[Applause]
you know that weird creepy neighbor who
shuffles up to knock at your door late
at night that’s a lot of people see
science
I would rather you saw science as an
interesting friend down the street who
you wanted to ask over for a cup of tea
to help you solve a problem I’m a
geologist I’ve spent several years
studying a very specific style of
question observation and analysis I use
a precise vocabulary and I say things
like Albuquerque is situated within the
Rio Grande rift a tertiary aged
north-south cut in an extensional
feature I could also say the Albuquerque
is built in the Rio Grande rift the rift
is the name for a geologic feature that
forms when two parts of the crust
stretch apart getting thinner and
thinner stretching and sagging down like
taffy forming a long and narrow Basin
now both of these descriptions are
correct however I imagine the second
more visual description resonated with
more of you here’s what I want you to go
away with tonight one did science is
everywhere too science isn’t scary and
three you can relate to an apply science
on a daily basis so they can start
thinking about this does this sound like
you you’re either a scientist with a
capital S or a non scientist
you either love science and science
experiments or not so much
you either love math and think it’s
wonderful or you hate oh math things if
you’re nodding you’re not alone over
here there are many many people who are
leery of asking science over for a cup
of coffee in a chat but the thing is
everyone in the globe is affected by
technology or uses science on a daily
basis and in turn we all have the
opportunity to shape how that future of
science and technology are applied I
grew up in northern New Mexico my
paternal family is from the tiny village
of la Sturges I went to middle and high
school in Los Alamos where my maternal
grandfather had worked in the Manhattan
Project as such I was born into a fusion
of rural heritage and high-performance
science and I think in this time of kind
of growing global mistrust of science or
unsure T about science that that’s kind
of a unique perspective to have when I
was little I grew up pretty wild running
through the mountains I heard it cattle
on horseback I learned to drive on a
tractor and every spring we started our
year by cleaning out the ASEC yes or the
irrigation ditches that were so
important to our fields the village of
les stretches for over 300 years has
existed in a subsistence farming
lifestyle and it’s a community of tiny
hay fields perched on mountain sides
and nestled and valleys in a topography
that is high elevation it’s rugged and
it’s forested now water doesn’t flow
uphill to these hay fields and to
address this farmers constructed a
network of a sickness to deliver water
to the communities fields this landscape
is scored by steep narrow canyons so in
order to ensure that the water was
delivered field after field after field
the farmers constructed trestles over
which they laid Cannella house or
culverts carved historically out of
hollowed-out tree trunks joined together
to span the canyons one of my favorite
things to do as a child was to scamper
up these trestles and find out where the
water was dripping from failing joints
in the instance of a failed joint due to
age or at a trestle beam being damaged
in a spring flood or in more than one
instance by a hungry Beavers appetite my
dad and my grandpa would engineer a
replacement piece and as a ten-year-old
Horita in northern New Mexico I was awed
and inspired by this ability to
seemingly control water growing
potential and building materials I
didn’t know quite how to verbalize it
but what I was seeing was science
applied to a farming problem
I didn’t see this engineering or
hydraulics science as something that
required a specialized education or a
shiny science badge in order to
participate in it was simply something
that was necessary it was fun and most
important it was a fun challenge to
solve better each time in Los Alamos I
had the opportunity to work as a field
assistant for a geologist we were
mapping in the vias caldera and over the
summers we worked together I progressed
from I’m here in case you break your
ankle to a geology protege making my own
field Maps identifying minerals and the
like I had this science moment one day
when we were mapping the resurgent domes
which are the lumpy hills in the middle
of that via right these hills are formed
by eruption after eruption after
eruption of lava piled up on top of each
other and one day we were hiking along
the top flow of one of these Peaks I’m
hiking along hiking on I came along when
we came face-to-face with this
impenetrable forest
it was matted it was tumbled down it was
filled with thorns it was awful
and no matter how we tried we were
forced to go downhill to get around it
now this was bad news for us because
that meant we had to hike right back up
that mountain we had just hiked that
morning but this time with our backpacks
full of rocks
as we were huffing and puffing up the
hill my mentor you know managed to gasp
out that he felt that we were battling
the old forest from the Lord of the
Rings and I agreed but morally I had
this lightning moment where I thought my
goodness this volcanologist this capital
s scientist is talking to me about
fantasy fiction not only do I dearly
love Lord of the Rings but we’re making
a connection here if we can talk about
hobbits and possessed forests maybe this
science thing isn’t so bad as it turned
out I progressed from art major to
geologist I think changed my career so I
connected into the world of science
through the land of hobbits what I would
ask is how do you connect to science how
can you get into a conversation with
that science neighbor down the street so
for a moment think about something that
you’re really good at or that you really
now think about gathering up some
courage taking a deep breath and
inviting science over for a cup of
coffee find out where the conversation
between you guys goes both ways do you
both ride bikes science you will like
Tom Petty rock on science there we go
you like to knit patterning thread
tension you and science can knit all
night long as you go about initiating
and participating in what must grow to
be a two-way applied science and
creative thought process conversation
remember if you will that you’re doing
so in one of the most awesome and
diverse geologic locations in the entire
globe I’m not kidding New Mexico is the
perfect place to open the door to that
quirky neighbor ask science on in blend
ideas collaborate and realize that the
power of our joined potential the far
outweighs that of our individual
contributions if we are able to be brave enough to bridge that divide
you know that weird creepy neighbor who
shuffles up to knock at your door late
at night that’s a lot of people see
science
I would rather you saw science as an
interesting friend down the street who
you wanted to ask over for a cup of tea
to help you solve a problem I’m a
geologist I’ve spent several years
studying a very specific style of
question observation and analysis I use
a precise vocabulary and I say things
like Albuquerque is situated within the
Rio Grande rift a tertiary aged
north-south cut in an extensional
feature I could also say the Albuquerque
is built in the Rio Grande rift the rift
is the name for a geologic feature that
forms when two parts of the crust
stretch apart getting thinner and
thinner stretching and sagging down like
taffy forming a long and narrow Basin
now both of these descriptions are
correct however I imagine the second
more visual description resonated with
more of you here’s what I want you to go
away with tonight one did science is
everywhere too science isn’t scary and
three you can relate to an apply science
on a daily basis so they can start
thinking about this does this sound like
you you’re either a scientist with a
capital S or a non scientist
you either love science and science
experiments or not so much
you either love math and think it’s
wonderful or you hate oh math things if
you’re nodding you’re not alone over
here there are many many people who are
leery of asking science over for a cup
of coffee in a chat but the thing is
everyone in the globe is affected by
technology or uses science on a daily
basis and in turn we all have the
opportunity to shape how that future of
science and technology are applied I
grew up in northern New Mexico my
paternal family is from the tiny village
of la Sturges I went to middle and high
school in Los Alamos where my maternal
grandfather had worked in the Manhattan
Project as such I was born into a fusion
of rural heritage and high-performance
science and I think in this time of kind
of growing global mistrust of science or
unsure T about science that that’s kind
of a unique perspective to have when I
was little I grew up pretty wild running
through the mountains I heard it cattle
on horseback I learned to drive on a
tractor and every spring we started our
year by cleaning out the ASEC yes or the
irrigation ditches that were so
important to our fields the village of
les stretches for over 300 years has
existed in a subsistence farming
lifestyle and it’s a community of tiny
hay fields perched on mountain sides
and nestled and valleys in a topography
that is high elevation it’s rugged and
it’s forested now water doesn’t flow
uphill to these hay fields and to
address this farmers constructed a
network of a sickness to deliver water
to the communities fields this landscape
is scored by steep narrow canyons so in
order to ensure that the water was
delivered field after field after field
the farmers constructed trestles over
which they laid Cannella house or
culverts carved historically out of
hollowed-out tree trunks joined together
to span the canyons one of my favorite
things to do as a child was to scamper
up these trestles and find out where the
water was dripping from failing joints
in the instance of a failed joint due to
age or at a trestle beam being damaged
in a spring flood or in more than one
instance by a hungry Beavers appetite my
dad and my grandpa would engineer a
replacement piece and as a ten-year-old
Horita in northern New Mexico I was awed
and inspired by this ability to
seemingly control water growing
potential and building materials I
didn’t know quite how to verbalize it
but what I was seeing was science
applied to a farming problem
I didn’t see this engineering or
hydraulics science as something that
required a specialized education or a
shiny science badge in order to
participate in it was simply something
that was necessary it was fun and most
important it was a fun challenge to
solve better each time in Los Alamos I
had the opportunity to work as a field
assistant for a geologist we were
mapping in the vias caldera and over the
summers we worked together I progressed
from I’m here in case you break your
ankle to a geology protege making my own
field Maps identifying minerals and the
like I had this science moment one day
when we were mapping the resurgent domes
which are the lumpy hills in the middle
of that via right these hills are formed
by eruption after eruption after
eruption of lava piled up on top of each
other and one day we were hiking along
the top flow of one of these Peaks I’m
hiking along hiking on I came along when
we came face-to-face with this
impenetrable forest
it was matted it was tumbled down it was
filled with thorns it was awful
and no matter how we tried we were
forced to go downhill to get around it
now this was bad news for us because
that meant we had to hike right back up
that mountain we had just hiked that
morning but this time with our backpacks
full of rocks
as we were huffing and puffing up the
hill my mentor you know managed to gasp
out that he felt that we were battling
the old forest from the Lord of the
Rings and I agreed but morally I had
this lightning moment where I thought my
goodness this volcanologist this capital
s scientist is talking to me about
fantasy fiction not only do I dearly
love Lord of the Rings but we’re making
a connection here if we can talk about
hobbits and possessed forests maybe this
science thing isn’t so bad as it turned
out I progressed from art major to
geologist I think changed my career so I
connected into the world of science
through the land of hobbits what I would
ask is how do you connect to science how
can you get into a conversation with
that science neighbor down the street so
for a moment think about something that
you’re really good at or that you really
now think about gathering up some
courage taking a deep breath and
inviting science over for a cup of
coffee find out where the conversation
between you guys goes both ways do you
both ride bikes science you will like
Tom Petty rock on science there we go
you like to knit patterning thread
tension you and science can knit all
night long as you go about initiating
and participating in what must grow to
be a two-way applied science and
creative thought process conversation
remember if you will that you’re doing
so in one of the most awesome and
diverse geologic locations in the entire
globe I’m not kidding New Mexico is the
perfect place to open the door to that
quirky neighbor ask science on in blend
ideas collaborate and realize that the
power of our joined potential the far
outweighs that of our individual
contributions if we are able to be brave enough to bridge that divide
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