Due February 6th 2026 – The Science Cafe is a program that connects UI researchers and experts with Iowa community members. These one-hour events take place at a local coffee shop in Mt. Vernon, IA (about 30 mins from Iowa City) are structured around a presentation and group discussion about various environmental, health, and scientific topics.
https://uiowa.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bq1LoK0QzwWYV4W (Fill out this form by Feb 6th) Eligibility: Faculty, staff, and graduate students at the University of Iowa
The Science Cafes are usually on a weekday from 5-6 pm. The structure of the event is 30 min talk by presenter (no slides are used but there is a paper hand out), 25 min discussion/Q+A, Dr. Brandi Janssen facilitates the events.
Questions? Email Jackie Curnick jcurnick@uiowa.edu
Visit the science café webpage https://ehsrc.public-health.uiowa.edu/communityengagement/science-cafe/
Topics that have been directly requested by the Science Café participants on evaluations: (though you can propose any topic)
- Medical talks / Surgery
- Climate Change
- Research projects: study design and results
- Options for farmers to improve water quality
- Barriers to changing agricultural practices
- “Pure Science”
- Reasons Iowa is losing healthcare workers
- Neonics and the home gardener
- Food safety
- Herbalism
- Marine Biology
- Geology or Archeology
- Chemistry
- Human composting
- Stem cells and plasma joint injections to delay joint replacement
- Nutrition
- Dentistry
- How does data science help with precision in medicine