UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Research Unplugged speaker series, a collaboration between Penn State's Office of Government and Community Relations and Schlow Centre Region Library, will launch its spring schedule with four events during the month of April.
The talks, which are free and open to the public and include complimentary refreshments, will take place from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. every Thursday in April in the Downsbrough Community Room in Schlow Library.
The conversations begin April 5 with “Risky Business: The Driving Factors of Creative Idea Development.” Scarlett Miller, associate professor of engineering design and industrial engineering at Penn State, will discuss the factors that contribute to the filtering of creative ideas during the design process and the role of risk-taking.
On April 12, Glenn Sterner, a postdoctoral scholar in Penn State’s Justice Center for Research, will present “A Comprehensive Criminological Research Agenda to Address the Opioid Crisis.” Sterner will examine three active projects that target specific populations associated with the opioid crisis: current opioid users, illegal distributors of opioids, and those who stigmatize opioid addiction.
On April 19, Christopher McComb, assistant professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering at Penn State, will present “Hard Problems and How to Solve Them.” McComb will discuss what makes up difficult problems and how we can change our thought process, and even the problems themselves, to find solutions.
Research Unplugged will conclude its spring schedule April 26 with “Resounding Threats, Threatening Sounds.” Peter Buckland, academic programs manager in Penn State’s Sustainability Institute, will show how the resounding threats to the global order have been put into heavy-metal musicians’ sounds and art.