2 things to do in Iowa City this weekend include a University of Iowa oral history project

You can embrace learning this weekend with two educational opportunities in science and University of Iowa history.

Iowa City Darwin Day: Science Fest, previously known as Darwin Day, returns with in-person presentations at the university by scientists and scholars.

Meanwhile, a doctoral student at UI is presenting a report on the experiences of Asian Americans in Iowa on Friday at the UI Main Library.

Here are two things to do this weekend in Iowa City.

'No Longer Invisible: Asian and Pacific Islander Students at the University of Iowa' presentation at UI Main Library

Graduate student Jin Chang began an oral history project last year, interviewing predominately Asian American alumni and current students and learning about their experiences with identity, coming to Iowa City and more.

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As part of this project, Chang will present “No Longer Invisible: Asian and Pacific Islander Students at the University of Iowa” at the Shambaugh Auditorium at the UI Main Library at 4 p.m. Friday.

“From the oral histories I was able to do, it's about seeing the themes of people growing up in Iowa or other parts of the country and their experiences when they first come to Iowa or when they first have their racialized experiences in Iowa,” he said.

The oral history project is in collaboration with Special Collections and Archives at UI.

Aiden Bettine, community and student life archivist, told the Press-Citizen that Chang has selected a series of vignettes compiled from interviews done so far that can be shared publicly. People can listen to them at the Main Library Gallery between 4 and 6 p.m.

“They're shorter excerpts from the project that are really, I think, poignant and powerful quotes from folks that they've interviewed,” Bettine said.

This event marks the public launch of this oral history project led by Chang. There will be a website, complete with the interviews, soon.

Special Collections and Archives will create a pop-up display of materials from the Asian Pacific American Cultural Center and other campus organizations that have supported Asian students throughout the last 30 years, Bettine said. It’ll be located in the Main Library Gallery with the oral history listening stations.

The event is presented in conjunction with “We Are Hawkeyes: Celebrating 175 Years of Student Life at the University of Iowa.”

“This student life exhibit that we've curated is only a snippet of the material that we have in the university archives ... and we did our best to represent many different types of students and student experiences and activities and organizations,” he said.

“But adding the pop-up on Asian American student life on campus to this broader event with Jin was just such a logical thing to do, to bring people in, to celebrate, to see that we have archival material that speaks to Asian student experiences on campus in our collections.”

Iowa City Darwin Day: Science Fest

The two-day celebration of science, Iowa City Darwin Day: Science Fest, returns Friday and Saturday.

Iowa City Darwin Day, a nonprofit, was founded in 2007 to recognize how science has made "enormous" advancements for humanity and to celebrate those achievements through activities in the Iowa City area.

The first Darwin Day was in 2008.

This year’s festivities begin at 3:30 p.m. Friday with the presentation “Welcome to Zombieland: Real Tales of Parasites Manipulating Host Behavior” led by Kelly Weinersmith.

Weinersmith is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of BioSciences at Rice University and coauthor of “Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything.”

Iowa City Darwin Day: Science Fest activities continue with:

• “The New Tangled Bank: How Ecologies and Interactions Drive Evolution, from Word Games to Proteins” with C. Brandon Ogbunu at 4:30 p.m. Friday at 101 Biology Building East;
• “Picture a Scientist” film screening at FilmScene at the Chauncey at 7:30 p.m. Friday;
• “Are Tiny Ancient Algae the Canaries of our Oceans?” with Shamar Chin at 10 a.m. Saturday at MacBride Auditorium;
• “Living, Loving and Landscapes: How Evolutionary Biology Can Help Us Navigate it All” with Ogbunu at 10:45 a.m. Saturday at MacBride Auditorium;
• “Dangerous, Smelly and Covered in Dirt: The Future of Humans in Space" with Weinersmith at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at MacBride Auditorium.

Deirdre Egan and Maurine Neiman, committee members of Iowa City Darwin Day, told the Press-Citizen in an email that the planning committee come together to discuss potential speakers about a year ahead of events. They look for speakers engaged in research that both scientists and the community would find interesting.

Chin is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Iowa and Ogbunu is an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. 

Part of the Darwin Day activities include a screening of the 2020 documentary “Picture a Scientist” at FilmScene, which is part of the theater’s Science on Screen programming throughout April. The documentary, directed by Ian Cheney and Sharon Shattuck, explores discrimination and inequalities women in science face.

Florence Williams, a UI assistant professor in chemistry, and doctoral candidates Celymar Ortiz de León and Emily Schmitz will lead a presentation for audiences before the documentary. 

Beyond recognizing science’s contributions toward humanity through educational activities, Iowa City Darwin Day aims to “use our events to inspire students from groups that are traditionally not well represented in science,” Egan and Neiman said.

“It's only with a diversity of voices and perspectives that we will be able, as a society, to generate solutions to the complex problems of today's world," the pair said.

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or (319) 519-9731. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.