The College of Science offers a virtual experience of the Discover Science course series in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This fall, virtual lectures will feature the College’s leading scientists. Discover exciting new research and groundbreaking science from the comfort of your own home.
“While our traditional face-to-face conferences have been postponed to ensure the safety and health of our community during this time, we hope you will join us from your couch for Discover Science at Home,” said Jeff Thompson, Dean of the College of Science.
The first lecture featured Bridget Ayling, director of the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy. His lecture, entitled “Underground Renewable Energy – Finding Hot Springs and Hot Rocks in the Western United States,” will describe the Great Basin region of the western United States, which is a world-class geothermal province with substantially untapped resource potential.
“Geothermal energy is heat from the earth, and this vast resource has been used for power generation, heating and swimming for more than 100 years,” he said. “To facilitate greater use of these renewable energy sources, we are working to understand: where these resources exist and why; how fluids flow in geothermal systems; and how can we increase our chances of finding a viable geothermal system for power generation? In this talk, I will review our current understanding and recent research aimed at answering these pressing questions.
Ayling is a professor at the Nevada Bureau of Mining and Geology and the College of Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. In his role as Director of the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy, Ayling is responsible for developing research and education programs in the field of geothermal energy, overseeing research to understand the complexities of fluid flow in the upper crust and their implications. for geothermal energy. exploration and resource management, management of public releases of geothermal data sets for Nevada, and graduate student supervision.
He joined the University in early 2016 after working at Geoscience Australia, the Australian government’s geoscience institute, and the University of Utah’s Institute of Energy and Geoscience. Dr Ayling holds a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Geology and Physical Geography from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He received his PhD in Paleoclimate and Environmental Geochemistry from the Australian National University in 2006.
To register and take part in the course, go directly to the registration page or to Discover Science at Home.
The next two lectures in the Discover Science at Home series of lectures are:
- October 22: Biologist Beth Leger, director of the Reno Museum of Natural History at the University of Nevada, will give her talk entitled “Tales from the Crypt: What Can We Learn from the Natural History Museum?” Beyond the sometimes ancient displays (dioramas, skins and skeletons), there is a whole world of irreplaceable collectibles hidden in scientifically controlled environments, representing a record of the history of life on earth like no other. . In addition to educating the public, this collection is important for research pathways that include questions about responses to climate change, managing invasive species and identifying new diseases, among others. Léger will show the public this world.
- November 19: Neil Lareau, Atmospheric Specialist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics, will give his talk entitled “Radar and Lidar Observations of Forest Fire Feather Dynamics”, on how large, high-intensity forest fires can produce their own extreme weather conditions. . , including thunderstorms caused by fire (i.e. pyrocumulonimbus) and the rare fire tornado. His research aims to understand this phenomenon using advanced radar and lidar, which can investigate the internal dynamics of the convective plume of forest fires.
The Discover Science lecture series was founded by the College of Science in 2010, with the aim of bringing the country’s top scientists to the University to share their knowledge, research and wisdom with society.
“Science encompasses a vast collection of explorations into the unknown. We invite science enthusiasts and those who are curious about science to join us and explore the vastness of the scientific universe when the best scientists on the planet visit the University of Nevada, Reno for our Discovery Scientific Lecture Series,” Thompson said.
Previous speakers in the series have included astrophysicists Michio Kaku and Neil deGrasse Tyson; Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic; and Bill Nye the scientist.
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