Students and faculty will meet up at Schlittz and Giggles Sept. 27 to discuss Louisiana dialects, with University professor Janna Oetting from the Language Development and Disorders Lab leading the discussion.
The cafés, which go beyond discussing science, are held on the last Tuesday of every month and are open to University students, alumni, researchers and the general public.
Alison Satake, research editor for the Division of Strategic Communications, said the Office of Research and Economic Development, which hosts the Science Cafés, wanted a space to have free, fun, monthly discussions where a University professor is available to talk on their expertise.
“It’s part of our goal as a university to offer life-long learning so what you start to learn in a classroom as an undergraduate doesn’t stop at graduation,” Satake said.
The Office of Research and Development created an Eventbrite page for early registration to get a feel for how many people will be attending.
“We’ve had some Science Cafés where we’ve had over 100 people, standing room only,” Satake said.
The goal of the Science Cafés is to bring the community together to discuss and develop ideas in a fun and creative space, Satake said.
“We want people, alumni and not alumni, to see LSU as a resource for information, and Science Cafés are just some of the exciting ways we’re able to open the doors to do that,” Satake said.
Coming up in the future for the LSU Science Cafés is something the series has never done before: a poetry slam.
“A typical Science Café is an LSU professor speaking for 15 minutes and taking questions after for the next 45 minutes,” Satake said. “Nov. 29 is going to be a mix of students, faculty, and researchers from LSU, and they’re going to perform a poem they’ve written about their research. The audience will get a chance to judge the poem, and we’ll give out grants for research travel to the winner.”