Creating a more curious, informed, and collaborative society by hosting free monthly public discussions in science and technology. Topics are diverse and all are welcome.
Events
Our events are typically held monthly on the first Thursday of every month. They are traditionally an hour long, with around 20 minutes of presentation followed by 40 minutes of discussion. After the hour, we let our presenters off the hook and allow the discussion to continue among the participants.
We use our Facebook Page for organizing and sharing information about events.
Please navigate to our Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports Facebook Events page for more information about our events.
Recent/Upcoming Events:
Freshwater Community Ecology: Staycationing with invertebrates led by Courtney Larson and PJ Torres
January 5th, 7pm @ the Duluth Folk School
In this month’s scientific staycation our tour guides are ecologists, Dr. Courtney Larson and Dr. PJ Torres. We will learn about how freshwater ecological communities are built, including food webs and functional roles, and how they compare between temperate (Great Lakes) and tropical (Puerto Rican) regions. We will discuss how members of these communities are classified, and talk about ongoing threats to these ecosystems from anthropogenic sources, including climate change.
An archive of event flyers is below:
If you are interested in sharing your science through Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports, send a note to info@cafescitwinports.org and let us know! We are working on developing a variety of ways in which the scientists in our area can connect with their community.
Cafe Scientists
Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports wouldn’t exist without the dedicated scientists, researchers, and discussion leaders who have given their time to lead our events.
August
February, 2023: Max Gatyas, The Philosophy of Science: A crash course of method, truth, and meaning in science
January, 2023: Courtney Larson and PJ Torres, Freshwater Community Ecology: Staycationing with invertebrates
October – December 2022: ~ Organizational Break ~ Events set to resume January 2023
September, 2022: Space Trivia 5 – Celebrate the night sky week, co-hosted with Starry Skies North IDA and Amity Coffee
July, 2022: The Sub Superior Festival Organizers from The Embassy (Duluth), Subscussion | Sub Superior Tech & Subvisions Livestream
June, 2022: Janelle Turner-Miller and Stacie Renne of Warrior Printress Letterpress and Design, Letterpress: Survival in a digital world
May, 2022: Lynn Goerdt, The Audacity to Flourish: Messages from our mental health crisis
April, 2022: Bjorn Bergman, Making data-driven seed choices for gardeners and farmers
March, 2022 (Apr 7th): Rosayln Putland, What do fishes hear underwater? A song of ice and vessels | Science lunch
February, 2022 (Mar 3rd): Twin Ports Science Celebration, Social, and Trivia, led by Nate Pollesch and Kleighton Smoniewski of Cafe Sci Twin Ports
January, 2022 (Feb 3rd): Arshia Khan, Humanoid Robots: Augmenting care in nursing homes
December, 2021 (Jan 6th): Astro Bob King, A Journey to Antarctic Skies
November, 2021 (Dec 2nd): Kris Eilers, Celebrating the St Louis River
October, 2021: Alex Cavallin, From Death to Disposition (Cafe ScientifEEK! Twin Ports)
September, 2021: Space Trivia – Episode 4 – Celebrate the Night Sky Week, Co-hosted with Starry Skies North IDA and Amity Coffee
August, 2021: Lisa DeGuire, Who Pooped in the water? Using Science to Monitor and Protect Recreational Waterways
July, 2021: Tom Hollenhorst, Great Lakes Monitoring – The Next Generation (Robots, Sensors, Satellites, and You!)
June, 2021: Erin Burkett, What Women Who Fish Can Teach Us About Gender and Outdoor Recreation (Link to recording)
May, 2021: Shelby Scott, Handguns and Hotspots: Quantitatively Modeling Gun Crime (Link to recording)
April, 2021: Gerald Ankley, PFAS: A Novel Class of Environmental Contaminants
March, 2021: Brenna Doheny, Climate Change and Health in Minnesota: From (A)ir quality to (Z)ero-emission vehicles (Link to recording)
Feb, 2021: Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports 4th Anniversary: MUG TRIVIA!
January, 2021 (Feb 4th): Emily Gaarder and Ted Lewis from The Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking: What is Restorative Justice? (Link to recording)
December, 2020: Picture a Scientist, Virtual Screening and Panel discussion – Sponsored by and Co-hosted with Northwoods Women in Science
November, 2020: Dustin Haines, River Talks Series – Should I stay or should I go? The Clash of Wetlands with Lake Levels, Invasives and Humans (Link to recording)
October, 2020: Dan Villeneuve, Cafe ScientifiEEK 2 – So many fascinating ways to die: The morbid curiosities of toxicology (Link to recording)
September, 2020: Space Trivia – Episode 3, with Starry Skies Lake Superior (Link to recording)
July, 2020: Dan Crist, Data science: The good, the bad, the ugly (Link to recording)
June, 2020: Sue Leaf, Author Event: Sue Leaf Presents Minnesota’s Geologist
April, 2020: Richard Buckalew, Basics of Epidemic Modeling (Infographic) (Link to recording)
March, 2020: Guido Wallraven, Climate Smart Duluth
February, 2020: 3rd Annual Science Social and Trivia
Dec, 2019: Karl Wagner, Solar Energy: Past and Present
Nov, 2019: Randy Hanson, Regenerative Agriculture & Restorative Food Systems
Oct, 2019: Cafe ScientifEEK – Science + Music Halloween MASH
Sept, 2019: Karin Kraemer, Color and Clay
August, 2019: Amanda Grusz, Discovering Biodiversity with BIG data
July, 2019: Doug Jensen, Aquatic Invasive Species
June, 2019: Gene Kremer, Funga!
May, 2019: Claire Lande, Bees!
April, 2019: Vicki Kurker, The World Climate Simulation
March, 2019: Julie Etterson, Adaptation in the Anthropocene, the resurrection is near!
February, 2019: 2nd Annual Science Social and Trivia
January, 2019: J. Neil Henderson, Where medicine meets culture
November, 2018: Samuel Stewart, How a lonely mathematician models really dense crowds
October, 2018: John Dahl, Freaky Biology and Zombies, Naturally
September (Oct 2nd), 2018: Adam Swanson, Sharing Science Through Art
August, 2018: Melissa Maurer-Jones and Tayler Hebner, The Fate of Plastics in the Environment + The Role of Mentorship in Science
July, 2018: Gerald Shepard, Taxonomy: The ‘caddis’ in the coal mine, invasive ID, and the importance of knowing our aquatic neighbors
June, 2018: LSRI Scientists – Heidi Saillard and Kelsey Prihoda, Lake Superior’s Beaches
May, 2018: Richard Buckalew and Eric Erdmann, The Gerry-Mander, Voting Methods, and Mathematics
April, 2018: George Hudak, Minnesota’s Potential Mineral Future and Opportunities
March, 2018: Katie Williams, The Social Side of Science
February, 2018: First Annual – Science Social and Team Trivia
January, 2018: Carol Christenson, Forecasting Winds and Waves of Lake Superior
December, 2017: Eric Norland, From Ancient Religion to Modern Cosmology
November, 2017: Emily Stone, Exploring Northwoods Nature through Science and Your Senses
October, 2017: Rachel Portinga, How to Lower an Ecological Footprint
September, 2017: Adam M Frankiewicz, The Art of Scientific Illustration (October 5th, combined discussion and art opening)
August, 2017: Matthew Etterson and Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, The Phenomenon of Bird Migration
July, 2017: John Pastor, The North Woods: Past, Present, and Future
June, 2017: Ryan Hueffmeier, Citizen Science
May, 2017: Beau Webber, The Future of Genomic Engineering
April, 2017: Dale Hoff, Environmental Science and Imperative of Scientific Communication
March, 2017: Heather Wright-Wendel, The Role of Green Infrastructure in Building Resilient Communities
February, 2017 : “Astro” Bob King, The Future of Humans in Space
About
Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports is a volunteer-run community organization based in Duluth, MN and serving the Duluth, MN and Superior, WI communities. Cafe Sci Twin Ports was formed by a small group of individuals who wanted to create greater access to science and the scientists within our community.
- Science is amazing and terrifying and inspiring – Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports seeks to provide a venue where anyone with an interest in science can come to learn and discuss a variety of topics with experts guiding the conversation
- Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports seeks to strengthen the connection between scientists and the communities they serve through open dialogue and sharing of expertise and ideas
If you want to learn more about who we are and we do, feel free to email us at info@cafescitwinports.org or come to one of the events and chat with one of our organization team members. Speaking of team members, below are pictures and names of the volunteers who have given their time and effort to help make Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports happen.
Rebecca Eiden 
Christy Meredith 
Jason Wussow 
Meagan Aliff 
Joshua Wasniewski 
Richard Buckalew 
Trevor Keyler 
Kleighton Smoniewski 
Nate Pollesch 
Maicie Sykes 
Vicki Kurker 
Dan Crist
As you can imagine, we are not the first group of science lovers who wanted to do something like this. Besides just sounding fancy and being slightly difficult to say Cafe Scientifique represents the efforts of many similar-minded folks around the world! You can find Cafe Scientifique’s from here to Aukland, all locally run, all doing what they can to share their love of science with the communities they live in.
Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports 
