Long Beach City College held a Sip N’ Science event hosted by Nicholas Rajen, a natural resources specialist and member of the Navajo nation and Kinyaa’áanii Diné/East Indian, who discussed his experience in soils and demonstration of soil food web microscopy on Nov. 19.
Rajen is in the field of agriculture, combined energy and logistical systems.
He is also an advocate for Indigenous science, engineering scholars and researchers.
These workshops were designed to have students engaged with the subject of science with a fun undertone to not only entertain, but also educate.
Sip N’ Science had an abundance of snacks and coffee to help guests feel comfortable while speaker Rajen discussed the subject of Indigenous crops.
Once students, professors, and more audience members filled the room Lizeth Perez, who teaches Physical Science, began introducing the first activity of the event.
This workshop began with trivia, asking members of the audience to answer questions regarding the subjects of Indigenous crops.
If students and audience members answered the presented questions correctly they were given a prize of a sticker at the front of the lecture.
The event was organized by Perez, Amy Lee, MESA director and Erika Calle-Poppe.
“We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and the forced removal of territory. Long Beach City College honors this,” Lee said, referring to the painful history of Indigenous people as this workshop.
This highlights not just science but specifically Indigenous Scholars.
Professor Calle-Poppe thanked the audience for attending the last Sip N’ Science of the semester.
Calle-Poppe also acknowledged the importance of this event, “We’ve done this event for about three years. We’ve grown quite a bit. The point of this event is to highlight science from a bi lens. From people who are professors. It’s to show that science is for everybody.”
The main speaker of this event is Nicolas Rajen being present to talk about himself and his career and passion for the subject of science.
When the topic of Rajen’s fascination with his career Rajen said, “It gets to be really, really amazing. It’s just the things that people don’t consider, like what we, the people, where we come from.”
Rajen also discussed the web between organisms and their ability to uplift one another, “So plants rely on sunshine. They rely on water, and air.”
Rajen also proceeded to use a microscope bringing three participants to test and view a variety of soils from different settings to analyze the living organisms many may not consider are a part of the soil.
Rajen demonstrated how to correctly label each aspect from the soil.
Discussing the living organisms along with the minerals and how they help in nurturing specific plant species.
Ending the presentation Rajen welcomed members of the audience on stage to closely observe the samples in the microscope.
This was the final Sip N’ Science of the semester, but organizers will be continuing future workshops in the spring semester with dates to come.
