"A talented teacher who expertly taught the basics of very complicated subjects
...her enthusiasm about those subjects kept me so engaged and excited to learn more!"
-Course Participant, Introduction to Weather and Climate
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What Happened to Nuclear Power?
This live online presentation will cover the history, current status and probable future of nuclear-powered electrical generating stations. In 1954, Lewis Strauss, the chairmen of the Atomic Energy Commission, predicted that electricity generated by nuclear power would quickly become so economical that “it would be too cheap to meter.” In 1958, the USS Nautilus, the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine that was designed to stay underwater for up to 6 months, completed a submerged transit of the North Pole. In 1957, the first land-based nuclear power generating station, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Shippingport, Pa., became operational and ran successfully until 1982. From 1955 to 1985, hundreds of nuclear-powered generating stations were built all over the world.
However, presenter Gerald Geise, will argue that democratic societies are now facing the beginning of the end of nuclear power generating stations. At the same time, Russia and China are becoming the major suppliers of nuclear-powered generating stations for those countries that still have an interest in building and operating nuclear generating stations.
Presenter:
Gerald Geise is a 1959 MSU alumnus in chemical engineering with over 30 years of experience in the nuclear industry. For more information, visit the Wonderlust program listing and link below.
Date: Thursday, May 21
Time:
10:00 to 11:30 a.m. (MST)
Location:
Online via Webex
Cost:
Free and open to MSU Wonderlust members and the public.
Register here
(
Registration closes Thursday, May 21 at 9:00 a.m. MST)
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Bozeman’s Historic East Mendenhall Street
Crystal Alegria, director of
The Extreme History Project
,
will present "One Way History: Bozeman’s Historic East Mendenhall Street." The Extreme History Project is a nonprofit that brings history to the public in fun, engaging, and relevant ways.
Alegria will discuss the history and lore of East Mendenhall Street by traveling virtually down the one-way street. Participants will learn about Bozeman’s red-light district and East Side School (now Hawthorne Elementary School), as well as notable characters such as the Frazier family, Madam Libbie Hayes and long-time resident Fannie Woodson. The fascinating history of She will illustrate this fascinating history with photos, historic maps, and oral history accounts of this stretch of historic East Mendenhall Street.
Presenter:
Crystal Alegria has worked in the field of public history and archaeology education for last twenty years at a variety of museums and heritage organizations. She co-founded the Extreme History Project in 2012 with colleague Marsha Fulton and has helped build the organization into an award-winning nonprofit that engages the public in history through walking tours, a lecture series, workshops, oral history, preservation projects and other unique historical programming.
For more information, visit the Wonderlust program listing and link below.
Date: Thursday, May 28
Time:
10:00 to 11:30 a.m. (MST)
Location:
Online via Webex
Cost:
Free and open to MSU Wonderlust members and the public.
Register here
(
Registration closes Thursday, May 28 at 9:00 a.m. MST)
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Beartooth Highway
Registration closes Thursday, May 14 at 9:00 a.m. MST
Sharon Eversman, a retired professor in the Department of Ecology at Montana State University, will present "
Beartooth Highway: History, Biology and Geology of America's Most Scenic Highway."
The 68-mile National Scenic Byways All-American Road winds its way through southwest Montana and northwest Wyoming and leads into Yellowstone National Park’s Northeast Entrance. The highway features numerous switchbacks, and rises in elevation from 5,600 feet in Red Lodge to over 10,000 feet at the top of the Beartooth Pass. Eversman argues that the highway traverses one of the best examples of alpine environment in the country. During the last Ice Age, glaciers sculpted spectacular features, including U-shaped valleys, cirques, matterhorns and glacial lakes. The wind and flat topography on the plateau have resulted in trees and plants that exhibit unique timberline features and beautiful alpine meadows.
Date: Thursday, May 14
Time:
10:00 to 11:30 a.m. (MST)
Location:
Online via Webex
Cost:
Free and open to MSU Wonderlust members and the public.
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Member Recommendations
Do you have a favorite book, movie, video or scenic drive? We are also seeking unique photos highlighting the gifts of the season. If you are willing to share, we would be delighted to include and credit your ideas and images in an upcoming issue. Please
submit ideas here
and
share
images and credits to this email
.
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OLLI Out and About
One of the many benefits of MSU Wonderlust transitioning to an OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) is sharing tremendous talks by other featured OLLI presenters. One hundred and twenty four OLLI organizations and almost 180,000 OLLI members across the nation are sharing and supporting one another during these unprecedented times. Enjoy these upcoming talks from the University of Michican,
compliments of fellow OLLI members at
OLLI@UMich
.
Economy, Policy and Political Approaches to Vaccines
Date: Monday, May 18
Time:
2:00 to 4:00 p.m. (EST)
Cost:
Free and open to the public. No registration needed.
Topic 1: Economic and policy approaches to vaccines
(2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST)
Modeling of infectious diseases at the CDC and other organizations for guidance to policy makers and the public; leadership in political eras of low trust.
Dr. David Hutton
is an expert in health policy modeling and medical decision making, and has had a nationally recognized influence on national and international hepatitis B policy. He is currently interested in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of new public health policies, the use of new drugs and devices, chronic and infectious disease interventions, and interventions with uncertain or complex outcomes.
Topic 2:
The appropriate role of government in vaccines
(3:00 to 4:00 p.m. EST)
Power dynamics, priorities, jurisdictions; funding of critical health system infrastructure and preparedness.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
is a physician, epidemiologist, public health expert and progressive activist. In 2018, Abdul ran for Governor of Michigan on an unapologetically progressive platform. Prior to that, he served as Health Commissioner in the City of Detroit, appointed to rebuild the City’s health department after it was privatized during municipal bankruptcy. As a professor at Columbia University's Department of Epidemiology, Abdul became an internationally recognized expert in health policy and health inequalities.
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Recent Wonderlust Webinar Recordings
If you missed these live online presentations, you can now view a recording at the links provided below. For information on upcoming presentations and events, tune into this e-newsletter and the
MSU Wonderlust website.
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This presentation features the changes in the Montana economy over the last 70 years, including the growing importance of capital income and transfer payments; the roles of agriculture and mining; largest employment industries; impact of the emerging high-tech sector. Also discussed: taxation policy, including resort and local option taxes, and comparison of Montana’s taxes with neighboring states and national averages.
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This presentation discusses describes the evolution of electric power generation and delivery during the past century; incentives for development of smart grid technology; components required to achieve smart grid functions and how smart grid features can improve grid resiliency and benefit consumers. Smart Grid technology is expected to revolutionize the way utilities manage power generation and distribution, as well as their interaction with customers.
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This Time in Montana History
During this time in Montana history, the first Interscholastic Meet occurred in Missoula!
On May 20th, 1904, Montana launched a 60-year tradition with the first state-wide track meet held in Missoula. The Interscholastic attracted about 100 competitors from 19 schools (many of whom traveled by train), and cost 50 cents for a ticket to the athletic and speech contests. The meet was declared a great success in 1904, and by the 1950s was gathering more than 1,500 competitors in athletics, debate, art and more. When Missoula's track boys were victorious, it was said their school yell "could be heard throughout the entire city." Missoula's final Interscholastic was held in 1966. (Source:
Missoulian
)
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COVID-19 Updates and Resources
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MSU Wonderlust
,
a program of
MSU Academic Technology and Outreach
,
provides intellectually stimulating and enjoyable programs that foster lifelong learning and community engagement for individuals 50 and greater. There are no tests, no grades and no papers. MSU Wonderlust offers learning opportunities for the pure joy of learning.
Become a
member
or
consider
teaching
for us.
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