Olga Ricketts-Peart is not what she calls a “science person.” But she loves science anyways.
The 77-year-old has been attending “Science with Seniors,” a program offered at the Levy Senior Center in Evanston that has gone online in the past few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the third Thursday of each month, graduate students from Northwestern University meet virtually with seniors from the Levy Center to present lectures on STEM topics from solar cells to sleep and everything in between.
“It’s a good, brief overview on how these topics affect their lives as adults and seniors,” said Tim Carter, program coordinator of the Levy Center. “And it’s a good way for the Northwestern students to reach out and share what they have learned about their studies. So it’s a win-win.”
The idea for “Science with Seniors” came from Suyog Padgaonkar, a chemistry student working on a doctorate at Northwestern. When Padgaonkar entered the university in 2016, he saw that most of the outreach opportunities offered revolved around kids.
While he said it’s important to cultivate the next generation of scientists, Padgaonkar wanted to reach the older, voting populations because he felt there was a lot of misinformation among that group.
“In terms of being able to provide information for people who currently vote, it just felt like that opportunity was a little bit lacking,” he said. “So the simple idea was to reach out to senior citizens because they vote a lot.”
The program started at the Covenant Home in Andersonville in the spring of 2017, then moved to the Levy Center. The program expanded in January to Belmont Village Senior Center, according to Emily Schafer, a biomedical engineering doctoral student working with Padgaonkar on the program.
Carter said the lectures started as in-person meetings with a group at the senior center but went online because of COVID-19.
The “Science with Seniors” session Thursday covered sleep and how it affects memory. Eitan Schechtman, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern’s Department of Psychology, discussed topics such as how sleep is defined, how sleep benefits memory, and how sleep changes and can be maintained as people age.
Schechtman signed up in October 2019 to lead a discussion and was told the next available slot was in September 2020.
“I have always been passionate about scientific research and scientific communication,” he said. “I saw [this program] as an opportunity to reach new crowds.”
Schechtman said the online format was a challenge — at least more than it would have been in-person — since he wasn’t sure whether people were listening because most participants disabled their videos.
“If something I said was confusing, I just had to assume that they were with me and also go a bit slower than I would’ve went if I were able to see their faces,” Schechtman said.
Padgoankar said the move online slightly hindered the program since was designed to be more interactive and discussion-based.
But Ricketts-Peart said the virtual format was no different than the in-person sessions she attended before the pandemic. In fact, she said it felt more personal.
“I’m sitting at the computer, I’m looking right into his eyes, I’m looking right at him,” she said. “When I’m at the Levy Center ... sometimes you’re there but you can’t see the person’s face.”
Carter said having programs like “Science with Seniors” is important because it helps with the issue of social isolation that seniors face, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when many are stuck at home.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, social isolation and loneliness in older adults can are associated with health risks such as dementia, heart disease and stroke, and depression, anxiety and suicide.
Padgoankar said he hopes the concept of teaching scientific topics to seniors can expand not only to other senior centers but to other schools.
Ricketts-Peart said she hopes the program continues long after the pandemic ends, as it’s been a way she keeps her mind sharp.
“You need to learn not only things you already know but new things to get your brain working,” she said. “We want something that is continually renewing our minds.”
