Nerd Nite Bloomington

Welcome to Nerd Nite Bloomington!

Nerd Nite is an event during which several folks give fun-yet-informative presentations, while the audience drinks along. It’s like the Discovery Channel… with beer!

Doors at 6:30pm | Presentations at 7:00
The Bishop Bar | 123 S Walnut St, Bloomington IN 47404
RSVP required. Get your free ticket here.

Join us for our second Nerd Nite in Bloomington! We all know that learning is more fun when you’re drinking with friends and colleagues. Nerd Nite is an event held in more than 120 cities across the globe during which several folks give 15 minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along. It’s like the Discovery Channel… with beer! Imagine learning about everything from math feuds or the science of the Simpsons, to the genealogy of Godzilla or debunking beer myths, while having a few or a few too many.

Come join us for a drink, learn something new, and meet fellow nerds. Be there AND be square!

This month’s speakers and presentation topics:

1) Fire It Up!  Using Fire to Demonstrate Sound Waves Inside a Brass Instrument

by Eric Evans

This presentation explores the physics of trumpet acoustics through the Ruben’s Tube fire demonstration—without the risk of actually setting anything on fire. We’ll break down how sound waves create visible patterns, how those waves can be used to calculate pitch, and how a trumpet’s waveform compares to something more familiar, like a vibrating guitar string. If you’ve ever wondered what brass players are actually doing when they buzz into a metal tube, this talk will explain it—math and physics included.

Eric started his career as a professional musician, touring with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and as a founding member of ska-punk upstarts Johnny Socko. These days, he works in IT and AI research while still playing the occasional gig. 

2) Weird American Art of the Late 19th Century

by Melody Deusner

For many people, the idea of “art” calls to mind images of priceless masterpieces hanging in museums, breaking records at auction, or adorning the walls (or vaults) of the world’s wealthiest people. Although Melody has spent lots of time thinking and teaching about famous artists over her 25 year career, she is much more fascinated by the artists, objects, and incidents that have slipped through the cracks of history. In this presentation, she’ll highlight some of the most entertaining case studies she’s uncovered while conducting research into various aspects of the late 19th century American art world and explain why they’re worth studying.

Melody Deusner is associate professor of American art at Indiana University and specializes in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art. She is the author of Aesthetic Painting in Britain and America (2020) and is currently working on a project about the everyday experiences of living with pictures in the historical United States. Nerd qualifications include an obsession with spreadsheets, databases, and Mystery Science Theater 3000.

3) Seeing Is Believing: Visuality, Monstrosity, and Pregnancy in Horror after Roe v. Wade

by Jennifer Maher

This presentation will examine the history of fetal ultrasound and its ties to female body horror as a film genre. Sometimes called “Gynaehorror,” films as diverse as The Brood (1979), Rosemary’s Baby (1968, 2014) and Prevenge (2017), dramatize the terrifying specter (and contemporary reality) of the feminine body outside of its subject’s control, whether colonized by Satanic forces or Project 2025.

Jennifer Maher is a Clinical Full Professor in the Department of Gender Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she teaches courses on gender and popular culture, feminist theory, and reproductive justice. She has twice been nominated for Pushcart Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and her published academic work focuses on representations of reproductive technology/justice, queer kinship, and parenthood in popular film and television. 

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Do you have a nerdy passion? Want to talk about it with a room full of smart drunk people at a future Nerd Nite? Contact us! We’d love to hear from you. Invite your friends and help us spread the word about Nerd Nite Bloomington!

Doors at 7pm | Presentations at 7:30
The Bishop Bar | 123 S Walnut St, Bloomington IN 47404
RSVP required. Get your free ticket here.

Join us for the first Nerd Nite in Bloomington! We all know that learning is more fun when you’re drinking with friends and colleagues. Nerd Nite is an event held in more than 120 cities across the globe during which several folks give 15 minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along. It’s like the Discovery Channel… with beer! Imagine learning about everything from math feuds or the science of the Simpsons, to the genealogy of Godzilla or debunking beer myths, while having a few or a few too many.

Come join us for a drink, learn something new, and meet fellow nerds. Be there AND be square!

This month’s speakers and presentation topics:

1) Camels in the Outback

by James Taylor

In Mid-November 2009, in the final summer of a 15-year drought in Australia, a small rural town called Docker River was in national news as a herd of marauding camels besieged the residents of the town. But, camels aren’t native to Australia… So how did over six-thousand end up in one rural town? This is one of many, varied stories of Australia’s complex relationship with these ships of the desert, and in this presentation you will hear just a few. Within these anecdotes, however, is a 180 year-long narrative about place, people, and technology.

James Taylor is a PhD student studying Computing, Culture, and Society in the Informatics Department at IU. His research interests are in the information and transportation technologies of the 19^th and 20^th century and how they influence the ways we think about infrastructure in the 21^st century. James’ current research is in Telegraphy in Midwest America. 

2) “Headstrong Girl[s]!” Taylor Swift and Jane Austen as Historical Analogues

by Hannah Tate

What do romance, cherry-picked activism, and mastery of a thinly veiled insult have in common? This presentation will explore similarities between Taylor Swift and Jane Austen as pop culture icons, making an argument for the two women as historical analogues. We will focus on their respective positions in society, the reception of their work, and their influence on political issues of their respective periods. Along the way, we will get a glimpse into the constructions and reconstructions of white woman activism that capture our hearts almost as much as they stall social progress.

Hannah Tate is a PhD student at Indiana University Bloomington, working in the Comparative Literature and Gender Studies departments. Her primary academic foci are on metatheories of literary organization and disability literature, but her affinity for extended metaphor and romantic angst will never fade away, nor will her obsession with injecting chaos into the traditional literary canon.

3) Nostalgic Waters: Specters of Human Extinction

by Shane Greene

What if one day homo sapiens woke up and declared: This whole life-on-land crap isn’t working out. Let’s go back to the sea where life began. What combo of fictional imagination, paleontological finds, and evolutionary speculation might make the post-sapien desire to return to watery origins possible?  Let’s find out. 

Shane Greene is a Professor of Anthropology at IU. His past research is on social movements and the political histories of punk. Currently, he’s dabbling with a book of speculative essays on human extinction. 

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Do you have a nerdy passion? Want to talk about it with a room full of smart drunk people at a future Nerd Nite? Contact us! We’d love to hear from you. Invite your friends and help us spread the word about Nerd Nite Bloomington!