Monday, May 9, 2022

Brooklyn Bound to See an Old Friend

Tonight, I am headed to the beautiful Bell House, in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, for this month's Secret Science Club lecture.  This lecture marks the return of Friend of the Bastard Dr Simon Garnier of the New Jersey Institute of Technology Swarm Lab,  Longtime readers will know that Dr Garnier has delivered multiple SSC lectures, and is a regular attendee of the lectures, many of which have been by his colleagues.

For those who aren't familiar with the Good Doctor, he is an entomologist and robotics expert, who has parleyed his observations of insect swarms into the programming of autonomous robots which can act in swarms to achieve needed goals- for instance, searching unstable buildings for individuals in need of rescue.  He also models traffic patterns, and is a very entertaining, informative lecturer:

 

He's also a friend, the perfect sort of fellow to have a beer with, and a mentor to his graduate students and post-doc fellows.  

Tonight, I'm expecting Dr Jen to meet me at the Bell House after she finishes with work-related consultations.  It'll be a 'meet the family' moment, because the Bell House staff, the audience regulars, and the SSC mavens, including the lecturer this month, are such old, good friends.  The important thing here, though, is that I'm winning another covert over to the Secret Science Club.

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