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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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Biologics and Me: A Career in the Biotech Industry

Title: “Biologics and Me: A Career in the Biotech Industry” with Terry Hermiston Ph.D. of Coagulant Therapeutics and GLAdiator Biosciences 

Date: Wed. February 26th, 2020; 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS in San Rafael, Room 207

“Biologics” are substances made from a living organism or its products which are used in the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of cancer and other diseases. Biologic drugs include antibodies, interleukins, replacement factors and vaccines. Dr. Hermiston will discuss his training and career in biologics and the Biotech industry.

Bio: Dr. Hermiston has over 20 years of industrial experience in research and drug development. His experience includes drug development focused on idea conception and concept validation, as well as Scientific Advisory Board and Board of Directors service for biotechnology companies. Dr. Hermiston is currently CEO of Coagulant Therapeutics and GLAdiator Biosciences developing assets acquired from his time working at Bayer. Dr. Hermiston holds a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology from University of Iowa.

Dr. Terry Hemiston

Links:

Facebook event: RSVP here

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Engineering Rivers and Wetlands for Climate Resiliency

Title: “Engineering Rivers and Wetlands for Climate Resiliency” with Rachel Kamman PE of Kamman Hydrology & Engineering

Date: Wed. February 5th, 2020; 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS in San Rafael, Room 207

Kamman Hydrology & Engineering’s mission is to provide hydrologic, engineering and geomorphology support in the restoration, enhancement and protection of watershed, river, wetland and coastal systems. Rachel Kamman will demonstrate and discuss how this can be done to help rivers and wetlands adjust to changes brought on by climate change.

Bio: Rachel Z. Kamman PE is a consulting hydrologist whose work focuses on ecological habitat restoration. Her San Rafael based consulting practice focuses on projects that revolve around sensitive wetland, fishery, and/or riparian habitat issues and problems. Rachel specializes in the fields of hydraulic and hydrodynamic analysis and modeling, focusing on the protection and restoration of estuarine and wetland systems. Typically, Rachel Kamman works on multi-disciplined projects, collaborating closely with biologists/botanists, ecologists, planners, engineers, and/or regulatory and resource agency staff. She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Lafayette College and an M. Eng., in Hydraulics, Coastal Engineering, Hydrology & Geomorphology from UC Berkeley.

Links:

Facebook event: RSVP here

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Geoengineering and Terraforming: the manipulation of climate on Earth and other planets

Title: “Geoengineering and Terraforming: the manipulation of climate on Earth and other planets” with Warren Wiscombe Ph.D. of NASA Goddard

Date: Wed. January 29th, 2020; 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS in San Rafael, Room 207

Warren Wiscombe

In 2010 ‘geoengineering’ entered the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘the modification of the global environment or the climate in order to counter or ameliorate climate change’. Geoengineering must be intentional, not accidental (as in the current global warming). And geoengineering is only a stopgap measure on the way to a renewable energy economy.

The safest and most predictable method of moderating climate change is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, geoengineering may be useful to augment emission reductions. While some methods would incur gargantuan costs, notably the space-based ones, others are a relative bargain and technologically easy, notably putting aerosols into the stratosphere. While there are few technical showstoppers, geoengineering technology is nascent, and there are major uncertainties regarding its effectiveness, cost, and environmental impacts.

Terraforming, a much more radical version of geoengineering, is the technology to make an alien planet more suitable for Earth life forms. Edgar Rice Burroughs hypothesized terraforming in his book “Princess of Mars”. Kim Stanley Robinson fleshed out the idea in his trilogy “Red/Green/Blue Mars”. If humanity is to escape extinction, it will have to learn how to do terraforming. Possible methods will be noted, but the field is barely in its infancy.

Bio: Warren Wiscombe got a BS in Physics from MIT and a PhD in Applied Math from Caltech. Starting in 1971, he spent his career working on radiative transfer aspects of climate, notably the interaction of sunlight with clouds and aerosols. From 1983 till retiring in 2013, he worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. His core background is in e.m. radiation spanning wavelengths from UV to radio.

Links:

Facebook event: RSVP here

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Adventures of a Plant Ecophysiologist: Studying How Tropical Forests Survive Drought

Marin Science Seminar for Teens & Community presents a free science event:

“Adventures of a Plant Ecophysiologist: Studying How Tropical Forests Survive Drought”
with Roxy Cruz of UC Berkeley

Costa Rican rain forest

Wednesday, November 20th, 2019, 7:30 – 8:30 pm

Terra Linda High School, 320 Nova Albion, San Rafael, CA – ROOM 207

Roxy Cruz in action

Roxy Cruz is a Plant Ecophysiologist, tree climber, and Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. Her research takes her to Costa Rica and Peru where she studies how tropical forests respond to drought. She measures thresholds for plant survival to try and predict the fate of our tropical forests in the face of rapid changing climate.

Links:

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“Star Clusters: Many-Body Gravitational Laboratories” with Nicholas Rui of UC Berkeley

Marin Science Seminar for Teens & Community presents a free science event:

“Star Clusters: Many-Body Gravitational Laboratories” with Nicholas Rui of UC Berkeley

Wednesday, November 13th, 2019

7:30 – 8:30 pm

Terra Linda High School, 320 Nova Albion, San Rafael, CA – ROOM 207

Nicholas Rui is fourth-year physics/astrophysics undergraduate and aspiring science person at the University of California, Berkeley. You can find out more about him at his website at https://nicholasrui.com/research/.

Astrophysics at UC Berkeley

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