Scitech Panel Programming Topics

I-CON has always brought it's members the finest in panel programming, from innovative workshops, to not-yet-published scientific breakthroughs. This year is no exception! I-CON Science and Technology presents the following panels with the innovator in all of us in mind.

Times, locations, and panelists to follow. All programming subject to change without notice.

Davy Crockett, PhD

What makes a trailblazer? Who chooses to leave their status quo and risk the Frontiers? Would Davy Crockett get his training in exobiology? Astrophysics? Non-verbal communication with ALF? What are the challenges we know about the Space Frontier, and how do legendary trailblazers prepare for the unexpected out THERE?

Dear Dr. Marburger: Advice for the Science Advisor

Once President of Stony Brook, once Director of Brookhaven National Laboratories, the President's Science Advisor is for many a personal acquaintance as well as powerful. In the hall and at the water cooler, advice is free and plentiful. What do we need to do more of, less of? How do we integrate kindergarten-level science education with postdoctoral research grants so everyone is on the same page? Biotech? Defense? If you had his attention, for a page, or five minutes, what would you ask him to focus on?

Free vs. Proprietary

microsoft or the perlmonks? What are the strengths & weaknesses of open source software, and when is it optimal to use one or the other? How can you tell? It's not as clear cut a debate as tasty vs. filling. Bring your thoughts.

From Lances to Lasers

The first documented bioweapon attack was a launch (via catapult) of choleric corpses into a sieged city nearly a thousand years ago. The US Army is testing struts & actuators on gyro control systems to help a soldier run with a 300kg pack strapped to their body that basically balances itself. Chain mail stops a switchblade. How did the mongols cure their riding bows, and why that way? How much more R&D do we need to equip a Space Marine with a bolter? Are "walking insect" robots the next best thing in surveillance? Help us track some of the remarkable (and remarkably cyclic) changes in weapons and defenses through time; past, present, and future.

Green: Alternative Energy, and the Kyoto Protocol

These aren't the same topic, but they do both affect the world's environment. The Kyoto Protocol aims to have developed nations reduce their air pollution by a certain date within certain guidelines. But many countries are still developing, and not subject to its requests. Separately, with enough money pollution "credits" can be traded around. Instead of trading, let's investigate some alternative forms of energy. Solar and wind are obvious - what about tide power? Geothermal power (like Riverhead's Aquarium)? How do power companies do "buybacks to the grid"? What about Broadwater's plan?

Get Into Radio

Ham radio operators can talk from their living rooms to submarines, and send data to rockets on the pad or movies to their friends. Find out how, since before cell phones, before telephones, from senators and astronauts to plumbers and housewives, people from all over the world are even today ragchewing, and often competing each other in this engaging sport!

Get Into Rockets (Model and High Power)

Rockets! The word conjures visions of everything from 4th of July skyrockets to the enormous rockets that took us to the moon to the artillery of ancient China. They are the tools of governments and entertainment. But do you realize that almost anyone can become a rocket scientist? That's right. Like many powerful ideas, the principles are simple and most anyone can master the technology to build and fly rockets ... just for fun. Join us and learn how model and high power rockets work, and how enthusiastic non-professional flyers bind together to advance their art ... to fly all the way into space!

How Sexy Is Your Lab?

It's not just pocket protectors and Van de Graffs. Everything from explosions to DNA sequencing are somehow glamorous on cop shows, in recent A-list movies. What other "scientific" stereotypes are being shattered in mass media today? You don't have to be a military man to go into space, goth jewelry can complement a clean white lab coat...does it affect the science? How much power does Image have over public opinion, over policy (countable in research dollars)?

Innovations that Just Might Work

Bring us your ideas, ask the experts. Not as harsh as American Idol, but not like you remember a Science Fair. Could be great if you just tweak the "perpetual motion" requirement of that part.

Larry Summers' Women in Science

A recent speech by faculty at one particular university intimated that women don't do science & math because their genes determine they can't. Nonsense. If you can take the estrogen, join our girls in fighting back. Rosie the Riveter didn't get those biceps by failing out of Tech Ed! Take that, glass ceiling!

Last Earthly Frontiers

Dry, inhabited land is only a fraction of the surface of the Earth. Where else can we go? Down deep? Into the cold? Should we finish exploring our planet before we try to move offworld? What challenges at the last frontiers on Earth face us?

Life Indoors

Coexistence between here and somewhere else. In as large a space as your rocket could propel outside atmosphere. With a few of your closest friends (and we hope not worst enemies) Oh, did we mention no getting a breath of fresh air after an argument, since there's no air out there? Certainly no dinners out. Rehydrated rice again? ew. How long does it take to get tired of your music? Or their snoring? What would life indoors entail for the explorers on an interplanetary (or longer) journey? How do we keep them safe from themselves, as well as the environment?

Medic or Mystic

High technology is commonplace in a modern hospital - but how much of it is still hit-or-miss? Are there real benefits to Eastern healing methods that Western style medicine hasn't isolated? One doctor quipped to me recently "The more I learn about medicine, the less I realize we actually know." You might just learn something surprising from our experts.

Mostly Harmless

Inventions and innovations often have strange aftereffects. Before cars, the worst that could happen if you left a bar drunk on a summer's night may have been waking up embarrassed. Today, DWI wrecks are a real concern for all drivers. Do cell phones make us more inclined to be late to appointments? Do bloggers view their prose as diary entries or newscasts? How precious is a handwritten 8 year old's letter to Nana - or do they both email? What are the dangers, cautions, and new culture of today's tech-immersed world?

My Favorite Genius

Planck? Clarke? Brahe? MacArthur? Rosalind or Ben Franklin? Einstein? Jimmy Neutron? Who's yours, and what made him or her so special to you?

New Frontiers

Well, once the Earth is explored, we can take the knowledge & experience we gained to other places. Where should we go? Back to the Moon? L5? Titan? Venus? Sirius? What challenges could we face there? What knowns can we be sure of?

Rescued by Ham

Radio Amateurs (hams) with emergency training helped bring NYC back together when the Trade Center collapsed, and when Flight 800 crashed. Often, the Red Cross and other international aid organizations need to reestablish communications in situations from tsunami to hurricane and fire to power outage by enlisting ham help.

Resuscitating NASA

From Voyager to Challenger, from men on the moon to mold on Mir, anything that happens to humans in space makes headlines. How do you think NASA could proceed to restore popular, commercial, and policy-making faith in the institution, as it has undergone flamboyant catastrophes, bitter budget/staff/program cuts, and massive restructuring, despite major success with the Rovers, with the Great Telescopes, Cassini-Huygens, and other programs? Spin today's shining projects and bring the public eye back. What's going on now? Who's talking about it?

Robotics in School

Design, build, test, rebuild, within guidelines, with mentorship. What would it teach you? Why is it important? The FIRST organization holds competitions on two levels, for younger (FLL) and for high school (FRC) students, that demand problem solving, troubleshooting, engineering, dexterity, technical ability. Social skills include management, cooperation, sportsmanship, delegation, listening to mentors (and sometimes not following their advice), competition, and fitting it all into your busy teenaged schedule! FIRST stands For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, where FRC and FLL teams develop, build, test, and operate their very own remote controlled robot in games against other schools, across the nation and around the world. It's not just math and science, but they're helped.

Science, God, and Humor: Balancing Philosophies

Boy has this been a hot potato recently. Our panelists will attempt to tackle this Occam's Razor. From headscarves in cleanrooms to stem cell lines, there's a lot going on around the globe. How seriously should scientists take themselves? How much information should be cloistered, safe, in think tanks? Is it to the public's benefit to reduce fear by translating from the highly technical jargon of "serious journals" into vernacular American so the Powers that Be stop slashing education & research grants? How hard should your grad student work to discover unobtanium, while particle accelerators perform their own dance of anti-alchemy, smashing gold into platinum to collect the garbage (which just might tell them how the universe works)? Do jokes about what we fear makes us less afraid, do they teach? Lend them a stabilizing hand while we all try to balance Science, God, and Humor.

Surviving Geekdom

So you don't wear a pocket protector, you wear a Bat Utility Belt: complete with multi-tool and PDA and three cell phones & two QWERTY pagers. Who doesn't have USB key around their neck? And come on, do you REALLY not remember whether PTFE is more slippery than PMMA, good grief! On the other hand, armed with these gadgets and that knowledge, how do you approach the opposite sex in social settings? How do you not frighten your peers over lunch: "Dude, really! It's botulism, so people don't get wrinkles! Did you finish the sub7 insert?" Our proud geeks have grown up, maybe they can offer some advice (and juicy anecdotes) to you.

The Internet Knows Everything?

How has the pervasive and ubiquitous nature of the internet affected your life? Do you still go to an encyclopedia to looks something up, or do you take the search engine's word that some blogger has doublechecked his facts before quoting them to you? Are you still patient enough to "let your fingers do the walking"? Or stamp an envelope to send copies of photos to your buddy a few states away? Has it ever affected your schoolwork, due to surfing longer than you thought, or reducing your library time? Does the 'net really know everything about everything, or are there better ways to learn certain things?

Wake me when we Reach Sirius: Considering Suspended Animation

How would you set someone up to sleep until they reached a new star? Why have them sleep rather than use a "generational ship"? What kinds of pshysiological and psychological needs would the sleepers have? What traits would the most likely candidates have to have? Would there be a human monitor, who would live alone among the half-alive for the interim? Consider.

Which came first, the Science or the Sci-Fi?

Perhaps some mycologist saw a B-movie where water purification for the whole town was performed by vats of specially tailored bacteria hungry for "impurities." Perhaps you read about run-flat tires in a gaming handbook, then saw the Cadillac ad. Which came first? How do we inspire each other? Think up some of your favorite examples!