Nerd Nite Miami - Feb 6, 2025

Nerd Nite Miami is back Thurs, Feb 6th at the legendary Gramps. Trivia starts at 6:30pm. Talks start at 7pm.

Nerd Nite is an evening of entertaining and educational presentations. Speakers present for 15 minutes, followed by a brief Q&A with the audience.

Hosted by Ricardo Williams

Get your tickets: http://bit.ly/nnmfeb6

Guest speakers:
Ethan Tieu
Jessica Campusano
Victor Rodriguez

PRESENTATION #1: “Breaking Bio” by Ethan Tieu

Biological research is essential to the development of therapies for pressing diseases, but progress can be painstakingly slow. Common tasks like determining protein structures, evaluating how well our neurons communicate, and analyzing animal behaviors often require significant time and effort when performed by human researchers alone. In recent years, however, computational techniques have been developed that not only provide solutions to biological problems with unprecedented efficiency, but also provide insights beyond human intuition. We will explore how computational techniques like machine learning are accelerating biological research and helping us determine how diseases tick.

Ethan is currently a junior at the University of Miami pursuing a Dual Degree in Neuroscience and Computer Science with minors in Chemistry and Mathematics. Having spent the last 4 years researching conditions like Alzheimer's Disease and developing software to process biological data, he is very interested in integrating biological approaches with creative computational techniques to advance our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. Outside of his work, he is an avid enthusiast of Lego, Minecraft, and all things related to fruit.

PRESENTATION #2:
"Roller Derby: Empowering Women Through Sport” by Jessica Campusano

Jessica is an instructional designer by day and roller derby coach at night. She coaches and trains amateur athletes in the sport of roller derby and has done so for the last decade. She also trains faculty and staff at FIU and will discuss roller derby’s history, how it’s played, and the people behind it.

PRESENTATION #3: “Historical European Martial Arts” by Victor Rodriguez

Historical European Martial Arts is a niche sport where aspiring fencers of all shapes and sizes test their mettle against each other in Steel combat! using a variety of modern protective Fencing equipment and more importantly Swords! This is done through the study of Various Fencing Masters Manuals such as "Ridolfo Capo Ferro" and "Camillo Agrippa"

For the last 7 years, Victor has dedicated himself to studying and recreating the art of combat as described through the lens of Joachim Meyer; a prolific Fencing Master of the 16th century. His study is done through Meyer's final published work in 1570 entitled Gründtliche Beschreibung der ...Kunst des Fechtens ("A Thorough Description of the... Art of Fencing").