PAMM and Nerd Nite Miami will team up for a special edition of the highly-anticipated event on Thursday, February 1 at 6 pm. PAMM Free Community Night: Nerd Nite at PAMM will feature three 15-minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines—while the audience drinks along. It’s like the Discovery Channel…with beer! The drinking is just as important as the learning—so come thirsty.
We chatted with Nerd Nite speaker Ta-Shana Taylor, who will be presenting on the Hurricane of 1928 with her talk “Florida’s Deadliest Hurricane (It’s Not Andrew).”
Check out our interview below and follow her at @TashanaTaylor on Twitter and Instagram.
What sparked your interest in geological sciences?
Even though I grew up in Queens, New York, my parents are immigrants. So I spent many childhood summers on my grandparent’s farm in Jamaica. I fell in love with nature. Along with influences like Jurassic Park, my junior high school earth science teacher, and an intro geology course I took fall of my freshman year, I fell in love with geology. I then did a study abroad in Australia my sophomore year in college as an anthropology major, part of that adventure I backpacked solo in New Zealand for two weeks. While in New Zealand, I hiked glaciers, tubed the black waters of caves, and got to frolic in parks peppered with hydrothermal activity. After I experienced all of that, I came back to Northeastern University (my undergrad college) and switched majors from anthropology to geology. I never looked back and never regretted it. Best decision I ever made.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about the Hurricane of 1928?
Many people have never even heard of the 1928 Hurricane. The biggest thing people may not realize is how relevant its lessons are to the hurricanes we have recently experienced. It’s important to teach this kind of history so we don’t repeat our mistakes, and can learn from them once and for all.
How can the community get involved with Outdoor Afro?
The community can visit outdoorafro.com and look for their state, it will send them to the proper meetup page with the calendar of events for their local area.
What does it mean to you to speak at Nerd Nite at PAMM?
This will be my third time being a speaker at Nerd Nite Miami. This is a group of people that are fantastic to interact with, each time I have been honored to share my knowledge with Miami. It is a huge honor to share information that I feel is important this time with Nerd Nite at PAMM. PAMM, and Museum Park in general, are community centers and hot beds of creativity and connection. I hope I can add to that experience.
Florida’s Deadliest Hurricane (It’s Not Andrew) by Ta-Shana Taylor
The Hurricane of 1928 is the hurricane that had Lake Okeechobee breach its dikes, flooding the surrounding towns. It’s the 2nd deadliest hurricane in American history. Ta-Shana Taylor will discuss the storm and the impacts to the local communities.
Taylor is a lecturer with the University of Miami’s Department of Geological Sciences where her most popular course is Natural Disasters: Hollywood vs Reality. She also volunteers for a national nonprofit organization called Outdoor Afro, where she leads trips here in South Florida that celebrate and inspire black leadership in nature. Taylor has recently been recognized as one of Outdoor Afro’s Inspiring Leaders for 2018.
Check out our interview with Nerd Nite speaker Sara Yousuf and Nerd Nite Miami co-organizers Laura Chaibongsai and Melissa Blundell-Osorio.