Interested in being a speaker?

We would like to hear from scientists and engineers who feel they have a good story to tell to a high school audience and would like to present at one of our Café Scientifiques.

If you would like to be considered as a Café presenter, please fill out the short form below. We ask for some background information and a short summary of the topic you would like to present.

Submitting the form will start a dialog with the Café staff. We will help you develop your topic and present it in a short essay. Each season we take all such essays to our Youth Leadership Team, and they help us schedule our Cafés for that season. If your topic is selected, we will work with you make your presentation most effective.

Often Café involve some hot topic in the news. Or they may simply be on some topic of general interest that is accessible to the high school teen audience. It is important that the teens feel the topic has relevance to their lives. Within each topic, we look for some specific controversy or dilemma that stimulates the kids to discuss and debate.

Elsewhere on this Web site you will find essays and bios of scheduled and previous presenters at the Café Scientifiques that will give you a feel for the kind of topics that have proved to be of interest to the high school kids.

Here is a summary of the commitment we seek from Café presenters:

  • Work with the Café team to develop a 20-minute presentation on a broad science topic you know well for high school students with a wide range of backgrounds and interests.
  • Make your presentation at Café meetings in Los Alamos, Española, Albuquerque and Santa Fe during a one-month period.
  • In advance of the Café meeting, write two “1-pagers,” one on the science topic, one a bio.
  • Participate in dry runs with Café staff and peers in advance of your presentation.
  • Assist the Café staff in identifying activities and mentors for follow-up sessions linked to the individual Café; these are intended to enrich the Café experience.

Café presenters receive an honorarium. LANL employees can request Community Service Time for their participation in the Café program.

I'm interested in being a speaker!

Please complete the following interest form which will be sent to Mike Mayhew. Mike will contact you and help you put your best foot forward.