The University of Nebraska at Kearney, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society will be hosting a Science Café, titled “The Russian Flu, 1889-94, A lost Coronavirus Pandemic”. The event will have UNK faculty members Kim Carlson and Doug Biggs discuss the Russian flu, how it spreads and whether it was actually the first coronavirus epidemic.
Carlson is a professor and co-chair in the UNK Department of Biology focusing on molecular genetics and teaching introductory and human genetics, as well as bioethics. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from UNK and a doctorate in genetics, cellular and molecular biology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Carlson became a research associate and proteomics core director at UNMC before returning to UNK in 2003.
A history professor at UNK, Biggs received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Iowa State University and a doctorate in medieval history from the University of Minnesota. His specialty areas are English history, ancient history and medieval history. Biggs has been a visiting professor at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York and has presented papers at international conferences on both sides of the Atlantic and in New Zealand. In 2000, he was elected to fellowship in the Royal Historical Society.
The event will be at The Loft, Cunningham’s Journal, 15 W. 23rd St., Kearney, Monday Sept. 26 at 5:30pm.
