STEM Cafe: Lasers, Policies and Risk…Oh My! Facilitating Research While Following the Regulatory “Brick Road”

Speakers: Shannon Stoker, J.D., Director Patty Wallace, Ph.D., Assistant Director Linda Srygler, M.S., Laboratory Safety Specialist NIU Office of Research Compliance, Integrity, and Safety in the Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships NIU is a “Research 2 Institution,” which means the university provides a multitude of research opportunities for faculty and students, in fields ranging from biology to law, from psychology to physics to physical education. With all this cutting-edge research comes potential risks – whether that’s a laboratory fire or a human-subject data breach. Join us to learn about all the work that goes on at NIU behind the scenes to keep researchers and human and animal subjects safe during complex research projects. You’ll hear from employees in the NIU Office of Research Compliance, Integrity, and Safety (ORCIS) about some of the legal, physical and ethical risks that research can pose. They’ll share cautionary tales of research gone wrong and describe steps the ORCIS office takes to prevent such mistakes. They’ll also celebrate some of the exciting research NIU faculty and students are conducting here in DeKalb and around the world, from studying the facial expressions of black howler monkeys in Argentina to developing new materials to create more efficient batteries.