Nerd Nite Miami - Sept 10th - CANCELED

UPDATE: This event is canceled.

Guest speakers:

Monica Rasmussen

Allyson Demerlis, PhD

Barbara M. Hoffmann, PhD

Thursday, September 10, 2026, 7p

PRESENTATION #1

“The secret life of coral predators: Confessions from underwater video and implications for coral restoration” by Dr. Allyson Demerlis

Allyson is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Dr. Lirman’s Coral Restoration and Benthic Ecology Laboratory. She received her PhD in Marine Biology and Ecology at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School for Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and with NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in 2024.

Her dissertation investigated the molecular mechanisms of enhancing coral resilience to heat stress through laboratory and field-based experiments and utilized coral species important for restoration efforts in Florida, including the critically endangered staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis. Prior to her PhD work, she worked as a research intern at Mote Marine Laboratory on Summerland Key, working in coral disease and reproduction.

PRESENTATION #2:

“The History and Culture of Drag” by Dr. Barbara M Hoffmann

Barbara Hoffmann is a lecturer at the University of Miami, where she has taught a class on the History and Culture of Drag for the past two years. She writes and publishes on Australian and Irish literature, particularly convict transportation in the 19th century; James Joyce; contemporary Australian and Irish women, trans, and lesbian writing; and Aboriginal writing. Over the course of her life, she has been a policy researcher in Australia, has taught high school English, was the lead guitarist in a band, coached high school tennis, volunteers at the zoo, and has a cat named French Fry.

PRESENTATION #3:

“CryoEM & the Ethics of Seeing Things We Weren't Evolved to See” by Monica Rasmussen

Monica is a fifth-year MD/PhD student at the University of Miami School of Medicine, working in Dr. Mark Yeager's lab, where she uses cryogenic electron microscopy, mass spectrometry, and molecular dynamics to study heart proteins that fail during sudden cardiac death and other arrythmias. Before Miami, she was a polymer chemist at BASF and a researcher at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the University of Michigan, where she received her undergraduate degrees in chemistry and Spanish. Her work sits at the intersection of chemistry and biophysics, using structure to understand human disease, and if you ask her what specialty she plans to pursue after graduating, she'll say "heart failure is my favorite" before realizing this is not an acceptable thing to say in public (cardiology, if you're asking).

When not manipulating electrons, she likes to run marathons, garden, snorkel, and founded a knitting group (shoutout @hot.girls.knit.miami).

**NERD NITE is an evening of entertaining and educational presentations. Our guest speakers present for 15 minutes, followed by a brief Q&A with the audience. Special events include trivia, speed dating, among others. Nerd Nite operates in over a hundred cities around the world, including Toronto, Tokyo, Seattle, St. Petersburg, Pittsburgh, Orlando, New York, Miami, Memphis, Los Angeles, London, Honolulu, Hong Kong, Austin, and many more.