Cafe Scientifiqué comes to the Central Valley!

Yes, indeed! As announced by Scott Hatfield earlier this summer, we finally have our own Cafe Scientifiqué here in the great Central Valley of California. I'm excited to be involved in launching this, as I've been trying to get one going here for a year or so. I am glad Scott converged on the idea also this summer, and we were able to come together with some colleagues and members of the community to actually make it happen! So here it is!!

The full email announcement is below the fold, and I've set up a website with additional information at valleycafesci.org, and a Google Group for email announcements.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Welcome to an exciting new forum for talking about science, engaging in dialogue about current science with non-scientists, and generally raising the science culture in our valley: the Central Valley Cafe Scientifiqué!

What's a Cafe Scientifiqué? I think of it as a science/nerd equivalent of a poetry reading, or Fresno's Art-Hop events, or the philosophers' Socrates Cafes. It is a free-wheeling discussion of a science topic, centered around a presentation from a scientist, in an informal setting outside the normal channels of academia. Meetings are therefore usually held at a local cafe or pub where anyone is welcome to wander in (including, especially, people who don't normally seek out science seminars or lectures on campus), listen to a brief science talk, and engage in thought-provoking conversation over food and drinks. These cafes started in the UK a decade or so ago, and have spread throughout the world - our closest ones are several in the Bay area.

Our Cafe Scientifique will meet on the First Mondays of every month starting on October 1, 2007:

Venue: Lenny's Bistro Deli, in River Park, north Fresno, across from the movie theaters.
Time: 6:30-8:30; with the main presentation starting around 7:00 followed by discussion.

First topic: Cute, cuddly, and dead - so what's killing sea otters?
Speaker: Dr. Paul Crosbie, Biology Department, CSU-Fresno

Please visit our website for further details. And if you wish to keep up with announcements of future events via email, please join the valleycafesci google group, accessible through a link at the bottom of our main page.

Please share this announcement with anyone you think might be interested. We look forward to having you there for some good conversations!