…what a great show to kick off the year. Thanks so much to our presenters Steven, Darrell, and Jamie for sharing their experiences and expertise with us, to our glorious venue Front Street Taproom for graciously supplying us with space and beer, and to everyone who came out to enjoy the show!
Our next show is Thursday, February 19th, same time, same place– tickets are on sale now at Eventbrite, and full speaker and talk details will be posted closer to the actual event.
We also made a bit of a sad announcement last week- after 10+ years and 80+ shows, Fargo Nerd Nite is coming to an end. 😢 The bosses are getting older and our lives are going in different directions- rather than let the show fizzle into mediocrity and death, we’re going to go out on our terms, on a high note, in a good place. Our 2026 shows will proceed as scheduled, but unless we can find someone to carry the torch, Nov 19th 2026 will be the last Fargo Nerd Nite ever.
If you’re interested in becoming a Nerd Boss and inheriting this circus, shoot us an email. There is a lot behind running Nerd Nite but the only required qualifications are that you’ve been to one before- we started out with zero experience and we’ve made it this far. 🙂 And if you start now, we have all year to show you the ropes. So let us know if you are at all interested in taking over- we’d love to make this an ‘Until Next Time’ instead of a goodbye.
Happy Friday my nerds. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that 2026 is being kind to you.
But now that all that is over with, we can get back to the really important stuff, like NERD NITE!! 🤓 Our next show is coming up fast- peep the speaker and talk deets here:
Thaw and Order: Life of a Chef in Antarctica
[No description needed here- we’re learning about life in the cold, and there will be puns. What more do you need? 😀]
Steven Schalau is a Sous Chef of Nova Eatery, but also an Antarctic explorer (of a sort). From flipping burgers at -90F, to being the Southernmost human being in the world (for a couple minutes, he’s done some fun stuff.
Speaking The Douglas-Fir Beetles Language: Ecological Pest Management Using Pheromones
The Douglas-fir beetle is a native insect throughout the range of Douglas-fir in western North America. In the 1990’s, a highly effective treatment using the anti-aggregation pheromone, MCH, was developed to protect-high value trees during periodic beetle outbreaks. This treatment has been used operationally to protect high-value, mature trees for the past 25 years collectively on hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest throughout western North America. This is unequivocally the most effective pheromone-based treatment for any bark beetle species in the world. The pheromone is naturally produced by the Douglas-fir beetle to regulate the density of immature insects in host trees. Consequently, it is very safe to use.
Darrell Ross has degrees in forest ecology from Penn State and Oregon State, and a PhD in forest entomology from the University of Georgia. He was a professor at Oregon State for 30 years before coming to the School of Natural Resource Sciences at NDSU in 2020. He has conducted research on pheromone-based management strategies of bark beetles for over 30 years.
The Surprisingly Boring Secrets of Losing 370 lbs
The unglamorous, surprisingly practical story behind losing 370 lbs after a high of 652 lbs. From the lowest moments that forced a change, to the slow two-year grind without medication, to adding a GLP-1 (Zepbound) at 600 lbs, this talk breaks down what actually worked, walking, lifting, and four mindset rules that kept him going. Expect humor, honesty, and take-home ideas you can use.
Jamie Selzler is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, certified nutritionist, and wellness coach. He began his journey in July 2021, later adding a GLP-1 (Zepbound) in 2023 as one tool alongside consistent habit change. In 2025, he shared his story on the Mind Pump podcast and now creates content across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, focused on practical, sustainable health change.
…plus all our usual hijinks, doorprizes, and laughs. Get yourselves to The Cellar at Front Street Taproom on Thursday, January 15th, 7PM (doors at 6:30). Tickets are available now on Eventbrite, or you can bring $10 to the door. Same price to you either way- we eat the fees bc they’re high in fiber.
And just like that, we’ve wrapped up another fabulous season of Nerd Nite. Immense thanks to everyone who came out and made our last show of 2025 the very best it could be- speakers Erin, Sara, and Kellam, our glorious venue Front Street Taproom, and of course our wonderful audience! We are breaking for the holiday season but Nerd Nite will return in 2026 with fresh new nerdery for your brain space. Tickets for our January show will go on sale on Eventbrite soon.
We wish you all a safe, happy, and nerdilicious holiday season. 🤓🎁🎅 See you next year.
Welp, we are down to the last and best show of the year. 🥹 Our annual Best Of feature brings back three of our favorite speakers from the season to give encore performances. Can you guess who they are?
…well you don’t have to because I have all the details here. Check out this line up:
Beyond the Myths: The Amazing World of Vampire Bats
When you say “vampire”, people think of Dracula. But did you know that vampire bats are a real thing and they really do drink blood? Join me to learn about the different species of vampire bats and the amazing adaptations they have for feeding solely on blood. We will also look into the surprising importance of the social lives of vampire bats for their survival and how they take care of their friends like no other species.
Erin Gillam is a biology professor who has been chasing bats around since before she could legally drink alcohol. She has studied the ecology and behavior of bats in many places, including Costa Rica, Bulgaria, and Madagascar, plus right here in North Dakota. Warning: Erin has a “bat button”, which can lead to extensive sharing of bat facts when hit. Beyond bats, Erin loves reading, hanging out with her husband and son, and snuggling with her two golden retrievers.
Fire In the Mountains: A Dragon’s Journey Through Chile
Join this Dragon on an adventure of a lifetime through the mountains of Chile. As a full-ride fellow of the Astronomy in Chile Education Ambassadors Program (ACEAP), Sara embarked on an astronomy lover’s dream trip: an opportunity to experience some of the largest and most impressive telescopes in the world. Follow her on this path of twists and turns on a truly memorable trip with some bumps along the way, but the most STELLAR views!
Dr. Sara Schultz is the Director of the MN State Moorhead Planetarium. She has a Masters in Astrophysics, and a Ph.D. in Science Education. Sara’s passion for astronomy, science literacy, and both formal and informal education colors every part of her life. She loves collaboration and relationship building to support learning. The quote that describes her outlook best: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. -African Proverb
‘What the sigma?’ What even are kids saying these days?
This is a talk about new-ish slang and what to do about it. And, yes, we are going to cover ‘6-7’.
Kellam Barta has an MA in Sociolinguistics from NC State University and teaches writing and linguistics at NDSU. He also enjoys talking to groups of folks in 20-minute chunks with 3-5 minutes for questions. Seriously.
The real question is whether Tracy is going to reuse her same tired jokes or not. 🫠 See your beautiful faces next Thursday, November 20th, 7PM (doors at 630) at our beloved Cellar below Front Street Taproom. Bring a Hamilton to the door, or get your tickets in advance on Eventbrite (same cost to you either way).
OH AND:
Since Nerd Nite actually came out in the black this year, we are burning up our bank account with some giveaways!
The first 30 people through the door will get a free drink ticket on us (but remember to bring some tip dollars for our wonderful beer-tender). Doesn’t matter if you get your ticket in advance or pay at the door. First 30 people to show up are winners, baby.
All sales from this show will be donated to the Great Plains Food Bank, because fuck food insecurity.
You can also look forward to some improved swag/ doorprizes going forward, but personally I’m more excited for the food bank donation. 🙂
Thanks for being awesome and helping us do awesome things, nerds. See you Thursday.
Wowza- what a fantastic show last week! Thanks so much to our speakers William, Amber, and Logan for taking time to share their nerderies with us, to our wonderful venue Front Street Taproom for taking good care of us as always, and to everyone who came out to share it with us. Further resources from our speakers:
•Koury, J. (Director). (2008). We Are Wizards. [Film]. Brooklyn Underground Films.
Follow up on a few of William’s studies on where econ meets obesity:
Miljkovic, Dragan, William Nganje, and Helene de Chastenet “Economic factors Affecting the Increase in Obesity in the United States: A Differential Response to Price” Food Policy, Vol. 33/1 pp 48-60, 2008.
Addiction to sugar leads to increased consumption, regardless of future prices
Miljkovic, Dragan, and William Nganje. “Regional Obesity Determinants in the United States: A Model of Myopic Addictive Behavior in Food Consumption.” Agricultural Economics, A Journal of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, Vol. 38 (3):375-384, 2008.
Addiction to sugar leads to increased consumption, regardless of current prices
And keep up with Logan’s adventures in microbiology at https://drekkerbrewing.com/beers/. I didn’t capture his list of recommendations but I’ll see if I can get it. 😅
Anyway, there’s only one way to beat a show that fun…and it’s with our annual BEST OF!! Three of our favorite speakers from the past year are returning for encore performances- I know who they are, but I don’t know what topics they’ll choose to bless us with, and in either case you are just going to have to wait for details, mwaaa ha haaaa. 😈
BUT tickets are on sale now at Eventbrite for Thursday November 20th, 7PM (doors at 6:30), at the Cellar below Front Street Taproom. Grab your tickets in advance or bring $10 to the door- same price to you either way. See you there.
Happy Thursday, nerds. Let’s combat these cooling outdoor temperatures with a hot knowledge injection! Check out out our upcoming lineup:
Funky Suds
Dive into the wild side of brewing—where yeast gets weird, bacteria brings the funk, and flavor takes a walk on the untamed side. From fruity to barnyard, join me for a fun look at how wild beer brewing turns science, patience, and a little organized chaos into something delicious.
Logan McLean hails from Wheatland, ND and has been brewing up good times for nearly 11 years. He got his start in cider at Social Cider Werks, stirred things up at Finnegans Brewing, and now serves as lead brewer at Drekker Brewing Company—where he’s been crafting magic for 5 years. When he’s not wrangling yeast, hops, and malt, he’s probably plotting his next great beer idea.
The Obesity Epidemic: Policy Response
Dr. William Nganje has been Chairman and Professor in the Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department at NDSU since January 2013. He graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in May 1998 and joined NDSU in October 1998. He has published several top journal papers, books, and technical reports in food and financial risk analysis. His most recent invited presentation was on “Food Security and Food Safety Risks in Global Rice Markets” at the 2024 International World Rice Conference Summit in Manila, Philippines.
Wrock: What It Is and How It’s Getting Me Through 2025
What the heck is Wrock? Where did it come from? Is it actually important? Explore these questions and more with a Pop Culture Master!
Amber Fetch is a lifelong pop culture nerd, raised on a steady diet of Star Trek: TNG, Animorphs, Harry Potter, Saturday morning cartoons, and classic rock, all culminating in a Master’s degree in Popular Culture Studies with a thesis on gender play in FMA: Brotherhood. You don’t get much nerdier than that! Amber loves deep diving into seemingly obscure pop culture artifacts to explore the whos, whats, and whys behind them.
Plus our usual smorgasbord of drinks, doorprizes, buffoonery, and laughs. See your fabulous faces on Thursday, October 16th, 7PM (doors at 6:30) at The Cellar under Front Street Taproom. Bring $10 to the door or get your tickets in advance on Eventbrite. Same price to you either way; we eat the fees so we don’t attack our Halloween candy stash.
Welp, it was nice to have some free time this summer, but it’s good to be back in the swing of the nerdery too. 🙂 Thanks so much to our speakers Audrey, Idris, and Paula for sharing their zeal for information with us, to our ever gracious venue Front Street Taproom, and to everyone who came out last week. Our next show is Thursday, October 16th, 7PM (doors at 6:30), same place. Tickets are available now on Eventbrite, and full speaker + talk details will be posted closer to the actual show.
In the meantime, check out these recommendations/ resources from our speakers:
Want to try your hand at some carnivorous plants? Try these online nurseries:
Add some native/ pollinator plants to your landscape, or start planning for next year! I really love this guide from the NDSU Extension office; as you shop, pay attention to whether you’re buying the straight species or a cultivar (cultivars will have a name in quotes behind the scientific name, for example Eupatorium maculatum ‘Gateway’ is a cultivar of Eupatorium maculatum, AKA Joe Pye Weed). Cultivars may not be as beneficial to the ecosystem as the original species, but they’re not necessarily bad…but that’s another show. 🙂
Greetings nerds~ I hope you all enjoyed the warm season while we had it. Hopefully any sadness you feel at the passing of summer is alleviated by the glorious return of random knowledge injections via Nerd Nite! Our 2025 season resumes next Thursday with three amazing topics for your nerdy fulfillment. Check it out:
Growing Carnivorous Plants
Everyone knows them, but can everyone grow them? It’s easier than you think! Learn the secrets of the flesh-eaters!
Audrey Gilbraith is a horticulturist working at Baker Garden & Gift. Her passion in life is to share knowledge about plants for anyone who will listen.
Common Gamer Strategies: League of Legends, Marvel Rivals, and American Football
Competitive eSports has raised an existential question: Are competitive video games a “sport”? A better question to answer is: in what ways can sports and video games be talked about in the same way? As someone who enjoys watching sports and playing competitive video games, I want to share how some concepts and terms from one context can be applied to another.
Idris Malik is a Physics and Discipline-Based Education Research Ph.D. student at North Dakota State University. Idris loves discovering new music and going to concerts at venues small and large. He also likes Disc golfing, DnD, playing online video games with his friends, and other various nerd things.
Plant Blindness: Are You Smarter than a 3rd Grader.
Explore why we often overlook the plants around us and how this shapes our understanding of nature. This talk reveals surprising insights from student drawings, uncovers the mental models we carry, and shows why learning to “see” plants is essential for addressing critical issues surrounding things like drought, climate change, and wild fire.
Paula Comeau is a prairie reconstruction ecologist with an emphasis on how natural systems improve human community health and wellbeing. In true nerd fashion, she has an A.S. in Biology, B.S. in Zoology, M.A in Composition and Rhetoric, a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management, and soon a Master’s of Public Health (Dec 2025). She has done cornerstone work in the area of understanding plant blindness, and currently works for NDSU Extension, as well as being the Soil and Water Leadership Development State Program Coordinator.
Plus our usual drinks, laughs, and doorprizes. We are so excited to welcome you back for the resuming of FNN next Thursday, September 18th, 7PM (doors at 6:30), at The Cellar at Front Street Taproom. Tickets available on Eventbrite, or just bring $10 cash to the door.
Hey there nerds- thanks so much to everyone who came out to Nerd Nite this week- our speakers Jeffrey, Hope, and Kellam, our fabulous venue Front Street Taproom, and of course our wonderful audience. With the completion of our May show, we are taking a few months off to enjoy the sunshine while we have it, but don’t worry! We’ll be back in September to pick up the nerdy torch again. In the meantime, keep yourself busy with:
Figure out your own top 50 bands (or movies, or books, or whatever) using Kellam’s objective process and https://www.opinionx.co/.
Make Boss Hope proud and purge a closet or two! Remember that you can donate sheets, towels, and blankets to 4 Luv of Dog‘s Spay Neuter Impact Project (SNIP) by dropping them off at 4Luv’s facility at 1523 23rd St S, Moorhead (there’s a big dropbox outside the door for donations).
Please only donate items on their list. Sheets and towels aren’t on there, but they want them. Trust.
From all the bosses, we wish you a glorious summer and hope to see you when we return in September. Make good choices out there. Wear sunscreen. Hydrate. Be kind. See you soon!
Good morning nerds, and happy Friday to you. I hope you are all having a great time enjoying the spring weather- you should now be good and ready to spend a few hours in a dark basement for Nerd Nite. 😂 And now is the time to get your fill because we are going on break for the summer! After our upcoming show, Nerd Nite will not return until September, so get your nerdy fix in now with these upcoming talks:
Sustainable Fur Crafting
Modern fur trapping is often misunderstood. As they have for hundreds of years, fur trappers experience nature and the outdoors in-depth, and the fruits of the labor is the greenest clothing material on Earth, real fur. Jeffrey Miller will discuss the animals that call our area home and how he uses sustainable practices to create unique, hand-made garments.
Jeffrey Miller works as the Director of the Cass County (ND) Soil Conservation District by day and on his family’s small homestead, Cottonwood Bend Farm, in his free time. There they grow vegetables and fruit on 5 acres of rural land. He is also a freelance writer, specializing in hunting, fishing, fur trapping, gardening and modern homesteading topics. He has also written three books.
Help! My Home is Turning into a Dragon Hoard
When our lives are busy, things tend to get pushed to the side. It’s also easy to forget how much stuff actually comes into our homes especially with online shopping, and even easier to jam our closets and drawers full or hide it behind a door. Now that Spring is here, it’s time to turn the chaos around and reclaim your peace by decluttering your home.
When Hope Novacek is not working as an accountant she fosters dogs with her husband, loves to read, mowing the lawn and taking naps with her gremlin of a dog
How to Discover Your True Top 50 Bands (Musicians) of All-Time
This talk combines the principles of data science, cognitive science, and linguistics to help you figure out how to precisely categorize the music groups you like into hyper-specific tiers (i.e. true rankings). It’s a fun exercise that can really show you how you think about categories and how your mind naturally puts things into them. You might be surprised at some of the biases you encounter and overcome!
Kellam Barta has an MA in Sociolinguistics from NC State University and teaches writing and linguistics at NDSU. He also enjoys talking to groups of folks in 20-minute chunks with 3-5 minutes for questions. Seriously.
So join us Thursday, May 15th, 7PM (doors at 6:30) at The Cellar at Front Street Taproom for drinks, laughs, doorprizes, and learning. You can pay at the door if you like ($10), but we’ve been hitting capacity recently so I might recommend getting your seats in advance on Eventbrite.
