Knowledge on Tap: Discover the Latest STEAM Café Talks at Hay Camp Brewing
South Dakota Mines welcomes curious minds of all ages to its fall 2024 STEAM Café presentations.
STEAM Café, an ongoing series of free informal talks by Mines faculty, staff and visiting experts, is a partnership between the university, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, and Hay Camp Brewing Company.
An acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, STEAM Café is held at 6 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at Hay Camp Brewing Company in Rapid City.
The 2024 fall STEAM Café lineup includes:
September 17, 6 p.m.
An Introduction to George Eliot, the Victorian Novel, and Science
Presented by Dr. Erica Haugtvedt, associate professor in the Department of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at South Dakota Mines
George Eliot, the pseudonym for Marian Evans, was one of the most highly regarded authors of nineteenth-century Britain. Eliot’s novels combine realist, humane descriptions of the people and places of the English countryside with plots pivoting on cutting-edge science for her day. Dr. Erica Haugtvedt, associate professor of English in the Department of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, will cover how a woman who was not allowed to go to college became one of the most scholarly literary authors of her age, and how she befriended and learned from the leading scientific thinkers of the century.
October 15, 6 p.m.
Flying the Friendly Skies: Expanding Rapid City’s Airport
Presented by Patrick Dame, the executive director of the Rapid City Regional Airport
After seven years of planning and design, the Rapid City Regional Airport is in the process of constructing up to three additions to the airline terminal. Patrick Dame, the executive director of the airport, will discuss how engineers and architects involved in the process determined the size of the new terminal, considering peak hour demand, space required per passenger, aircraft seating size, and overall airport size; integrating the additions to complement the airport's unique architecture, which is modeled after the Black Hills; and overcoming construction challenges.
November 19, 6 p.m.
A Touch of Glass
Presented by Dr. Katrina Donovan, senior lecturer in the Mines Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, and Dr. Matthew Whitehead, director of the Apex Gallery and senior lecturer in the Mines Department of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at South Dakota Mines
Glass has been used throughout the centuries for everything from cutting tools, jewelry, and windows. Dr. Katrina Donovan, senior lecturer in the Mines Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, and Dr. Matthew Whitehead, director of the Apex Gallery and senior lecturer in the Mines Department of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, will discuss the uses of glass throughout history, and how manipulating the structure and properties of its ingredients can provide a wide range of applications. They will focus on the history of and current work by South Dakota’s Lakota artists, as well as integrating glass-making into various courses at Mines.
December 17, 6 p.m.
The Institute for Underground Science at SURF: A Year of Intellectual Community Building
Presented by Deb Wolf, director of outreach and culture at the Sanford Underground Research Laboratory (SURF), and Stacie Granum, program manager at The Institute for Underground Research at SURF
The Institute for Underground Science at SURF completes its first full year of operation in December. The Institute saw incredible success throughout 2024 in connecting and building multidisciplinary intellectual community centered around underground research. This includes hosting the GPN Quantum Research Collaboration Workshop, hosting the Center for Theoretical Underground Physics *and Related Areas (CETUP*) workshop, and playing a key role in the Higher Ed Connections Workshop, which brought together leading researchers from institutions across the state. In the coming year, The Institute will continue to forge new opportunities that will nourish the intellectual community around underground science. This includes working with SURF’s Education and Outreach (E&O) program to increase collaboration and integration with researchers and K–12 STEM programs.