Science & Suds: Week 1 (July 14th, 2025: 6:30PM-8:00PM)

Welcome to Science & Suds! On July 14th at 6:30PM, LA Ale Works, in partnership with CDLS Fellows from UCLA, is transforming the Ivy Station taproom into a space for curiosity, conversation, and community science. Join us for good beer, great conversation, and to support an amazing cause.

*Note: Space is LIMITED, so we encourage you to RSVP to this event. Your $5 RSVP will be matched by LA Ale Works, and these dollars will be directly donated to help fund student fellowships at CDLS at UCLA. While RSVPs are not REQUIRED to attend, we kindly ask that if you are planning to attend, you submit an RSVP so that we can increase our donation to this group, while also preparing accommodations for those in attendance and giving accurate head count to our staff. Thank you so much for your assistance with this in advance.* 

Schedule: Week 1 – July 14th, 2025  

• 6:30PM – 7:30PM: Speakers (15-20 mins talk; 5-10 mins questions)
• 7:30PM – 8:00PM: Mingle, Chat, Network! 

• SPEAKER 1: Katherine V. Hernandez
  • TOPIC: Charisma, Celebrity, and Cougars: Did P-22 change a whole city’s idea of mountain lions?
  • SUMMARY: The local celebrity cougar, P-22, gained a lot of attention for the plight of local LA cougars, and many say his story is a big reason why people’s perspectives on pumas have changed in the city. But, did one cat really change an entire city’s view on mountain lions, or is there more to this story? To answer this question, I, and a team of undergraduate researchers, are reading through almost thirty years of newspaper articles to understand – what happened here, and how we can apply it to ongoing human-wildlife coexistence efforts?
  • SPEAKER BIO: Katherine V. Hernandez is a PhD Candidate at UCLA with the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES). She studies human-wildlife coexistence by bringing together scholarship from ecology, animal movement studies, and storytelling. She hopes to apply this research to future restoration and reintroduction projects that consider people’s relationships to nature as integral to successful conservation.

• SPEAKER 2:  Rob ‘Bear’ Ulrich
  • TOPIC: From Pearls to Climate Proxies: How Marine Creatures Turn Seawater into Crystals—and What Their Chemistry Reveals About Earth’s Past and Future
  • SUMMARY: I study how oysters, corals, and other calcifiers build their shells and skeletons.  By measuring the chemistry of carbonate minerals, my work uncovers the hidden stories of temperature, acidity, and even ancient CO₂ are locked inside tiny crystals. I’ll share the surprising chemistry behind pearls, why some shells grow stronger in acidifying oceans while others falter, and how this science helps us forecast climate change.
  • SPEAKER BIO: Rob “Bear” Ulrich (they/he) is a scientist, storyteller, and movement strategist working at the intersection of identity, research, and justice. Trained as a chemist, Rob now applies data science and machine learning to tackle big questions in geochemistry, from environmental change on Earth to the search for life on other planets. Outside the lab, Bear is the Assistant Director of UCLA’s Center for Diverse Leadership in Science, which helps lead nationally recognized programs that support environmental justice leaders and fight for equity in science. The Center co-founded of The Reclaiming STEM Institute, a nonprofit that’s trained over 500 early-career researchers in inclusive science communication and policy. You may have heard Bear on podcasts like Ologies, ExoLore, and StoryCollider, or seen them speaking at events like AGU, CA Academy of Sciences, and community forums across LA. Their superpower? Translating complex science into stories that spark curiosity, build community, and drive change.