As a part of our STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education mission, we have teamed up with UTEP’s Centennial Museum to bring a new event to the Border Region – Nerd Nights. Nerd Nights is a series of informative evening events designed to bring fun scientific talks and activities to your favorite local brewery, restaurant, coffee shop, or any other community hub. We will host a different Nerd Night at a different local establishment on a monthly basis.

Why Nerd Nights? We launched Nerd Nights because we wanted to find an entertaining way to learn something new while sharing good food and drink with new friends.

Introducing our Next Nerd Night:

Green Infrastructure

Thursday, June 25th @ 6:00pm

About our Speakers:

Sarah Elena, Sustainability and Outreach Specialist at Creosote Collaborative

Ms. Dillabough has more than five years of experience in sustainable project management. She was born and raised in El Paso. She received her B.A. from Austin College (Sherman, Texas) with majors in Environmental Studies and International Relations, and a minor in French. As an undergraduate student, she studied in France, Morocco, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Bhutan, and traveled to many other countries. She is fluently trilingual in English, Spanish, and French. Sarah Elena served as the Co-Chair of the Student Sustainability Fund at Austin College and as the Co-President for Think Green Campus Awareness, working at Little Traverse Nature Conservancy, interning with Texas Senator Jose Rodriguez and serving on his Environment Advisory Board, serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA member for the City of El Paso Resilience + Sustainability Department, as the Food Donor Relations Manager at the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank, and as a French translator (ongoing).

Lauren Baldwin, MBA, LEED AP ND, Principal, Director of Sustainability at Creosote Collaborative

Ms. Baldwin has over nine years of experience in sustainability program management, including implementation of green infrastructure projects in El Paso. As Sustainability Coordinator for the City of El Paso she helped acquire over $600,000 in grant funding, implemented projects that have diverted over 300 tons of waste from the landfill, and saved almost $30,000 on our City’s electric bills as a result of employee energy savings challenges. Lauren graduated from Virginia Tech with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies and a focus in Environmental Policy and Planning, and later received her MBA from the University of Texas at El Paso. Lauren served two terms as an appointee to the EPA’s Good Neighbor Environmental Board, which advises the Council of Environmental Quality and the President on environmental resilience issues in communities along the U.S.- Mexico border. She also volunteered as an adoption counselor with El Paso Animal Services, as Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council West Texas Advisory Council, as a founder of the Velo Paso Bicycle Pedestrian Coalition, and Conference Planning Manager for the West Texas Urban Forestry Council. Lauren is also a LEED Accredited Professional (through USGBC) for Neighborhood Development (LEED AP ND) and a certified Master Wellness Volunteer through Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.

Michael Gaglio, Principal and Founder of High Desert Native Plants.

Mr. Gaglio has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology from the University of Texas at El Paso. His career spans fifteen years as a biologist and environmental consultant, and in 2007 he co-founded High Desert Native Plants, LLC, an environmental consulting and restoration services company with a focus on conservation-oriented solutions for the development industry. Michael has worked with entities such as The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land as well as with developers and commercial real-estate practitioners. He became involved with The Frontera Land Alliance in 2007 and also volunteers with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department performing deer surveys and dove banding.

Brought to you by Creosote Collaborative

Sponsored by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) Great Urban Parks Campaign

Where: Your House via Zoom Pro

(a Zoom Pro event link will be shared with you via email. Please do not share this link)

How to RSVP:

Please RSVP via the Eventbrite link below!

Tickets to Nerd Night: Green Infrastructure may be purchased on Eventbrite NOW!

Nerd Nights unites our community with a celebration of Science!

Still have questions about Nerd Nights? Please read our Nerd Night FAQ’s.

Stay tuned for our next Nerd Night…they happen every month.

Night Sponsor Hall of Fame

Nerd Night #24 sponsored by:

Wine Attitude is not your usual bar. They feature great conversation, happy hour, live music, and select only the finest wines from around the world and bring them here for your enjoyment. Be sure to check out Wine Attitude’s new location on Mesa.

Nerd Night #20 sponsored by:

Nerd Night #18 sponsored by:

Virgin Galactic is a spaceflight company within the Virgin Group at the vanguard of a new industry, pioneering the next generation of reusable space vehicles. Virgin aims to transform the current cost, safety and environmental impact of space-launch. In doing so they are helping to create a basic space access infrastructure that will act as an enabler for scientists and entrepreneurs. It will also provide the catalyst for a new age of space exploration which promises enormous positive potential for life on Earth.

Nerd Night # 16 Sponsored by

Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution – The TIME group studies the role of shear margin dynamics in the future evolution of Thwaites Drainage Basin. TIME is an ice-based project using state-of-the-art geophysical techniques to observe rapidly deforming parts of Thwaites Glacier (shear margins) which may have significant control over future stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The TIME project will observe rapidly deforming parts of Thwaites Glacier which may have significant control over the future evolution of WAIS, and use these new observations to improve ice sheet models used to predict future sea level rise.

Check out our Nerd Night Archive

Want to keep Nerd Nights totally free? We need your help! Sponsorship from our community of Nerds are what keep these events going strong. Please let us know if your organization would like to make the next Nerd Night a reality!

Nerd Nights