Carolina Science Cafe
Archive

Morehead Planetarium and Science Center introduced its Carolina Science Cafe program in October 2007. At that time, the program was known as the Current Science Forum and met in a room within the Morehead Building. Morehead's science programs manager, Jonathan Frederick, developed the program. The first speaker, Fred Stutzman, talked about Facebook, a social media channel that was just beginning to become known beyond its original audience of university students.

Fast-forward five years:

• The Current Science Forum has become the Carolina Science Cafe
• Attendance has increased by more than 400 percent
• Sigma Xi and Back Bar (our current program venue, part of Top of the Hill restaurant) are sponsoring Carolina Science Cafe
• More than 60 professors and other experts have shared their research as guest speakers
• Our guest speakers have continued to make headlines as leaders in their fields: MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant," U.S. National Academy of Sciences, New York Times bestseller list, N&O "Tar Heel of the Year" and more
• And Facebook, the topic of our first program ... well, you know what happened with that

Today, Carolina Science Cafe is presented through the North Carolina Science Festival, a statewide initiative that Morehead Planetarium and Science Center founded and continues to administer. Jonathan Frederick continues to manage Carolina Science Cafe in his current role as director of the Festival.

You can learn more about the current program from Carolina Science Cafe by clicking here. Want to know who has presented research in past programs? You'll find a complete list of every past program here on this page.