51社区

In late January, Wuhan, China, was under lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. That鈥檚 when 51社区 Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Chang Liu began looking for a way to connect his hometown residents and also engage the city鈥檚 young learners.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for adults, but it鈥檚 harder for kids,鈥� Liu said, referring to virus-related quarantine orders.

As chair of the Region 2 West Area of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Liu reached out to colleagues to see who would be willing to film short educational presentations on a topic in their area of expertise.

Dubbed the 鈥淔ireside Science Chats,鈥� the weekly talks are hosted by Liu鈥檚 daughter Lisa, a 10th grade Athens High School student. The livestreamed chats are  and similar to the national Science Caf茅 series (find OHIO鈥檚 Science Caf茅 series here).

Volunteers like Russ College Multimedia Producer Qing Wang help promote the talks on the Chinese social media app WeChat. Wang has also helped edit the videos and social media graphics for the series. An 8th grade volunteer in Shanghai helps translate talks that are presented in English.

The first chat was streamed on Feb. 22. Since then, the series has consistently drawn an audience of approximately 100 people.

Watch previous chats here:

Feb. 22
Introduction to Natural Language Processing
Razvan Bunescu, Professor, School of EECS, 51社区


Feb. 28
Using Neuroscience to Prevent Sport Injury: From Concussion to Ankle Sprains
Dustin Grooms, Associate Professor, College of Health Sciences and Professions, 51社区


Feb. 29
Brief Introduction to biomedical sciences: stories in the history about plagues and disease-conquering in China and other countries that changed the world 鈥� from 鈥淥utlaws of the Marsh鈥� to Newton
Xiaozhuo Chen, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, 51社区


March 8
What is life? 鈥� A Math Perspective
Qiliang Wu, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, 51社区


March 14
The ABCs of Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs)
Charles Cerny, IEEE Region 2 Dayton Section Chair


Look for upcoming Fireside Science Chats .