Join us at the MIT Museum in Cambridge for four true, personal stories about how science can send us onto tortuous paths.
Hosted by Bart Thompson and Katherine J. Wu.
Please note that this show will be indoors. You must be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccines to attend, and masks are welcome.
Stories By:
Sarah Demers is a particle physicist and professor at Yale University. She studies the Higgs boson and looks for physics beyond the current “standard model” using CERN's Large Hadron Collider. She's also an interdisciplinary enthusiast, having co-written the book “Physics and Dance” with choreographer and dancer Emily Coates, and regularly teaching a “Physics and Music” course at Yale. When she isn’t physics'ing she can be found hiking with her kids, foraging for mushrooms, brewing beer, or blissfully watching certifiably terrible science fiction with her husband.
Raul Fernandez is a scholar-activist. As a Senior Lecturer at Boston University, he studies, writes, and teaches about inequities in education. As the Executive Director of Brookline for Racial Justice & Equity, he rallies his neighbors in the relentless pursuit of racial and economic justice.
In the last few years alone, he researched and wrote a piece that helped topple a monument to white supremacy, created a film series that engaged thousands of participants in challenging dialogues, and trained thousands more in equitable policymaking at institutions in the US and abroad.
Raul also served as a member of Brookline Select Board – the first Latinx person elected to that position. During his time there he created a working group to support public housing residents, a Racial Equity Advancement Fund, and a task force to reimagine public safety.
He lives with his formidable partner Christina and their three kids in Brookline, and enjoys trips to "big park" and "tiny park" with his adorable toddler Maya.
Courtney Pong is a business owner, professional speaker, and corporate trainer living in Boston with her dog Meryl Sheep, a border collie/lab rescue. For over 21 years, Courtney has designed and led improv-based teambuilding workshops and entertainment for companies like Ocean Spray, Moderna, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and Harvard University. She’s been recognized as a Boston Business Journal 40 under 40 Honoree, and featured in Boston Magazine and Inc. Magazine as an AAPI thought-leader in live entertainment and entrepreneurship. Originally from California by way of the Bay Area, Courtney is the Owner of CSz Boston, and the owner of The Rozzie Square Theater, the only woman-owned and AAPI-owned comedy venue in Boston. She is nearsighted, dust-intolerant, loves weight lifting, and endeavors to run at least 2 half marathons a year. Keep in touch with her via Instagram @CourtneyPong
Samuel V. Scarpino is the Director of AI + Life Sciences at Northeastern University and a Professor of the Practice in Health and Computer Sciences. He holds appointments in the Institute for Experiential AI and the Network Science, Global Resilience, and Roux Institutes. In recognition for his contributions to complex systems science, he was named an external Professor at the Santa Fe Institute in 2020.
Prior to joining Northeastern, Samuel was the Vice President of Pathogen Surveillance at The Rockefeller Foundation, Chief Strategy Officer at Dharma Platform (a social impact, technology startup), and co-founded a data science initiative called Global.health, which was backed by Google and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Samuel is a regular presence in the news, providing over 500 interviews to outlets such as Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, Vice News, The Atlantic, and NPR. He has authored more than 100 academic publications, which have been cited over 8,000 times.