subscribe Coles Science Center Blog

• Talk and Book Signing on 10/5 by Author James Gleick

  The Coles Science Center and the NYU Libraries Information Futures Group present:

  
  
  

  "THE INFORMATION: A History, A Theory, A Flood"

  
  
  

  A talk and book signing by author James Gleick

  
  
  

  
  
  DATE: Wednesday, October 5, 2011
  
  TIME: 5:30-7:00PM
  
  LOCATION: Bobst Library*, 3rd floor, Fales Reading Room
  
  

  
  
  

  
  
  James Gleick, author of the best sellers Chaos and Genius, will discuss his bestselling new book, The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood.
  
  
  
  From the invention of scripts and alphabets to the long-misunderstood talking drums of Africa, Gleick tells the story of information technologies that changed the very nature of human consciousness. His compelling characters include Charles Babbage, the idiosyncratic inventor of the first great mechanical computer; Ada Byron, the brilliant and doomed daughter of the poet, who became the first true programmer; pivotal figures like Samuel Morse and Alan Turing; and Claude Shannon, the creator of information theory itself. And bringing us up to date in a time when we often feel we are drowning in a deluge of information, Gleick tells us how we got here and where we’re heading.

  
  
  

  The Information will be available for sale on site by the NYU Bookstore, and the author will be signing copies.

  
  
  

  
  
  RSVP required: http://tinyurl.com/GleickRSVP

  
  
  

  
  
  Seating for this event is on a first come, first served basis. For more information, please contact Jill Conte at jill.conte@nyu.edu.

  
  
  

  
  
  *Entrance to the library requires a valid NYU or affiliated institution ID. More info on access to Bobst here.

• Talk on 9/19: "Doing Science in the Open"

  The Coles Science Center and the NYU Libraries Information Futures Group present:

  
  
  

  "Doing Science in the Open"

  
  
  

  A talk by Michael Nielsen, Ph.D.

  
  
  

  
  
  DATE: Monday, September 19, 2011
  
  TIME: 6:30-7:30PM
  
  LOCATION: Bobst Library*, 2nd floor, AFC Avery Room

  
  
  

  
  
  In this talk, Dr. Nielsen will describe some leading-edge projects to show how online tools can radically change and improve science (using projects in Mathematics and Citizen Science as examples). He will talk about why these tools haven’t spread to all corners of science, and how we can change that.

  
  
  

  Michael Nielsen is an internationally known scientist who helped pioneer the field of quantum computation. His book about open science, Reinventing Discovery, will be published by Princeton University Press in October 2011.

  
  
  

  Refreshments will be served.

  
  
  

  
  
  RSVP required: http://tinyurl.com/scienceRSVP

  
  
  

  
  
  For more information, please contact Margaret Smith at margaret.smith@nyu.edu.

  
  
  

  
  
  *Entrance to the library requires a valid NYU or affiliated institution ID. More info on access to Bobst here.
  
  

• Urban Infrastructure and the Politics of Public Urination

  The Coles Science Center at Bobst Library Presents the Coles Science Salon Series

  
  
  

  Urban Infrastructure and the Politics of Public Urination

  
  
  

  by Laura Noren, PhD candidate
  
  Department of Sociology, NYU

  
  
  

  
  
  Dogs are free to pee everywhere but indoors. People, on the other hand, are fined for peeing on the street, the subway, buildings, cars, and just about any place out-of-doors. Where New York used to have thousands more public restrooms, the city now offers only a few truly public restrooms that accept all comers, free of charge. What's more, summonses and fines for street peeing raise the bar for transgression. What happens when cities decide to prohibit behavior rather than providing for it? In New York, certain populations like cab drivers and street cart vendors bear the brunt of the administrative policies in ways that shape the gender profile of the occupation. As well, the contours of the urban toilet infrastructure unwittingly position these workers at the edge of a symbolic boundary between civility and incivility. Please join Laura Noren for a talk drawing on her research from the recently published book she co-edited, Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing.

  
  
  

  
  
  DATE: Wednesday, February 23, 2011
  
  TIME: 5:30-6:30pm
  
  PLACE: 5th floor, Southwest wing, Bobst Library*

  
  
  

  Please join us for the talk, followed by a discussion. Refreshments will be served.

  
  
  

  ***RSVP Required***
  
  Go here: http://tinyurl.com/science-rsvp

  
  
  

  
  
  *Entrance to the library requires a valid NYU or affiliated institution ID.
  
  More info on access to Bobst here.

• Open Access Week Events

  Below are details for three events organized by the NYU Division of Libraries that will be happening on campus this week in honor of Open Access Week.

  
  
  

  
  
  Open Access for Education
  
  (Tue, Oct 19, 3:30-4:45pm, 19 W. 4th, Room 101)

  
  
  

  The potential applications of open educational resources are widespread – increased access to knowledge in regions where higher education is not readily available, recruitment and retention of students, curriculum development and research collaboration among faculty, and generating interest in higher education. At this forum, NYU and Creative Commons speakers will discuss new "Open Education" initiatives at NYU and elsewhere. Speakers include:
  
  Dalton Conley, Senior Vice Provost and Dean for the Social Sciences, NYU
  
  Jane Park, Education Coordinator, Creative Commons
  
  Cyrus R. K. Patel, Associate Professor of English, NYU

  
  
  

  After the Dissertation: Publishing your Scholarly Work
  
  (Wed, Oct 20, 3:30-5pm, Bobst Library, 10th Floor Graduate Exchange)

  
  
  

  This session offers practical information and strategies for those completing their dissertations and considering how best to share their scholarly work--as journal articles or a book, in print and digital form. Topics will include your rights as an author, how to think strategically about your publishing choices, what you need to know about copyright, and more. Please RSVP to reserve a seat: http://bit.ly/av9B9r

  
  
  

  Open Access 101
  
  (Thu, Oct 21, 12-2pm, Bobst Library, 10th Floor Graduate Exchange)

  
  
  

  Open Access literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions, encouraging the unrestricted sharing of scholarly research. As part of International Open Access Week, NYU Libraries presents “Open Access 101,” a brown bag lunch discussion open to all faculty, students, and staff interested in learning more about the Open Access movement and how it relates to NYU.
  
  

• Encore Presentation 10/12: "What They Don't Teach You in Statistics Courses"

  The Coles Science Center at Bobst Library Presents the Coles Science Salon Series

  
  
  

  What They Don't Teach You in Statistics Courses

  
  
  

  by Kaiser Fung, MBA

  
  
  

  
  
  When Nobel winner Daniel Kahneman was not busy creating the foundations of behavioral economics, he determined that statistical thinking is an unnatural activity; even experts sometimes fail at it. Yet, from stock charts to test scores, from theme parks to traffic jams, from credit cards to medical tests, statistics influence all aspects of our lives. Using examples from his recently published book Numbers Rule Your World, statistician Kaiser Fung will discuss some key statistical ideas—things they surprisingly don’t teach you in statistics classes. In addition, popular accounts of scientific innovations typically leave out the convoluted, imperfect process by which they enter everyday life. The adoption of statistical science provides a fertile backdrop for investigating this process.

  
  
  

  
  
  DATE: Tuesday, October 12, 2010
  
  TIME: 6:00-7:00pm
  
  PLACE: 10th Floor Exchange, NW corner of 10th Floor, Bobst Library*

  
  
  

  Please join us for the talk, followed by a discussion. Refreshments will be served.

  
  
  

  ***RSVP Required***
  
  Go here: http://tinyurl.com/salon-rsvp

  
  
  

  
  
  *Entrance to the library requires a valid NYU or affiliated institution ID.
  
  More info on access to Bobst here.