Mines’ Summer 2023 STEAM Café Lineup Features Talk on SURF, Critical Minerals and Genetic Engineering
South Dakota Mines' summer 2023 STEAM Café lineup includes a wide range of exciting topics.
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 in Rapid City unless otherwise noted.
The 2023 summer STEAM Café lineup includes:
June 20, 6 p.m.
Deep Science at America's Underground Laboratory
Presented by Dr. Jaret Heise, science director at the Sanford Underground Research Facility
As the deepest underground laboratory in the United States, the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead hosts world-leading experiments and gives South Dakota's university students and faculty members the opportunity to participate in this cutting-edge science. Dr. Jaret Heise, the science director at SURF, will present an overview of the science taking place a mile beneath our feet.
SURF's exceptional underground location enables physicists to look for faint signals that hint at dark matter and other particles or forces we don't yet understand — things that lie beyond the current Standard Model of particle physics. But the drifts and caverns at SURF offer research opportunities for more than just physicists; biologists trek these routes in search of microbial life that has adapted to harsh, hot underground homes under great pressure and geologists head into the tunnels for unparalleled access to deep rock. The facility is also a proving ground for engineering research. Mines students, graduates and faculty are participating in many of SURF's experiments. Dr. Heise will discuss the advantages to conducting these experiments in the former Homestake Gold Mine and what researchers are hoping to discover.
July 18, 6 p.m.
A Panel Discussion on Critical Minerals: Essential to Everyday Life, Increasingly in Demand, and Mines Degrees Crucial to Solutions
Presented by Jason Combs, program director of the National Security Innovation Network at South Dakota Mines; Dr. Andrea Brickey, an associate professor in the Department of Mining Engineering & Management; Dr. Jon Kellar, a professor in the Department of Materials & Metallurgical Engineering; and Emma Thompson and Annika Schooler, Civil & Environmental Engineering undergraduates (2024)
Critical minerals are so much a part of our everyday lives - in our cell phones, computers, electronic displays, cars, solar panels and batteries - that we rarely think about them. These minerals are essential to the economy and our national security. Demand is accelerating, but the world's supply is limited; the biggest future impact will arguably be felt by people currently under the age of 25. This panel discussion will cover what these minerals are, why they are in such short supply and the effects this has on our daily lives as well as what South Dakota Mines is doing to address this challenge and how people of all ages can get involved. The discussion will be presented by Jason Combs, program director of the National Security Innovation Network at Mines; Dr. Andrea Brickey, an associate professor in the Department of Mining Engineering & Management; Dr. Jon Kellar, a professor in the Department of Materials & Metallurgical Engineering; and Emma Thompson and Annika Schooler, Civil & Environmental Engineering undergraduates (2024).
August 15, 6 p.m.
Genetically Engineered Microbes for the Industries of Tomorrow
Presented by Dr. Tanvi Govil, research scientist at South Dakota Mines
Genetic engineering is the direct modification of the genes of an organism. Scientists can now manipulate virtually almost any aspect of a microbe, including intelligence and appearance, using homologous recombination or CRISPR technology, executed in three steps: identify, cut and replace. Dr. Tanvi Govil, a research scientist at South Dakota Mines, will discuss her research into microbes that degrade corn and soybean biomass and how advances in genetic engineering can enable researchers to exploit microorganisms for improved or enhanced sustainable microbially produced alternatives such as bioplastics and biofertilizers.