The science—both controversial and not—behind the food we eat is the topic of the second annual student-instructor forum sponsored by the chemistry department.

The free event which features five women scientists from City College and UCSB is set for 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, in Administration Building Room 211.

Titled “Lessons from the Lab: A Path to Scientific Enlightenment,” the forum is the brainchild of chemistry instructor Raeanne Napoleon. She came up with the idea after student Rachel Regalado asked if getting professors and students together to talk would be a good idea.

“Everybody, students and professors, said we should do this once a week,” Napoleon said. “I would like it to happen every semester.”

The department sponsored its first forum last year focusing on fracking. This year the topic is one everyone can identify with: food.

“It is geared toward making City College students better scientists,” Napoleon said.

“There’s a lot of information in the world. For a lot of this stuff, it’s not controversial to scientists at all.”

The forums are co-sponsored by the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Transfer Program, under the supervision of Dean Marilynn Spaventa.

Napoleon explained her goal is to bring students and instructors together to talk about science outside of the curriculum.

“We are looking forward to a lively discussion about somewhat-settled science topics that may still be ‘controversial’ to society,” Napoleon said.

“The forum will allow students to ask intriguing and interesting questions that are relevant to their life and the world around them.”

She added that all the panelists this year are women, which she hopes sends the message that women can and do succeed in the sciences, and can be “wicked smart” role models.