What is Discovery Café?

This is an optional co-curricular program that is not associated with any particular course or program in Science. There is no attendance taken and no grades given. It is a great opportunity to expand your sense of community (both academically and socially) by hanging out with professors and other students who share your interest in Science. The program is optional. However, if you choose not to participate you must promise to never say that "At Western students are just a number." or "At Western, professors only care about research." Professors in Science and undergraduate Peer Leaders will be co-facilitating weekly meetings of first-year students to discuss interesting issues in Science as well as important aspects of the academic life as a student of Science.

Benefits for First Year Science Students:

You will have the opportunity to get to know professors outside of the classroom. Why is this important? Professors can become mentors for you and you might even be able to use them as academic references for graduate school or professional programs!
Improve your grades by connecting with professors and students who can help you with study tips and improving your learning methods
You get to connect with like-minded and non-like minded students and hear new perspectives, form friendships and talk about important issues
Broaden your perspective and learn how to support your arguments (invaluable for research, assignments and essays!)
Learn about opportunities in the Faculty of Science (speakers coming to campus, summer work in Labs, research grants and more)!
Discovery Café helps to “shrink” the Faculty of Science – many students find that by being in the program they feel like Science is an amazing community of scholars and friends and it truly “made their university experience”
University is not just about what happens inside the classroom, sometimes it is the opportunities outside the classroom that make the most impact!

Hear what students have to say about Discovery Café:

"Discovery Cafe... it provided a new, stress free environment to discuss topics of interest: current events, science news, exams, courses, new movies. Every once in a while we stumbled onto an aside that let us indulge our inner pyromaniacs, it could be a discussion about fire insurance in the US, personal experiences, effective firefighting with electricity or easy home experiments under five dollars. (Not that we're trying to encourage people to play with fire, it's just interesting. That's all)" Debbie H., Discovery Café Member

Contact Us:

Are you interested in participating in Discovery Café? If so, please contact: discoverycafe@uwo.ca

If you are interested in being a Faculty Mentor, please contact Tom Haffie: thaffie@uwo.ca

If you are interested in being a Discovery Café Student Leader, please contact Leslie Gloor Duncan: lgloor@uwo.ca

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Important Updates

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