There are amazing discoveries being made within the 90 downtown Birmingham blocks that we call our campus. University of Alabama at Birmingham scholars and trainees put in endless hours to their work – finding solutions to problems and answers to mysteries that affect Alabama, the U.S. and the world.

The UAB Graduate School is thrilled to introduce a program this spring that will put these scholars and trainees in the spotlight at Birmingham public libraries each month to share their knowledge and latest findings with the community in an informal and informative series called “Discoveries in the Making.”

The new educational outreach program starts in February 2016 at Hoover (Feb. 8) and Homewood (Feb. 18) public libraries. Each event runs from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. See the full 2016 schedule at uab.edu/discoveries. UAB graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will present to members of the community exciting progress toward the discoveries they are working hard to make.

Before the Discoveries series is rolled out to the public, practice sessions will be held on UAB's campus at Sterne Library. UAB faculty, staff and students are welcome to attend these practice sessions to help better prepare the Discoveries speakers -- and to learn something new too! Attendees are encouraged to ask questions and may fill out feedback forms for the speakers. The practice schedule (complete with locations) is listed at uab.edu/discoveries and will be updated as more practice sessions are scheduled.

If you are a UAB graduate student or postdoc, you can participate in Discoveries by volunteering in one or more of the following ways: (1) Apply to present your discovery in the making at one or more of the Birmingham area libraries, (2) Polish your science communication skills by volunteering to write about a Discoveries presentation on the Graduate School blog, (3) Add event planning to your resume by joining the Discoveries organizer team. Get more information on these roles and download the speaker application at uab.edu/discoveries. Email Julie Clark McKinney at juliemck@uab.edu with questions.