Lasering in on the UC Davis LASER Event on April 14

She researches fruit flies but she'll be discussing "The Concealed Beauty of Plant Architecture."

But of course, if you're curious about the work she does on fruit flies, you can interact with her on that as well as plant architecture!

Ciera Martinez, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley, will be among the four speakers at the Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) event on Thursday, April 14 on the UC Davis campus. She will discuss her doctorate work, revolving around plant development, during her presentation, from 7:25 to 7:50. As a biologist, she is interested in how organisms evolve and get their shape.

The LASER, free and open to the public, will take place from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Room 3001 of the Plant and Environmental Sciences Building. Anna Davidson, coordinator and moderator, says the April 14th event may be the last one on the UC Davis campus. (So, if you haven't attended one, you should!)

Networking and a social period takes place from 6:30 to 7. During the break, from 7:50 to 8:10,  participants will be given 30 seconds to share their work, announce an exhibition, show or idea.

The other speakers:

Ian Pollock, assistant professor of art who directs the Graduate Multimedia Program at California State University, East Bay, will open the program from 7 to 7:25. His creative work with communications technologies is featured in several anthologies of digital media art. In addition to fruitful collaborations in Guerrilla Grafting, he is involved in mapping prejudice and developing an after-school program in neuroscience and game making. He holds a master of fine arts degree from UC Berkeley.

Anna Davidson will discuss her art work, “The Beauty of Ambiguity,” from 8:10 to 8:35. She is currently a master of fine arts candidate in Art Studio at UC Davis. She earlier received her doctorate from UC Davis in the Department of Plant Sciences where she studied plant ecophysiology.

Sarah Strand will cover “The Evolution of Religion” in her talk from 8:35 to 9 p.m. Strand teaches psychology classes at California State University, Sacramento. She holds a doctorate in behavioral neuroscience and has lectured on neurobiology topics (including religion, morality and love) for six years.

In her abstract, Strand says: “Darwin's theory of natural selection provides a spring board for a discussion about the evolution of ideas, including religion. From this perspective, the biopsychological origins of religion and atheism are discussed. Concluding statements focus on evidence of how religion has ‘survived' by expanding and adjusting to changes in culture, a.k.a. it's ‘environment.'”

The series of LASER events on the UC Davis campus are affiliated with the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, co-founded by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomoogy and Nematology, and self-described "rock artist" Donna Billick.

For more information, contact Anna Davidson at adavidson@ucdavis.edu or access the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/1715690135315290/

Related links: 

http://www.leonardo.info/isast/laser.html

http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/

Map: http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/plantsciences/visitors/map.htm