Category: Events

Keep up to date on the latest GEEB happenings by regularly checking this page!

Backyard Ecology

On February 15th, we will be hosting a Backyard Ecology event at the Urbana Free Library. We have run similar events in the past and they usually draw a good size crowd. Come out and share your enthusiasm for biodiversity. Bring something along to help highlight the diversity of flora and fauna that can be found around the area. This could be something you are researching or just have a personal interest in. Plants, insects, birds, fish, reptiles and mammals, all are welcome. Live specimens if you have them, if not, skins and skeletons are great too.
 
This outreach event is currently scheduled to take place from 11 until noon. Please let me know if you will be available to share your time and expertise with some curious kids. If you know what you are bringing, send that info along as well. Lastly, if you want to participate, but don’t have any plant or animal friends to bring, we’ll be sure to find something for you.
 
Best,
Dan

Happy Hour Fridays 5pm at Legends all semester long!

Hey GEEBers,

Get psyched for another fun-filled semester of happy hours! Whether or not you’re a beer drinker, happy hour is the perfect time to relax and let loose with your favorite friends and colleagues after a week of classes, teaching, research, and committee meetings. Be sure to bring your labmates and hallway neighbors that may look like they need a little socializing!

Since the weather will likely be frigid for the foreseeable future, let’s stay close to campus: we’ll meet Fridays 5pm at Legends, unless otherwise posted. If you think we need a change of scenery, drop my a note and we can switch things up. And when spring shows up, we’ll change locations to enjoy the sunshine in the beer gardens around town.

Hope to see you all there!

Cheers,

Maria

Snow Globe Outreach Event at the Orpheum! Dec 14, Dec 21

Hey GEEB,

I know this is a crazy last minute volunteer call, and many of you are out of town, but for those still hanging around please consider.

This Saturday, after the Parade of Lights in Champaign, the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum is having the opening night for their annual Snow Globe event. There will be a plethora of winter themed activities for children and they are currently short on volunteers. It will only run from approximately 6pm (whenever the parade ends) to 8pm. Volunteers are provided with snacks and drinks, as well as, a complimentary feeling of internal joy for having made a child smile.

This event is usually held from 1pm to 5pm every Saturday in December, and they are still looking for volunteers on the 14th and 21st. If you are interested, but out of town during Thanksgiving weekend, you are welcome to help out during one of these other days.

Please let me know if anyone is interested to assist with any of these times.

Thanks,
Dan

GEEB Fundraising for Outreach and Ecolunch

GEEBers,
The GEEB officers are requesting your help raising funds for outreach and ecolunch. Broader impacts (outreach) are an important part of graduate training and are now required at all levels of NSF and other funding. As a group GEEB has strived to stay ahead of the curve and provide outreach opportunities to our members. Over the last four years GEEB has developed relationships with the Urbana Free Library, the Central Illinois Girl Scouts, the Urbana Farmers Market, Orpheum, and local schools. We are creating a positive image of SIB and UIUC within our local community. However, providing these opportunities comes at a cost. Currently you and your fellow GEEBers are not only donating their time, they are covering costs of supplies and travel. We are raising funds to help with these expenses.

In addition attendance at EcoLunch is down. Hopefully you already know that we host a weekly seminar series. This community building creates lasting colleague relationships and provides excellent practice for job talks, presentations, and features the occasional workshop. However, as a group we are not taking advantage of this seminar. It is disheartening when presenters take the time to put together a 30 min talk and there are only 2-3 audience members to give feedback and provide insights. To help bribe y’all into attending we want to start providing doughnuts/treats and coffee. This also takes cash. So…

As per my previous email we are going to be putting out a calendar featuring GEEB members images. In addition we need images for the cover of the symposium program and we are planning to sell (aka collect donations) postcards of student images at the farmers market and at PEEC events. If you send me an image you are allowing me to use it in one of these ways. If you choose to share your images, please copy and paste the below “form” information into a reply email along with any images you are willing to share with GEEB for these purposes. If you would like to watermark etc. your image with your name please do so before sending them to me – otherwise they will be anonymous. Thank you everyone for your support and if you have any ideas for future fundraising efforts (besides t-shirts) please email Tyler Refsland (refslan2@illinois.edu).

Cheers,
Rhiannon

Calls for Volunteers! January and February 2014

On January 18th, back by popular demand, Urbana Free Library will host the fruit DNA murder mystery. Rhiannon came up with this fun fruit forensic foray, where we must solve the case of the squashed banana. The kids have a blast learning to extract DNA from various fruits and comparing their telltale signatures to figure out who-done-it.
On February 15th, we will be running the backyard ecology program, also at the Urbana Free Library. Many of you have participated in this before and it is always a fun event. In the past we have had booths with plants, insects, birds, fish, reptiles and mammals. These could be live, skeletons, or skins; anything you have available to help show the diversity of organisms that can be found right here their backyards. It could be something you are studying or just have a personal interest in.