The Gillespie Museum will host the first “Science Café” of the spring semester on Thursday night, Feb. 2, with Song Gao, Ph.D., Stetson University associate chemistry professor, speaking about his research on environmental pollution around the globe.

“African Dust, Shanghai Smog, Georgia-Florida Wild Fires: an Environmental Tale of Three Continents” will explore his research on the volatile environmental conditions around the globe and how they show the “cross-boundary nature of environmental pollution,” said Gao.

Using field observations, satellite images, the atmospheric transport and chemical transformation of particulate matter in Asia, Africa and North America, the presentation will address the need for a “globally coordinated approach to remediation,” said Gao.

Gao is a co-recipient of the Alan Berman Research Publications Award from the Naval Research Laboratory, and has published several works in atmospheric chemistry mechanisms, megacity air pollution, and science-based climate mitigation. This Science Café is an opportunity for him to present his research to non-scientists and scientists alike.

He will speak Thursday, Feb. 2, from  7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the museum at 234 E. Michigan Ave. in DeLand.

Using three engaging tools — coffee, chocolate and conversation — the Gillespie Museum wants to promote scientific literacy, regardless of one’s educational level.

“Our goal is to keep scientists and non-scientists in the conversation,” said Karen Cole, Ph.D., director of the Gillespie Museum.

The topics discussed in each Science Café range in scientific disciplines, from new trends to ongoing research.

“This spring’s line-up is typically diverse,” said Cole. “We begin with an environmental chemist, followed by a neuroscientist, and end with a faculty/student team of biologists monitoring native pollinators.”

This event is free to the public and offers cultural credit to Stetson University students.

Upcoming Science Café’s will include Camille King, “To Sleep Perchance to Remember” on March 25,  and Sarah Garcia, Cindy Bennington, and Peter May’s “The Pollinator Project at the Volusia Sandhill Landscape” on April 20.

For more information on the Science Café series, contact Director Karen Cole at [email protected] or 386-822-7330.

-Veronica Faison