{"id":717,"date":"2024-07-08T17:08:31","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T17:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/?page_id=717"},"modified":"2026-05-05T17:31:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:31:59","slug":"archive","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/archive\/","title":{"rendered":"Archive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Archive<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Unveiling the Invisible Universe<\/h2>\n

Presented by Tiziana Di Matteo and Rachel Mandelbaum<\/h4>\n

December 9, 2025<\/h3>\n

An inside look at how Carnegie Mellon\u2019s McWilliams Center for Cosmology & Astrophysics combines gravitational waves, precision surveys, large-scale simulations, and AI to probe dark matter, dark energy, and black holes\u2014and where the next answers will come from.<\/p>\n

Watch the recording of: Tiziana Di Matteo<\/strong>, professor of physics, director of McWilliams Center for Cosmology & Astrophysics and Rachel Mandelbaum<\/strong>, professor and department head of physics.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Watch Threads of Inquiry Session 6<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Decoding Bacterial Communities: Implications for Therapy and Biotechnological Advances<\/h2>\n

Presented by Drew Bridges, N. Luisa Hiller and Gordon Rule<\/h4>\n

June 3, 2025<\/h3>\n

Bacteria are the most ancient inhabitants of our planet. Though bacteria were originally considered to be simplistic life-forms, we now know that they partake in complex behaviors that allow them to survive and persist across planet earth. For example, it is now appreciated that bacteria are social entities: they communicate with one another, they form multicellular communities called biofilms and they work together to carry out tasks.<\/p>\n

Watch the recording of: Drew Bridges<\/strong>, assistant professor of biological sciences, N. Luisa Hiller<\/strong>, associate professor of biological sciences and Gordon Rule<\/strong>, professor and interim department head of biological sciences.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Watch Threads of Inquiry Session 5<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Hidden Shapes - The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Geometric Thinking<\/h2>\n

Presented by Florian Frick and Prasad Tetali<\/h4>\n

April 9, 2025<\/h3>\n

While the field of geometry is ancient, discoveries of its utility beyond the geometric realm are relatively recent. Professor Florian Frick will explain the unreasonable effectiveness of geometric thinking, in particular for mathematical and scientific problems that appear removed from geometry at first sight. Examples of this phenomenon range from economics and algorithm complexity to data science.<\/p>\n

Watch the recording of: Florian Frick<\/strong>, associate professor of mathematical sciences and Prasad Tetali<\/strong>, professor and department head of mathematical sciences.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Watch Threads of Inquiry Session 4<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Tracing Our PFAS Footprint: Detecting and Interpreting Synthetic Fluorinated Organics in Our Environment and Bodies<\/h2>\n

Presented by Bruce Armitage and Carrie McDonough<\/h4>\n

November 13, 2024<\/h3>\n

Synthetic fluorinated organics from commercial products have been detected in human blood since the late 1970s. The complex chemistry of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) has made it challenging to fully understand their presence in humans and animals. This talk will explore the sources, exposure routes, and accumulation mechanisms of PFASs, aiming to predict and prevent environmental degradation and adverse health outcomes. Dr. McDonough will present the latest scientific insights into the PFAS body burden and discuss promising research directions and unresolved questions.<\/p>\n

Watch the recording of: Carrie McDonough<\/strong>, assistant professor of chemistry and Bruce Armitage<\/strong>, professor and department head co-director of chemistry.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Watch Threads of Inquiry Session 3<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Unveiling the Secrets of Cells: Physics at the Intersection of Life and Disease<\/h2>\n

Presented by Huaiying Zhang and Fangwei Si<\/h4>\n

September 26, 2024<\/h><\/h3>\n

This session was hosted by Mellon College of Science Interim Dean Curtis Meyer and featured Professors Huaiying Zhang and Fangwei Si, whose groundbreaking research is deepening our understanding of the building blocks of life. Dr. Zhang outlined how changes in cells impact the development of cancer and how we might use these insights to discover new treatments. Dr. Si shared his work utilizing physics to understand the intelligence of bacteria, to better understand how life emerges from nonliving matter.<\/p>\n

Watch the recording of: Huaiying Zhang<\/strong>, assistant professor of biological sciences and Fangwei Si<\/strong>, assistant professor of physics.<\/p>\n

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Watch Threads of Inquiry Session 2<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Decoding the Mind: Uncovering Neural Mechanisms of Health and Disease using Machine Learning<\/h2>\n

Presented by Veronica Hinman and Eric Yttri<\/h4>\n

June 11, 2024<\/h3>\n

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Everything you feel, think, and do is the result of interactions between millions of cells in your brain. Eric Yttri and his lab at CMU are applying new tools to understand how neurons across different brain areas interact to orchestrate decisions and movement. To aid this study, they have developed new analysis platforms to extract a range of behaviors from video and link them to the complex neural dynamics they measure. With these techniques and insights in hand, they are developing new approaches to combating diseases like stroke, Parkinson\u2019s, and OCD.<\/p>\n

Watch the recording of the first Threads of Inquiry webinar: Veronica Hinman<\/strong>, head of the department of biological sciences and Eric Yttri<\/strong>, assistant professor of biological sciences.<\/p>\n

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Watch Threads of Inquiry Session 1<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-717","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":940,"href":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/717\/revisions\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/events.mcs.cmu.edu\/toi-webinars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}