide an effective
means for developing more than just knowledge of extinct reptiles. Passion for
dinosaurs, when properly directed, can trigger interest in science and be used
to develop critical thinking skills. Examination of both scientific and popular
dinosaur paleontology can develop competence in information analysis,
perception of flawed arguments, recognition of persuasion techniques, and
application of disciplined thought processes. Dinosaurs can also be
applied to illustrate examples of logical fallacies. Additionally, television
documentaries can be used to examine the popular portrayal of dinosaurs and
illustrate the disconnect between scientific fact and storytelling techniques.
February 19
Despite Our Nature: Incentivizing CooperationSaurav Kumar Dubey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering
Generally, human beings tend to make decisions that maximize
personal benefit. This concept of self-interest is considered in scientific
modeling as the property of rationality. However, such decisions do not
always lead to the best possible outcome. Sometimes, when people act in
self-interest it can have a negative impact on the community or organization.
The focus of this informational talk will be to show that
the analysis of real-world systems in the context of game theory provides
researchers with the power of foresight and mitigation of human impulses with
the assumption of rationality. Game theory is the study of mathematical models
of strategic interaction between rational decision-makers. It has applications
in all fields of social science, as well as in logic and operations research.
Based on an analytical depiction of the real world,
researchers can suggest incentives to modify expected human behavior in order
to achieve a better outcome. For instance, promoting cooperation when
competition would lead to lower payoffs is an invaluable insight for the
purpose of improved decision-making.
This talk will explore ways science and engineering can help create
systems and incentives that encourage people, or computer programs, to make
decisions in-favor of the community rather than self-interest.
March 19
The Boundary Work of Double Mothers
Kayla Pritchard, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences
Cultural
ideologies surrounding motherhood represent powerful frameworks for shaping
women’s experiences within that role and tend to assign greater value to
experiences that fall within a traditional family framework. However,
many women’s experiences of motherhood do not fit within this framework.
The experiences of double mothers - women who have both biological and
stepchildren – can highlight the identity work that women perform in blended
families. Balancing the cultural expectations of biological motherhood with the
challenges of stepmotherhood, many double mothers occupy a space in-between,
and perform regular boundary work to navigate their roles.
April 16
Uncertain Futures
Jason Kofke, SD Mines’ Visiting Artist
Due to the threat of ISIS, the Sahara
Desert of eastern Mauritania, Africa, has been neglected by most western
academics for the past decade. The area is seeing increasing desertification
due to global climate change and encroaching sands have buried ancient texts
and manuscripts stored in villages along a medieval pilgrimage route. Jason
Kofke, SD Mines visiting artist, has organized an expedition to villages deep
in the Sahara with the intention of using technology to record what is left of
the disappearing history. This project functions as an entry point into issues
Kofke explores as an artist: the social ramifications of technological progress
and the tendency to understand new technological processes through the
perception of outdated technologies. With his STEAM presentation, Kofke will
discuss perceptions of change, philosophies of uncertainty, and how what we
might expect in a future may not always be an outcome that is
predictable. This presentation will correlate with an art exhibition at SD
Mines’ APEX Gallery, which is free and open to the public.
Hay Camp Brewing Company is
located at 601 Kansas City Street in Rapid City.