Join us on November 14th, as Becca Krueger presents: Deadly Dimorphics!!

Enjoying the outdoors in our beautiful Wisconsin is a wonderful thing... until it tries to kill you! What's even scarier is when the thing in nature trying to do you in is invisible to the naked eye... Wisconsin is a perfect environment for the deadly dimorphic fungus Blastomyces to proliferate, and our state has a history of significant outbreaks of blastomycosis. But should we really be worried? Should we stay indoors? And what the heck is a dimorphic fungus anyway? Come learn more about blastomycosis and all the cool things we know about this fungus and a few others!!

Photo credit: cdc.gov

Becca Krueger APNP is a nurse practitioner with the Infectious Disease team at Froedtert Hospital & the Medical College of Wisconsin. She received her Bachelor of Science in nursing in 2005 from UW-Madison and her Master's of Science in Nursing with an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Degree from Marquette University in 2011. She has worked at FH/MCW in both critical care and now in Infectious Diseases since 2015. She sees a wide variety of patients with infectious diseases including solid organ and bone marry transplant patients. In addition to her clinical role, she is an associate director of advanced practice for the Medical College Physicians within MCW.

Outside of work, Becca has 3 boys ages 9, 5, and 18 months and spends as much time outdoors as possible! You can find her biking, running, skiing, hiking, and skipping stones into Lake Michigan at Big Bay Beach (just a few blocks from her house) on many evenings with the boys. 

Join us on October 10th, as Tony the Bug Whisperer himself, brings us Bugs in VR!!

Prior to Covid, Tony's Creepy Crawly Zoo traveled the country with its live insect show that lit wildfires of scientific curiosity in children. The show was an experience kids never forgot. Tony had been working to create a permanent location that was an insect/reptile themed natural science park for kids. just when all seemed to be on the verge of happening and Tony even published a science activity book to enhance the live experience, the pandemic struck, and all those years of work came to a screeching halt.

As with many businesses that revolved around large crowds, you had to either adapt or die. Most similar shows went virtual. "I did one virtual show, and it was just awful. Sitting in front of a webcam holding an insect wasn't even remotely like the live show. I had to find a new way to recreate an "experience"." Tony turned to an idea he had many years earlier, Virtual Reality. The problem was, the technology for a VR macro camera did not exist, so he invented one!

Fast forward half a dozen failed attempts and 2 year later, Macro VR is now a "reality". The result was an 8k camera that can take you inside the habitats of the creatures in the Creepy Crawly Zoo and let you see the world as if you were 2" tall. Tony will be discussing how his vision of an insect/reptile themed natural science park for kids has been reborn in the Metaverse. Attendees will have a chance to experience it and even meet some of the animals of the Creepy Crawly Zoo!

Antonio Gustin (The Bug Whisperer TM) is best known for his live show, Tony's Creepy Crawly Zoo, a traveling live insect show for kids. Tony's Creepy Crawly Zoo, was a dynamic and theatrical show, that visited nearly 2 million children in the last 3 decades and continues today. In 2005, Antonio turned his attention to video and developed the character, The Bug Whisperer. He produced a pilot episode titled, Tales from the Bug Whisperer. He wrote it, filmed it, edited it and produced it on a budget of less than $5000. It received rave reviews and five international film festival awards. A person of eclectic interests, he is an accomplished martial artist, studied languages and art in college before finally returning to his boyhood obsession of entomology (the study of insects). He is also an avid outdoorsman and enjoys bow hunting, fly fishing and living in the mountains for weeks at a time. These days, the Bug Whisperer is a self-proclaimed science evangelist. He started the nonprofit organization, the Gateway Science Project, which uses insects to excite scientific curiosity in kids.

Join us on September 12th, as CSA's Gabriel Freedman & Pratyusava Baral present: Space probes Voyager 1 & 2

Hello to all!!! It may be dreary and rainy right now, but what better way to spend your time than to come down the the cozy back room of the Sugar Maple and learn about SPACE EXPLORATION!?! Gather your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers, bundle them down to Bay View and get ready for some science!!!

In 1977, two space probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were launched from Earth. Each probe carried a small gold record containing a summary of the sights, sounds, languages, and music of home. Today both Voyagers have long left the Solar System and will continue to drift in interstellar space forever. How did we manage to break them free of the Sun's gravity? What have the Voyagers found to this point in their journey? Will anything (or anyone...) find them? And if they are found, how does one go about decoding the record's contents? This talk will answer all these questions and more as we discuss what makes Voyager one of the most scientifically and culturally important space missions of our time.

(image is property of the Coffeeshop Astrophysics group)

Coffeeshop Astrophysics is a public outreach group run by graduate students and postdocs from the Leonard E Parker Center for Gravitation, Cosmology, and Astrophysics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They give a series of informal lectures on a wide array of topics relating to astrophysics and science as a whole. The talks occur once a month on Saturdays at 1pm at Anodyne Coffee in Walker's Point. If you would like to learn more about the program, look at past talk topics, or see their upcoming schedule, feel free to visit their website

Gabriel Freedman is a fourth year graduate student in the Physics program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research focuses on the detection of low-frequency gravitational waves through his owrk as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) collaboration. In particular, he is interested in novel computational methods for making astrophysical analyses tractable, and incorporating machine learning and other modern data science techniques into gravitational wave research. Outside of graduate school, Gabriel enjoys listening to music of all genres, and plays the piano in his spare time.

Pratyusava Baral is a second year graduate student in the Physics program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He studies gravitational waves with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration. His research currently focuses on gravitational wave cosmology, where he studies properties of the Universe using small fluctuations on spacetime. In his spare time, Pratyusava enjoys experimenting with cooking, going on walks, and watching cricket.

Round 2 of "post-Covid" science learning took place on August 8th, when Dr. J.C. Neilson presented a look at his surgical work involving O.P.R.A: Osseonanchored Prostheses for the Rehabilitation of Amputees

Greetings everyone!! Our appetite for scientific learning was furthered during a riveting lecture in August by Dr. J.C. Neilson, an orthopaedic oncology surgeon at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who took us through the fascinating process of osseointegration of implants, particularly as it pertained to his work as a surgeon specialized in this procedure and how it has fundamentally changed the lives and functional outcomes of amputee patients under his care. It was a fantastic talk, and we hope to have more surgical talks along those lines in the future!

(image credit: fda.gov)

Dr. Neilson received his education in medicine at University of South Dakota School of Medicine, followed by a residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin and fellowship Rutgers Medical School. He now is an associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, specializing in Arthritis of the Hip and Knee, Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcomas, Metastatic Bone Disease, and Musculoskeletal Tumors. 

The USS made an epic post-Covid hiatus comeback on July 11th when Mike Marek, of Marek Landscaping, presented: Harmonizing Industry and Ecology

Greetings all!!! In light of all the trials of the past 2.5 years due to pandemic precautions, etc, it was great to see such a gathering of curious minds for our comeback lecture in July!! At this talk, Mike Marek spoke about how he plans to convert an underutilized part of the South Harbor in Bay View into an ecological restoration machine and a destination for people to celebrate the importance and ecological diversity of Lake Michigan. It combined commerce, ecological restoration and placemaking. And it definitely got our science minds turning with great questions and discourse about how to better our great city!! Thanks to all who came out!! And if you missed the lecture, you can find out more about the Perch Point project at the Marek Landscaping website

In 1996, Mike founded Marek with a commitment to provide ecological design and installation services in Milwaukee and the Great Lakes region. Mike grew up in Elm Grove, Wisconsin where he was a hard working kid, and until recently, completely oblivious to the white privilege of his youth. He attended University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point where he studied Urban Forestry and leaving early to start his business with the realization that he did not want to count board feet or manage forests for paper pulp production - a realization he had while living under a huge tree in Alaska. He is a force for positive change in how we design and manage natural areas, parks, shorelines, and green infrastructure, with a long list of innovative first. Mike has presented at local, regional, and national conferences, including Wild Ones, State of Lake Michigan Conference, Southeasters Wisconsin Watershed Trust, Society for Ecological Restoration, American Society of Landscape Architects, and Partners for River Restoration and Science in the Upper Midwest (PRRSUM). His passion lies in connecting our community through placemaking and showing how ecological diversity can exemplify the benefits of cultural and social diversity.

Join us on March 9th as 1840 Brewing's own Kyle Vetter presents: Brewing Techniques to Create the Beers of Today

Greetings all!!! So, we already know you like science (the name of our group gives that away), and pretty sure most of you like beer (since we meet in a fabulous beer bar every month)... which means you all should LOVE this month's talk!!

Please join us this coming Monday as Kyle Vetter, owner and Head Brewer at Milwaukee's very own 1840 Brewing Company, comes to bestow knowledge upon us regarding the biotransformation of hopping, souring with lactobacillus, adding flavor adjuncts, and brewing for balance.

So! Tell your family and friends!! Come grab a frosty beverage and join us in the cozy back room of the Sugar Maple to imbibe and learn things about that very thing we are imbibing!! Hope to see you there!!

Kyle Vetter is the owner and Head Brewer of 1840 Brewing Company in Bay View, Milwaukee, WI. Kyle has been brewing beer for 16 years, and now specialized in sour and wild ale, hoppy beers, lagers, and stouts.

Join us on February 10th as Lindsay Hayward presents: The Savvy Sniffer: Using Scent Dogs in Conservation

Greetings once again to you all!! 2020 has gotten off to a roaring start with last month's riveting talk about community conservation, and I've no doubt our February talk will draw you out of your warm winter hidey holes to come down to the delightfully cozy Sugar Maple for some beer and a talk about the wonders of SNIFFER DOGS!!!

Conservation dogs are using their incredible noses to save the planet. These playful, energetic, and somewhat crazy dogs use their sensitive noses to sniff out plants, animals, fungi, and other organic materials to aid conservation efforts. Dogs can be trained on any scent so they can help detect elusive animals like bears and cougars in a large national park, the presence of a deadly bacteria in a bee colony or find invasive plant species before they’re big enough to be spotted by humans. The use of dogs for conservation is becoming more common as research finds that dogs can be more effective and efficient than other survey methods. This talk will introduce you to the magnificence of conservation dogs and how they are being used right now to help our beautiful world.

So!!! Tell you family!! Tell your friends!! Tell everyone and anyone you know who loves dogs!! This talk is sure to educate and entertain!! Hope to see you there!!

Lindsay Hayward has been interested in conservation dogs since 2016 when she first read about Tucker, the Labrador retriever who sniffs out whale poop off the Pacific Northwest Coast. Lindsay dedicated her grad school research to the methodology of conservation dogs compared with other conservation survey methods. She now works for Midwest Conservation Dogs, a Milwaukee-based organization training dogs to aid in the conservation of Midwest natural areas. Lindsay has been training her Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Fletcher, for scent work for 2 years and may eventually lend his brilliant nose for science. Lindsay is spreading the word about this incredible method and how conservation dogs can exponentially increase efforts to restore and preserve natural areas and protect wildlife.