Date: Wednesday, Aug 29
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)

The order of the night’s line-up will be announced on the Facebook event the day of the show.

The secret history of women and nonbinary folks in tech

Summary: More than 50 years ago, a Catholic nun received one of the first ever PhDs in computer science, and she did so right here in Madison. Forget Steve Jobs and Alan Turing – the interesting stories are often the ones we’ve left behind. Spanning tree protocol (which led to cat memes!), inverse document frequency (hello, Google) and asynchronous software (NASA like what) all were pioneered by women you’ve probably never heard of. Let’s talk about them!

Hilary Stohs-Krause

Presenter Bio: Hilary is a lieutenant software developer at Ten Forward Consulting in Madison, WI (yes, we’re named for the bar on the Enterprise). She first started programming at age 12, when she built a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fansite with with twin sister. She speaks around the country and internationally on the intersection of tech and social impact, UX / design and the stories of nontraditional programmers. Ask her about her majestically fluffy cats.

Parking in cities: Never enough or way too much?

Summary: Since around the 1950s, American cities have built massive amounts of parking and required developers to do the same, often without knowing how any of it is being used. But as hard as parking can sometimes seem, most spots actually sit empty most of the time. Some cities are now rethinking their parking priorities—hoping to save money, cut traffic, and become more attractive places overall.

Chris McCahill

Presenter bio: Trained in engineering, Chris works at UW-Madison on transportation policy issues around the country. He’s studied parking for more than a decade and written chapters for two books on the subject. He moved to Madison in 2013, lives on the east side with his partner and two cats, and rides a bike everywhere he goes.

Medical imaging of non-medical objects

Summary: Medical imaging offers incredible insight into the inner workings of the body, enabling physicians and medical researchers to make highly detailed images of a living, breathing human. Imaging has revolutionized the practice of modern medicine, allowing doctors to quickly diagnose and treat conditions without the need for guesswork or gruesome and ineffective exploratory surgery.

So what is the first thing a new imaging researcher does when she or he gets to use the scanner for the first time on her own? Throw in a pineapple, or a piece of fruit. Or take a CT scan of your laptop. Come on a journey exploring all of the cool, crazy, and downright weird things that have been scanned with medical imaging devices that are not patients, and in the process learn a thing or two about how these images are made.

Sam Hurley

Presenter bio: Sam is an assistant scientist in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) physics at the University of Wisconsin, Department of Radiology. He received his Ph.D. in Medical Physics from the University of Wisconsin, and worked in Clinical Neurosciences as a postdoctoral MRI physicist at the University of Oxford in the UK. His work is focused on developing new ways to measure the structure and function of the brain with MRI, specifically how brain regions are connected to one another. In his free time, he enjoys attending concerts, playing bass guitar, travel, scuba diving, and working on electronics and software projects. He also has a strong interest in general aviation, and is currently working on his FAA private pilot’s license.