PechaKucha Night, Bryan. Vol. 19

Join us at Grand Stafford Theater at 7pm on Tuesday, June 4 for an evening of presentations ranging in topic from LEGO to medicine to wastewater management. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $10, and is open to the general public. Here are the speakers and their presentations:

Luke Lyons

Seeing the World in LEGO: Mixing Creativity, Art and STEM

What if the world was made of LEGO? In this talk, Luke Lyons shares how he sees the world as tiny plastic interlocking bricks. Lyons, like many children, grew up playing with LEGO, but today he uses LEGO as an outlet for his creativity and artistic side. He has created LEGO scale buildings of old high schools, university buildings, train stations and designed his own museum specifically for the purpose of displaying a LEGO Tyrannosaurus rex. He discusses how LEGO promotes creativity in STEM education, while still accessing the arts.

Tony Okoromadu

Shards of Memory: A Mishmash of Conjecture

Random everyday objects and events that prompt a throwback to some experience in my life, provoking deeper introspection than would have been expected.

Andrew Roblyer

The HeART of Medicine

In what is often seen as the cold, clinical, and even sterile environment of medical education, how do you teach providers to find empathy for their patients? Andrew Roblyer discusses the art at the core of medical training that helps prepare professionals to confront the humanity of their future patients with compassion and kindness.

Ryan Gerlich

Advances in Onsite Wastewater Treatment

Onsite wastewater treatment system is really a fancy term for what’s better known as a septic system. These systems account for roughly 20% of the wastewater treatment infrastructure in Texas. Ryan Gerlich’s presentation will provide an overview of onsite wastewater treatment technologies, and how these systems have evolved over the years. He’ll also discuss the advances toward water reuse to meet the growing demand as Texas’ population continues to grow.

Matthew Hurley

Title: The Genocidal Artificial Intelligence is a Red Herring

Sci-fi has warned us for decades of the danger posed by a super-intelligent computer network. H.A.L., Replicants, WOPR, Skynet, The Matrix, and others paint a bleak future for careless AI development… But none of these bear even the slightest resemblance to real AI, nor do any of them discuss the current problems that AI is already creating. Let’s dispel some of the superstition and address the real danger.