Nerd Nite is part of ReedPop’s Sea Week on June 10, 2020

We’re holding a virtual water-themed Nerd Nite on Wednesday June 10, 2020 at 7pm EDT / 4pm PDT as part of ReedPop’s Sea Week. ReedPop, the team behind pop culture conventions such as New York Comic Con and Star Wars Celebration is creating Sea Week to share a whole fun smattering of virtual pop culture events all week featuring watch parties, trivia, celebrities, and more. Join us for two funny-yet-smart presentations about the cultural impact of SharkNado and the weird, wonderful world of mangroves. Watch live at 7pm on June 10 at http://www.facebook.com/nerdnite

Back To The Lectures At-Hand:
*Presentation #1
Oh Hell No: The Cultural Impact of SharkNado
by David Shiffman, Ph.D.

Description: Sharks: so hot right now! Sharks are in, and one of the best examples of this is a whole genre of bad shark movies. In this genre, the SharkNado franchise stands head and pectoral fins above competitors like Sharktopus, avalanche sharks (“snow is just frozen water,”) and six-headed shark attack. In this talk, Dr. David Shiffman will discuss the history of bad shark movies, with a focus on SharkNado and the incredible impact it had on pop culture and even public discourse.

Bio: Dr. David Shiffman is a marine conservation biologist who studies sharks. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Scientific American, Slate, Gizmodo, and a monthly column in SCUBA diving magazine. David is an award-winning public science communicator who invites you to follow him on twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @ WhysharksMatter, where he’s always happy to answer any questions anyone has about sharks. In the interest of full disclosure, David has asked us to inform you that SharkNado 2 is thanked in his Ph.D. dissertation because it funded some of his research. He has presented at Nerd Nite Miami, Nerd Nite Vancouver, and Nerd Nite DC.

*Presentation #2
Magnificent Mangroves: Adaptations, Biodiversity, and Outlook
by Tyler Wintermute

Description: From their unique adaptations to their benefits to biodiversity, mangroves are marvels of estuarine ecosystems. With a global distribution, these plants are ubiquitous in the tropics, but unfortunately, they face many threats that should be concerning to the denizens of the 43rd parallel north (and the rest of the world). So bundle (your vascular tissues) up, prop (root) yourself in a chair, and join us as we absorb the waves of mangrove knowledge!

Presenter Bio: A native of Northern Virginia, Tyler is a first-year graduate student in the Department of Botany at UW-Madison, and while his true passion are the trees of the people (Populus species, a.k.a. cottonwoods, aspens, and poplars) and their chemical ecology, he is fascinated and inspired by the life history of mangroves and their benefits to other biota. In his spare time, he enjoys exploring swamps, watching sports, and playing board-games. And taking care of plants. Lots of plants.