A Science Café is a public event that takes place in a casual setting such as a pub or coffee house and features an engaging conversation with scientists about a particular topic. This new series offered by the University of Iowa is co-sponsored by the Iowa Superfund Research Program, The Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, and the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science.
To date, this collaborative group has conducted several Science Cafes at Fuel coffee shop and the Lincoln Wine Bar in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Everybody's Cafe in Fairfield, Iowa, Gwen's Restaurant in Lisbon, Iowa and The Vine coffee house in Ottumwa, Iowa. UI researchers and community engagement personnel travel to Mt. Vernon to engage in a conversation with citizens about subjects such as PCBs in household paints, chemicals in the environment, climate change, and asthma.
Our Science Cafés have drawn audiences of between 20 and 50 rural Iowans, who actively participate in discussions on the topic(s) at hand.
One participant remarked at the end of the first cafe, “I absolutely learned new things - eating contaminated fish is a high source of PCBs, PCBs don’t travel through the soil into vegetables, PCBs are stored in fat, and yellow pigments in paint are a source of PCB11.”
Evaluations have guided selection of topics for our future Science Cafés.
Sponsors
This new series offered by the University of Iowa is co-sponsored by:
- Iowa Superfund Research Program
- The Environmental Health Sciences Research Center
- Institute for Clinical and Translational Science
Help the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Iowa continue making new strides in medical research by citing the NIH CTSA program grant UM1TR004403.