Category: Uncategorized

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Through the Fantastic Eyes of Frogs and Toads: How Scientists Study what Frogs and Toads See

with Rayna Bell Ph.D., Assistant Curator of Herpetology, California Academy of Sciences

NEW DATE! Wednesday, November 15th, 2023 – TLHS Innovation Hub – 7:30 – 8:30pm

Green tree frog. Photo by Andrew Stanbridge
A Hyperolius molleri frog on São Tomé Island. Photo by Andrew Stanbridge

Dr. Rayna Bell grew up in Marin County and her love of science was nurtured by several wonderful teachers at Drake (now Archie Williams) High School. Rayna attended College of Marin and the University of California, Berkeley where she studied biology and interned at U.C. Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology where she started doing research on Australian frogs and lizards. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University, during which she conducted research on African tree frogs, and joined the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History as Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles. In 2019, Rayna moved back home to the California Academy of Sciences where she is the Associate Curator of Herpetology. Rayna’s research focuses on the ecology, evolution, and conservation of amphibians and reptiles with an emphasis on island biogeography, hybrid zones, and coloration.

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Unveiling the Secrets of Volcanoes

in the Springerville Volcanic Field

with Marissa Mnich Ph.D. of Sonoma State University

Wednesday, September 20, 2023, Terra Linda HS Innovation Hub

Important update for those planning to attend tonight’s Marin Science Seminar! Due to construction at Terra Linda HS, the Innovation Hub can only be accessed from the courtyard inside the campus. You can park anywhere, but you need to enter via the student quad area between the new gym and the admin building. From there, access thru the doors to the 100 building. We will have signage and guides to help people find the Hub. Sorry for the inconvenience. Looking forward! 😃

Description: The Springerville Volcanic Field (SVF), located in east-central Arizona, erupted between 2.1 million and 300,000 years ago, and erupted over 500 distinct lavas. The volcanic products of the field have been mapped and sampled in great detail, which serves as the basis to unraveling the volcanic history to the field. Several similar volcanic fields pose a great risk to people and towns, but aren’t studied in real time (like monitoring at larger, active volcanoes), making the lessons learned in the SVF invaluable for understanding the nature and hazards associated with this type of volcanism.

Bio: Dr. Marissa Mnich is a professor in the geology department at Sonoma State University. Her work has focused on understanding volcanic systems in various locations on Earth, but largely focused on the Springerville Volcanic Field in Arizona.

Dr. Marissa Mnich

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What Can AI Teach us About the Human Mind… and vice versa?

with Irina Rabkina Ph.D. of Occidental College, Los Angeles

Wednesday, October 11, 2023 7:30-8:30pm, Terra Linda High School Innovation Hub

Scientists often use models to study complicated and interesting phenomena (think the model of the atom, mouse models to study cancer, etc.). In particular, computational models allow us to improve our understanding of phenomena that cannot be observed directly, whether due to time (such as predicting earthquakes) or access constraints (such as understanding the functions of the human mind). Depending on what they are modeling and why, computational models may use statistics, simulation, and/or artificial intelligence (AI). In this talk, Prof. Irina Rabkina (TLHS ’10) will discuss the use of AI models in Cognitive Science, what they can teach us about the human mind, and how that new understanding can, in turn, be used to improve AI as a tool.

Bio: Professor Rabkina is a Terra Linda High School graduate (2010) who is currently Assistant Professor of Computer Science Irina’s interest in neuroscience sprang from a talk she heard through Marin Science Seminar, so she is excited to return to the source and share her experience.

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Machine Vision for Medical Monitoring

with Art Wallace M.D. Ph.D. of the San Francisco VA Medical Center and UCSF Medical School

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 7:30-8:30pm, Terra Linda High School Innovation Hub

Touchless Medical Monitoring

This presentation will discuss the use of artificial intelligence and machine vision to create a new platform for medical monitoring. Many patients in the hospital are not monitored continuously and the medical monitors that we have now (ECG, pulse oximetry, blood pressure cuffs) require the patient to we wired or attached to a monitor. Dr. Wallace is developing a remote, non-contact patient monitor that relies on machine vision to continuously monitor patients. The monitor is designed to reduce morbidity and mortality by identifying patient deterioration prior to cardiac or respiratory arrest.

Art Wallace, M.D, Ph.D is a cardiac anesthesiologist, professor and vice-chairman of anesthesiology and perioperative care at the University of California San Francisco, and Chief of Anesthesia at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Dr Wallace has developed medications, surgical procedures, medical devices, and medical informatics software.

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Don’t Whack that Whale!: Evaluating Risk of Ship Strike to Humpback Whales in San Francisco Bay

“Whales in a Highly Urbanized Estuary: Evaluating Risk of Ship Strike to Humpback Whales in San Francisco Bay” with Bekah Lane of the Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito

Wednesday, April 19, 2023 7:30-8:30pm, Terra Linda High School Innovation Hub

Since 2016, humpback whales in Central California have been observed feeding inshore, even east of the Golden Gate Bridge. Vessel strike is a leading cause of death for large whales, and San Francisco Bay is full of recreational motor and sail vessels, ferries, and is home to several commercial shipping ports. For this reason, it’s important to study overlap between vessels and whales in San Francisco Bay. In this study we used sightings data from 2016 to 2019 in San Francisco Bay and compared it against vessel data to create a Habitat Risk Assessment model. This model can be used to inform and prioritize management of humpback whales in our waters.

Bekah Lane of the Marine Mammal Center

Currently Bekah Lane is a Cetacean Field Research Specialist at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. Bekah created a ship strike risk analysis for humpback whales, which is designed to inform management for vessel traffic in San Francisco Bay. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, she also created a theodolite tracking program for humpback and gray whales in San Francisco Bay, which involved the training, support and coordination of more than 40 volunteers. Bekah holds a B.S. in Zoology from Emporia State University in Kansas and an M.S. in Marine and Estuary Sciences from San Francisco State University. When she isn’t watching whales, she loves to spend the day hiking, running or reading with her dog by her side.

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The Higgs Boson: 10 years after the discovery

with Miha Muškinja Ph.D. of Lawrence Berkeley Labs

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 7:30 – 8:30pm at Terra Linda High School’s Innovation Lab

July 4th is arguably America’s favorite holiday, but this year the date was also celebrated world-wide by the physics community because it marks the 10th anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs boson. Miha Muškinja of Lawrence Berkeley Lab (and CERN) will explain what the Higgs boson is and how it was discovered in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC is the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, firing beams of protons around a 27 kilometers (17 miles) loop 100 meters (300 feet) underground. He will present how they measure the properties of the smallest particles with large and complex experiments and why it was important to start this scientific endeavor with over 10,000 physicists around the globe. Join us and learn!

The ATLAS experiment at CERN

Miha Muskinja is a postdoctoral researcher in physics at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. He has been working on the ATLAS experiment at the LHC since 2014. Until 2019 he lived near Geneva in Switzerland where the LHC is located at CERN, and later he moved to Berkeley, California. He specializes in analyzing the properties of the Higgs boson and also works on computing algorithms and infrastructure needed for processing the vast amount of data generated by the LHC. Miha is originally from Slovenia, where he obtained his PhD at University of Ljubljana. He is one of the main organizers of the ATLAS masterclass at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, where every year high school students attend a day-long program to experience the life at the forefront of basic research.

Miha Muškinja Ph.D. of Lawrence Berkeley Labs

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Path to the Stars: Exploring BioAstronautics

with Terra Linda High School alum Ben Foehr

Wednesday, February 15, 2023, 7:30-8:30pm on Zoom (fill out contact form or ask your teacher for the link)

A Terra Linda High School alum working in STEM presents about his career path. With Ben Foehr (TLHS 2018, Aerospace Engineering)

“Path to the Stars: Exploring BioAstronautics” with Ben Foehr of Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder CO

Right now, we’re at the dawn of a new space age. As humanity prepares to return to the moon and beyond, one might ask: how can I be a part of this? Join Ben Foehr, BS in Aerospace Engineering and Grad Student studying Human Spaceflight at CU Boulder, for a look into the twists and turns this journey has in store, and, more importantly, how we can reach the stars!

Ben Foehr

Ben Foehr grew up in San Rafael, graduating TL in 2018. As a student he was a sprinter on the track team, a lawyer for TL’s mock trial team, and an intern for the Marin Science Seminar. In 2022 he graduated CU Boulder with a bachelors in Aerospace Engineering, and is currently studying there for his masters in BioAstronautics. He has worked on Cubesats, Sounding Rockets, and proprioceptive function research for astronauts. He currently lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his partner and two cats.

Link: https://lasp.colorado.edu/home/

Wednesday, February 15, 2023, 7:30-8:30pm on Zoom (fill out contact form or ask your teacher for the link)

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Arachnophilia! Using Museums to Understand and Conserve Arachnids

with Katherine Montana and Jacob Gorneau of the California Academy of Sciences

Traveling the world through collections: Using museums to understand and conserve arachnids

Wed., February 8, 2023 @ Terra Linda HS’s Innovation Hub, 7:30 – 8:30 pm

Arachnids are an incredibly diverse group of animals found throughout the world, exhibiting adaptations that allow them to thrive in even the most extreme habitats. Spiders, scorpions, mites, ticks, daddy long legs, camel spiders, whip scorpions, and other eight-legged creatures comprise this remarkable group. Our research focuses on collecting arachnids and using existing museum specimens. The Bay Area is home to one of the most extensive arachnid collections, with over 1 million spider specimens at the California Academy of Sciences. From these collections, we can understand how species are related to one another and how to best conserve them.

Kate Montana
Kate Montana in the field.

Kate Montana is a graduate student researcher in the arachnology lab at the California Academy of Sciences. She is advised by Dr. Lauren Esposito and is working toward her master’s degree in integrative biology at San Francisco State University. Her research utilizes morphological and molecular data to revise the evolutionary relationships between genera in a group of small brown spiders called the marronoids. Kate also recently worked on a project called the Untold Stories from the Archives in which she and her team used the Academy archives to illuminate the stories of marginalized scientists throughout the history of the Academy. Kate grew up in Folsom, CA and attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree in biology and anthropology. Kate considers herself a lifelong learner and wants to do all she can to get to know the natural world and how it operates.

Jacob Gorneau
Jacob Gorneau in the field.

Jacob Gorneau is a research assistant in the Entomology department. While he loves anything with an exoskeleton, his research focuses on using museum collections to answer questions about arachnid biodiversity. He recently received his master’s in Biology at San Francisco State University studying the evolutionary history of the marronoid clade – a group of mostly small, brown spiders with little unifying characteristics. Before coming to the California Academy of Sciences for his master’s, he received a bachelor’s in entomology from Cornell University.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023 @ Terra Linda High School’s Innovation Hub, 7:30 – 8:30 pm

Join us & Learn!

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CSI Humpbacks: Decoding Whale Scars

Title: “CSI Humpbacks: Decoding Whale Scars“ with Allison Payne of San Francisco State’s Estuary and Ocean Science Center

Date: Wed. March 4th, 2020; 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS in San Rafael, Room 207

Description: Coming soon

Bio: Allison Payne is a graduate student researcher with the Hines Lab at San Francisco State’s Estuary and Ocean Science Center, where she is working on her M.S. in Marine and Estuarine Science. Her thesis is looking at the scars on humpback whales in the Gulf of the Farallones to assess their interactions with fisheries, small vessels, natural predators, and more. She is also a researcher with the Marine Mammal Center Cetacean Field Research team, where she studies harbor porpoises, humpback whales, gray whales, and bottlenose dolphins. She collects much of the data for these projects while working as a naturalist for San Francisco Whale Tours.

Allison received her undergraduate degree in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley and has worked in labs around the world studying everything from squirrels to ancient whale fossils.

Links:

Facebook event: RSVP here

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Do you Know How to Fix a Broken Heart? Medical Education Simulation Workshop

“Do you Know How to Fix a Broken Heart? Medical Education Simulation Workshop” with Rich Fidler PhD  and the VAMC SF Medical Simulation Team

Date, Time, Location: Wednesday, April 1st, 2020; 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS in San Rafael, Room 207

Back by popular demand! Join us for an introduction to medical education via simulation, including the educational requirements and job opportunities. There will be a hands-on break out session. Join us and learn!.

Links:

Facebook event: RSVP

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