Millennium Café

To enhance public engagement with science, health, and environmental issues, it seems intuitive to simply present the public with appropriate information. Yet social scientific evidence has shown that increased knowledge does not necessarily translate to desired changes in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors. Not to mention, media messaging about science, health, and environmental issues must compete for the public’s attention in a fractured, divisive media landscape. This talk will discuss findings from several studies that point to some promising messaging strategies that may help cut through the noise and shift public views and behavior, with particular attention to the role of emotion.

Chris Skurka  |  College of Communications

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

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

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.

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

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