We’re back for Wilmington’s 5th Nerd Nite, going down at Wilmington Brew Works on Wednesday, May 22 at 6pm. If you haven’t joined us for a Nerd Nite yet, boy howdy are you missing out. If you have, you already know it’s going to be awesome. Read on to see what’s on tap for this month!

itty bitty squiddies with Dr. Liz Shea

This Nerd Night talk will be all about itty bitty cephalopods (squids, octopods and cuttlefishes). We’ll take a shallow dive into the oceans to find and collect some of these tiny but important (and delicious) mollusks. I’ll show you what they look like under the microscope and in the field, and highlight how blackwater diving is changing what we know about how they live their lives.

Dr. Liz Shea is the Curator of Mollusks at the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science and has been a museum nerd her whole life. She got her BS and MA at William & Mary and her PhD at Bryn Mawr College studying the early life history of the squid family Ommastrephidae. Liz’s love of museums and cephalopods started while interning with the Smithsonian’s Squid Squad at the National Museum of Natural History. She is currently editing a book on the Early Life History of Cephalopods which should be published in late 2024/early 2025. She lives with her husband, 2 kids, and 1 dog in Bryn Mawr, PA.

Whiskers at Work: Tales of Museum Cats with Jennifer Acord

Fifteen years ago, a little orange cat showed up near a dumpster at a local museum. Today, Dude the museum cat at the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science has fans around the world. From pest control to social media stardom, explore the world of working cats at museums and other attractions, where every tale is a whisker away from wonder.

Jennifer Acord is the Director of Advancement at the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science. Embracing “other duties as assigned” as her motto, she has also taken on the delightful role of publicist for Dude, the museum’s beloved cat. Throughout her eight-and-a-half-year tenure, Jennifer has worked on various stories publicizing the museum’s initiatives, but the ones generating the most buzz are often centered around Dude.

A Career in Materials Science: Turning today’s science into tomorrow’s material solutions with Dr. Eric Bailey

What does all of the technology that we touch have in common? Materials. Tune in for a deep dive into actual materials science projects – the problems, the solutions, and the everyday examples of science that informs them. Learn about how we can monitor defense systems using the physics of a candle, how a sustainable material can prevent Xbox’s red ring of death, how a Kindle helps us make new materials for bioengineering, and several examples of how high-performance composites can be engineered for different material solutions in a variety of industries.

Eric Bailey grew up near Annapolis, Maryland and got his B.S. at the University of Maryland (UMD) and then his M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), all in Materials Science and Engineering. Before graduate school, he studied metals, semiconductors, and plastics at labs and companies including the Naval Research Lab, UMD, MIT, and W.L. Gore and Associates. During his PhD at UPenn, his research focused on understanding how and why the addition of nanoparticles changes the transport and rheological properties of polymers. After that, Eric joined DuPont as a new material R&D scientist (in a group that was later sold to a company called Celanese) where he designs new composite materials for a variety of consumer and industrial applications. His current work focuses on new materials for next generation automotive radars, development of flame-retardant engineering polymer composites, and sustainability mainly through using post-consumer recycled polymer. Eric also leads volunteering and community service efforts for Celanese in the Wilmington-area and STEM education/outreach. His hobbies, other than science and volunteerism, include sports (any type, watch or play) and nature (hiking, biking, camping, etc).