The Flagship Great Plains Futures Symposium
The annual Great Plains Futures Symposium is the Institute's premier event, drawing over a thousand attendees from across North America and beyond. Unlike a standard academic conference, it is deliberately transdisciplinary and public-facing. Each year centers on a pressing theme, such as 'Water and the Next Century,' 'The Social Fabric of Rural Communities,' or 'Energy Transitions on the Prairie.' The program carefully mixes keynote addresses from global thought leaders, panels featuring farmers, tribal leaders, and scientists in conversation, and rapid-fire presentations on the latest research. A hallmark is the 'Poster Pub,' where graduate students present their work in a casual setting with local food and drink, fostering networking and accessible discussion. The symposium is not just a reporting-out event; it is a generative space where new collaborations are born and the annual research agenda for the Institute is often influenced by the dialogues that occur.
Policy Forums and Leadership Roundtables
To ensure research directly informs governance, the Institute hosts targeted, off-the-record policy forums throughout the year. These intimate gatherings bring together state legislators, congressional staffers, agency administrators, and Institute researchers to delve into specific issues. A forum might focus on the economic implications of a proposed state water policy, with economists presenting models and hydrologists providing data on aquifer recharge rates. Another might convene county commissioners to discuss zoning and housing strategies for attracting remote workers. These roundtables are facilitated to encourage frank discussion and problem-solving, bridging the gap between data and decision-making. Summaries of the discussions (without attribution) are later published as white papers, extending the forum's impact to a wider policy audience.
Community Nights and 'Science Cafe' Series
Making science a regular part of community life is the goal of our ongoing public events. 'Community Nights' are held quarterly in the Institute's auditorium and livestreamed to local libraries. Each event features a short, engaging presentation by a researcher followed by a long Q&A session and a social hour. Topics are chosen for broad appeal—'The Secret Life of Prairie Dogs,' 'What Ancient Pollen Tells Us About Climate,' 'The History of the Dust Bowl in Song.' The 'Science Cafe' series is even more informal, taking place in local coffee shops, breweries, and community centers. A scientist gives a 15-minute talk without slides, and then conversation flows around the tables. These events demystify the Institute's work, build personal relationships between researchers and residents, and often surface local knowledge and concerns that inform future research directions.
Art-Science Collaborations and Cultural Festivals
The Institute believes in engaging the whole person, not just the analytical mind. We host an annual 'Convergence' festival, a weekend-long celebration where art and science intersect. The festival features installations by artists-in-residence who have worked with Institute scientists—a sculptor using LiDAR data of river channels, a composer creating a piece from the ultrasonic sounds of bats and insects. There are film screenings, poetry readings inspired by the landscape, and hands-on workshops for families. Another popular event is the 'Plains Photo Ark' exhibition, where professional and amateur photographers submit images that capture the beauty, complexity, and challenges of the region, with scientists providing captions that explain the ecological or cultural context. These creative events attract audiences who might not attend a traditional lecture, fostering a deeper emotional and aesthetic connection to the Great Plains and the work of understanding it, reinforcing that the region's future is a matter of both the head and the heart.