Wednesday, February 10
The Cider Gallery (810 Pennsylvania St)
Doors at 7:00 PM, presentations at 8:00 PM
$1.00 Cover
Drinks will be available for purchase
Wilma’s food truck will be on-site
Please join us for a very special edition of Nerd Nite as we partner with the Lawrence Public Library and KU Libraries to bring you “Mars and Other Curiosities.”
We are presenting three Mars related talks in in conjunction with the Read Across Lawrence selection for 2016, Andy Weir’s book, “The Martian”.
Please note the location for this month will be the Cider Gallery!
Mars and Other Curiosities
TOPICS:
“The Spiders on Mars and Other Space Oddities”
by Alison Olcott Marshall
“Autonomous Mobile Robots”
by Arvin Agah
“An Explorer’s Guide to Mars (Fiction)”
by the LPL book squad
About the Topics:
“The Spiders on Mars and Other Space Oddities”
by Alison Olcott Marshall
On July 15, 1965, Mariner IV provided the world with the first close-up view of Mars. Just fifty years later an amazing array of flybys, orbiters, landers and rovers has provided us with enough images of the red planet that it is now possible to leisurely tour the planet on Google Mars. These images are not only beautiful and (quite literally!) otherworldly, but they have allowed us to learn so much about our nearest neighbor, a planet that is so similar to and yet so different from Earth. In this talk we will explore what we know about Mars, how we know it, and indulge in some speculation about what we could still learn.
Biography
Alison Olcott Marshall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology, where she uses chemistry to explore fossils of all types, sizes, and ages and tries to apply those lessons to the search for life on other planets. She has a 2 year old and a 4 year old, so she has forgotten what “free time” is, but she is pretty sure she used to enjoy doing things in it.
“Autonomous Mobile Robots”
by Arvin Agah
Description
The only known Martians at this point in time are Curiosity and Opportunity, two Mars rovers by NASA. Mars rovers, Drones, driverless cars, and robotic vacuum cleaners are a few examples of autonomous mobile robots—robots that move on their own. This presentation will cover the history, applications, competitions, trends, and challenges (technical and philosophical) of autonomous mobile robots.
Biography
Dr. Arvin Agah is Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs in the School of Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Kansas, which he joined in 1997, after spending two years in Japan as a researcher in the Bio-Robotics Division of Mechanical Engineering Laboratory. He has edited two books and published over 170 refereed articles in the areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. He has degrees from University of Texas at Austin (Computer Science BA), Purdue University (Computer Science MS), and University of Southern California (Biomedical Engineering MS and Computer Science PhD).
“An Explorer’s Guide to Mars (Fiction)”
by the Lawrence Public Library book squad
This short, spoiler free presentation will cover everything you need to know about Mars related fiction.
Doors open at 7:30 PM. Presentations begin at 8:00. $1 Cover.