Thursday Night Nature: Connecting Science, Art, and Community – the Nurture Nature Center with Kathryn Semmens, Ph.D. (April 25, 2024)

The Nurture Nature Center (NNC) is a non-profit organization in Easton, PA created in 2007 in response to the repetitive flooding in our community on the Delaware River in 2004, 2005 and 2006. NNC’s early mission and work was centered on educating the public about flooding and developing a model of community dialogue about environmental hazards, called From Risk to Resiliency. Since then, NNC has expanded its programming and efforts with a mission to build community resiliency to environmental risk by leveraging the power of informal science education, art-centered approaches to learning and community dialogue and networking. NNC’s physical building includes art galleries, a Science on a Sphere exhibit and an urban recycle garden. NNC has continued its work in the local Lehigh Valley community through a series of programs called CREATE Resilience which serve to connect municipalities, resiliency experts, artists, youth and residents in an engagement model using science, art and community dialogue. NNC also leads some local efforts in the climate action space, hosting an annual Youth Climate Summit and helping the City of Easton create and implement its Climate Action Plan. Nationally, NNC has become a leader in issues related to flood risk communication and education, with experience conducting social science research for over a decade about how individuals and professionals use weather forecast and warning information in decision-making. This presentation will give an overview of the many efforts NNC leads and discuss our plans for future community engagement around climate and resiliency.

Kathryn “Kate” Semmens, Ph.D., is the science director of the Nurture Nature Center. She helps lead NNC’s science education, climate action and community resiliency projects and is involved in numerous social science research projects. She holds a Ph.D. in environmental and earth sciences from Lehigh University, a master’s degree from the University of Delaware and a bachelor of science in environmental studies from Ursinus College. Semmens is passionate about the integration of science and art and enjoys working with youth on important issues like climate action. She is a mom to three young children and in the little free time she has you can find her hiking in nature.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.