This week, completely by chance, we met someone who knows a professor who built (I think?) a particle accelerator in his garage when he was 15 and might potentially want to come to our Citizen Science Cafe. So, uh, that’s something. Something big, actually. Because that means that we’ll really have to step up our game to impress this dude. And I’ll definitely have to ask him questions about that particle accelerator when I run an interview.

This coming week, I’m going back to Urban Academy (my high school), so when I get there, I’m going to ask my teachers there if they’d be interested in coming to the Citizen Science Cafe. In fact, I’ll ask one of the retired professors as well.

This week, I put extra effort into preparing for my digital deliverable. I shot my film for production class this weekend, so that prepared me for the possible roadblocks I may run into when I prepare to put together the documentary. For example, I’m going to have to make sure I have spare batteries, spare DV tape, supplementary lighting if necessary, functioning audio equipment, etc. If possible, I would like to secure a second DSLR camera before the event begins, but that may not be possible because those things are totemo takai desu (very expensive).

Also, we’re going to try to get professor Bronco to come in to our Citizen Science Cafe event. This week I’m going to reach out to the science teachers at my high school, and I’m going to delve deeper into research on nuclear power.

So this week we ran into a small problem:  we would not be able to use the Macaulay Building the same day as the normal seminar 3 presentations due to time and space constraints.

However, after talking with my group, we have decided that we will keep our original one hour format, and instead choose a different day to use the building.  We are aiming for a Friday night, a very popular night for students to come to the building, and a day high school students would be more likely to come (since they don’t have school the next morning).  We would like to present in December, and we will provide some pastries or snacks and drinks for our attendees.

Unfortunately, I have yet to hear back from those I emailed.  I will email CUNY staff this week to see if they would have any interest in speaking at the event.

For this week’s work, I sent out emails to the professionals Professor Adams had suggested.

I sent the following email out to Professor Ugoritz:

I am a Brooklyn College Macaulay student in Professor Adam’s seminar 3 class (science & technology of New York).  For our required community project, my group and I would like to organize a science café.  The café would inform participants about nuclear power, specifically the advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear power as an alternative power source.  We plan to invite professional to speak on the subject, as well as allowing open discussion amongst the participants.

My group and I would like to use the Macaulay Building’s lecture hall to conduct this event.  Would this be plausible, and if so, would we be able to host it one on the same day as one of the Seminar 3 presentation days in November?

Thank you for your time.  Hope all is well with you.

Professor Adams suggested using the cabaret space instead of the lecture hall for a more informal feeling, so I’m weight the pros and cons of the two spaces.  The lecture hall has a projector and a mini-stage, and we could set up tables to make it feel more informal.  Yet the cabaret space is definitely more informal than the hall, and also has a mini stage; however, I do not think there is a projector.  I will speak with Professor Ugoretz when he replies and figure out which space is available and times.

I emailed Mr. Charles W. Lowery II of the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History:

I am currently a second year student at Macaulay Honors College (Brooklyn College).  A group of classmates and I are organizing a citizen science café about nuclear science, and our professor, Ms. Jennifer Adams, recommended we contact you about resources for this project, including potential guest speakers.  We would very much appreciate you help.

Thank you for your time.  Hope all is well with you.

Hopefully Mr. Lowry will be able to provide some resources for us.

I also emailed several people who presented a panel on Citizen Science, and will be emailing more of them tomorrow:

I am currently a second year student at Macaulay Honors College (Brooklyn College).  My professor, Jane Adams, recently attended a science conference in which you presented on citizen science cafés, specifically for teenagers.  A group of my classmates and I are currently organizing a citizen science café about nuclear science for a similar age group.  

We was wondering if you have any advice or resources you would be able to share with us for organizing this event.

Thank you for your time.  Hope all is well with you.

Finally, I have decided to contact a bakery to see if they would be willing to cater for the event, and will be speaking with Professor Ugoretz to see if there are plans to cater for the seminar 3 presentations, in case they are done on the same day.

I posted a status about nuclear power on facebook, and it seems the prospect and dangers of nuclear power seem to interest my peers the most.  Three of my friends are very eager to attend.

So our group, Team Boomer-aang (not to be confused with the Krew) has decided to do a Citizen Science Cafe on the topic of nuclear power and weaponization. This is the first blog post from the Designer/Artist and Data Manager of the group.

Our final digital deliverable is going to be a short documentary. For this, we are going to use two DSLR cameras and a high-end microphone to capture the event in as professional quality as possible. It’ll be edited in Final Cut Pro and presented to the class. We’re looking into a variety of different cafe’s, as well as the Macaulay Building, as a possible location for the Cafe event, but wherever we choose to shoot, it’s definitely got to have adequate lighting, as Canon T3i’s are only so effective in low light.

Okay, now that all that boring technical stuff is out of the way.

We don’t have much (or really any) data yet, so there isn’t really much to collect, but I’m starting to compile all the background research that we do. Meanwhile, I’ve been taking a look at the history behing nuclear warfare and the weaponization of nuclear power. Einstein wrote Roosevelt to start an atomic research program to be prepared to counteract the potential threat of Nazi atomic weapon development. Ironically, it can be argued that we became the villains when we dropped two bombs on Japan (one in Hiroshima, one in Nagasaki) in 1945. These events caught the attention of the USSR, which kick-started the nuclear arms race between us that we commonly refer to in history as the “Cold War”. These tensions caused a perpetual sense of fear and discrimination, known as the “Red Scare”, upheld by political institutions such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the 50’s and 60’s.

While not strictly scientific, this information is important as it allows us to assess the social and political power of nuclear energy. Is it worth it to further explore and exploit its capabilities in the name of energy if it poses such a threat in so many ways when weaponized? This can be an interesting point of contention for the Citizen Science cafe.

For the first week of our citizen science project, I looked into the logistics behind Nuclear Power (NP) and the pros and cons of it.

Some pros I found were that NP is relatively clean compared to the usage of fossil fuels as it does not emit carbon dioxide smoke. This means that it leaves a smaller carbon footprint on the environment. Fossil Fuels and coal leaves a huge carbon footprint and emits numerous greenhouse gases, which are linked to the idea of global warming. Although, the con of NP is that it does produce radioactive waste, which is extremely difficult to handle and get rid of. The waste must be contained and has an extremely long life span. The waste can take thousands of years to stop emitting massive amounts of radiation.

Consequently, this relates to the economics of NP. The power generated from the plants is actually at a much greater quantity relative to wind, water, and coal. The issue that creates controversy is once again the waste. The contradiction is that even though NP may efficiently produce energy, it still creates large amounts of toxic waste. The removal and handling of this waste in itself raises the total costs.

The debate is among the issue if Np has too great of an impact on the environment. The waste that is produced can cause mutations and death among organisms that live around the disposal site. Although, the waste is much cleaner/greener than other sources of power. This is essential because global warming can be linked to the death of thousands of species of animals worldwide. In the present, NP can be beneficial such that it can replace the harmful methods of producing energy and can reverse or decrease the impact of global warming. In the long term, the radioactive wastes would accumulate. The most important issue may be to find a groundbreaking approach to eradicating the toxic waste.

I believe that NP in general has a negative  connotation, especially with disasters such as Chernobyl. I hope to find new leads and sources on ways that NP can grow and change into an energy source that can change our environmental impact.