Please join us on the UCSB campus on Saturday March 9 for our annual pi day lecture on science and policy. This year we have the privilege of hosting Colonel Francisco Leija of the United States Army. Colonel Leija will discuss technology modernization in the United States military, the associated implications for the Department of Defense and university research and defense policy. Continue reading “2019 Pi Day Lecture: Defense Technology Modernization”
Fall Luncheon with Speaker Evan Miller
The cooling weather and the shorter days announce the arrival of fall. It is, therefore, time to gather for our Fall Luncheon. Professor Evan Miller of UC Berkeley returns to his home turf to introduce us to chemical biology and to discuss his breakthroughs in neuronal imaging. Continue reading “Fall Luncheon with Speaker Evan Miller”
2018 Western Regional Meeting
You are cordially invited to attend the 2018 Western Regional Meetings (WRM) of the ACS. The WRM will be held at the Beckman Auditorium on the CalTech campus in Pasadena, California, on October 27, 2018. This one-day “nano” meeting shares its theme with that of 2018 National Chemistry Week theme: “Chemistry is Out of this World!” The meeting features speakers from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and The Aerospace Corporation. Continue reading “2018 Western Regional Meeting”
Get the Message Across with Jean-Luc Doumont
World renowned expert on scientific and business communication Jean-Luc Doumont will visit UCSB soon, and we are happy to report that we have reserved seats for CALPACS members to see this incredibly popular speaker. Please use the link below to make your reservation via UCSB, and check the box labeled “California Los Padres American Chemical Society” to claim this benefit.
4-6 PM Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Topic: Getting the Message Across
Location: Corwin Pavilion, UCSB (Google Map)
Cost: Free
Click here for the reservation form
The ability to articulate ideas effectively is an invaluable asset for engineers, scientists, business people, and so many others. The written documents and the oral presentations these create are often the most visible outcome of their work, and are thus critical to the advancement of their projects and of their career.
In this talk, Jean-Luc Doumont, will discuss how to get your message across to stakeholders. Doumont, an engineer from the Louvain School of Engineering (PhD
in applied physics from Stanford University) is a popular invited speaker at top-notch universities and international conferences for what are now classic lectures (or related interactive workshops) on scientific communication, visual structure, pedagogy, statistical thinking, and other topics.
2018 Pi Day Lecture on Statistics and Policy
Philosophical honesty is the essential ingredient of policy making. The allocation of public and corporate resources must be made according to experimental results that are true and arguments that are logically sound. Otherwise, public trust is eroded and public and private resources are squandered. Please join us for an important lecture on the difficulties of maintaining philosophical integrity in a world of complex experiments and intricate arguments at the California Los Padres Section’s annual π day lecture series on science and policy. Pies will be served at 3:00 PM, with the talk commencing at 3:14 PM. We are privileged to host Professor Theodore Porter of UCLA’s Department of History.
Statistical Pi: Metaphysics and Manipulation of Numbers
Speaker: Theodore Porter, Ph.D.
Abstract
Statistics, in its mathematical form, was closely associated with the “error curve” or normal distribution, a formula that contains e as well as π, and that inspired wonderment for the great range of phenomena to which it applied. But it was originally a descriptive science of the state, and was bound up with a reverence for facts. Now, perhaps more than ever, statistics and quantitative data are treated as almost synonymous with evidence. So much faith creates an irresistible temptation to distort and manipulate, and it sometimes appears impossible to separate funny numbers from scrupulous ones. Have we created a crisis of numbers?
Date: Saturday, March 10, 2018
Time: 3 – 5 PM
Place: Building 8 (Bioresource & Agricultural Engineering), Room 123, CalPoly San Luis Obispo. Click here for campus map.
Cost: Free
Your RSVP through the form below is requested to help event planning. Please click here to download the event flier..
Theodore Porter is a historian of science and Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA, where he has taught for about 25 years. His research has mainly focused on ideas and uses of quantification, measurement, data, and statistics, and especially they ways they link the natural sciences and medicine with social knowledge. His books include The Rise of Statistical Thinking, Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life; Karl Pearson: The Scientific Life in a Statistical Age, and (in a few months) Genetics in the Madhouse: The Unknown History of Human Heredity.
Fall Wine Tasting at Foley Estates
The end of the year is approaching rapidly, and the pandemonium for the holiday season will soon demand all of our times and attention. Please join us at Foley Wines on Saturday, December 2, 2017, to take a breather during the brief interregnum separating Continue reading “Fall Wine Tasting at Foley Estates”
The Kilonova as Observed at Las Cumbres Observatory
Join us on Saturday, November 11, for an introduction to the Las Cumbres Observatory, a unique research institute. Dr. Curtis McCully, a postdoctoral researcher at the Las Cumbres Observatory, will speak on the Observatory’s mission, it’s unique research model, and highlights of recent major discoveries to which the Observatory has contributed, in particularly, the October 16, 2017, announcement of “a kilonova, a new type of explosion in space.” Continue reading “The Kilonova as Observed at Las Cumbres Observatory”
Fall Luncheon with Bob Grubbs
You are cordially invited to the CALPACS fall luncheon. This year’s event will take place again at the Mosher Alumni House on the UC Santa Barbara campus. We are privileged to have Robert H. Grubbs, Ph.D., Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, making a presentation titled “Design of selective metathesis catalysts and their applications”. Fifty and sixty year ACS members in our section will also be recognized.
A buffet lunch offering chicken, fish and vegetarian dishes will be served along with an assortment beverages, including beer and wine. Please, use the link below to make your reservation by Friday, October 6, 2017, at noon. We look forward to seeing you at this very special event.
Date: Saturday, October 14, 2017
Time: 11:30 AM
Place: Mosher Alumni House, UCSB, 93106. (Turn left onto University Plaza from Mesa Road, Google Map)
Cost: $25, $10 students
Register on EventBrite by Monday 10/9/17, by 10:00 AM
Note to honorees: you are already registered for yourself and one guest so there is no need to register on the eventbrite site, but please do RSVP so we have an accurate count of guests.
Chemistry Olympiad Lecture at Westmont College
Why Choose A Path When You Can Create Your Own: The Intersection of Science, Entrepreneurship, & Meaningful Work
Jenny Du, Vice President of Operations, Apeel Sciences, Santa Barbara, CA
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Winter Hall of Westmont College
955 La Paz Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108
Lunch: Noon – 12:45 AM in the Winter Hall Atrium. Kindly RSVP below
Lecture and Chemistry Olympiad Awards Ceremony, 12:45 PM – 2 PM, Darling Foundation Lecture Hall (Winter Hall room 210)
Download the announcement as pdf.
Abstract: Students of chemistry are commonly led to believe that there are two typical career paths for chemists: 1) to become an academic; or 2) to work for a large chemical company. It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to connect with a mentor who shared her story of pursuing a third path— that of becoming an entrepreneur—that I really even considered how real and tangible this alternative path could be for me. As such, I’m excited to share my story and the story of our company with you, so that you may see a path for your own opportunities in the future! Please join me as I share my account of how my team members and I have found a way to combine our passion for science and engineering to tackle the global challenge of food waste, and create and build a company that we can really call our own—right here in Santa Barbara!
Biography: Jenny earned her Bachelor’s Degree in
Engineering Chemistry and her PhD in Chemistry
from Queen’s University (Kingston, ON, Canada)
where, during her graduate studies, she was
awarded an Alexander Graham Bell Canada
Graduate Scholarship by the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada in
recognition of her research work. Following
completion of her doctoral degree, she joined the
Chemistry Department at UCSB as a postdoctoral
researcher where she worked for 2 years prior to
joining Apeel Sciences as the Director of Extraction Engineering. She is now the Vice President of Operations at Apeel Sciences, where she is responsible for leading the company’s efforts in Regulatory Affairs & Compliance, Facilities, and Supply Chain & Logistics.
Fall Wine Tasting at Babcock Winery
Another year has passed, and the holidays are quickly descending upon us. We cordially invite you to take respite from the pandemonium of holiday planning and indulge in some of the fine wines that our territory produces along with the delicious cooking of the chemists who comprise our fine section. This year’s tasting is scheduled on Saturday, December 3, 2016, at Babcock Winery in Lompoc, about 40 minutes north of Santa Barbara. In addition to a tasting of six of Babcock’s acclaimed wines, we will be treated to Babcock’s beautiful grounds and their revolutionary cultivation of grapes. Join us in closing another successful year and in planning the next one.
Please use the form below to reserve your seat.
Date: Saturday December 3, 2016
Time: 12:00 – 2:00 PM
Location: Babcock Winery, 5175 E Highway 246
Lompoc, CA 93436 (Google map)
Cost: $10