Public invited to meet science laureates at town hall forum
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The public is invited to talk with leading science writers on Nov. 10 at a town hall forum during Purdue University's three-day Science Journalism Laureates program.
This year four new laureates are expected to join at least seven previous honorees for the town hall event to discuss the topic Raising the Bar in Science Journalism. This is the fifth year for the program, during which time Purdue has honored 26 science writers with the laureate designation.
The 90-minute town hall meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 10 in the Lawson Computer Science Building foyer and will include time for questions. Laureate Moira Gunn, a Purdue alumna and host of public radio shows "Tech Nation" and "BioTech Nation," will moderate the discussion. The forum will be taped for later broadcast on "Tech Nation."
A book signing will follow. New laureates are:
Sandra Aamodt, the co-author of two science books. "Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life" was named Young Adult Science Book of the Year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2009. "Welcome to Your Child's Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College" was published in September. Her science writing also has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, El Mundo and the Times of London. She is a former editor-in-chief of Nature Neuroscience, a leading scientific journal in the field of brain research.
Hepeng Jia, currently a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Science News Bi-Weekly, China's first magazine for the scientific community. Since June 2005 he worked as SciDev.Net's regional coordinator for China and is responsible for the Chinese version China Gateway of SciDev.Net. He also writes for the Science magazine and the British magazine Chemistry World. He is author of the book "Science Communication in an Era of Globalisation." He was an executive board member of the World Federation of Science Journalists between 2007 and 2011 and has trained more than 1,000 Chinese journalists in science and environmental reporting in workshops he organizes.
Andrea Kissack, senior radio editor and television narrator of QUEST, an award-winning multimedia science and environment series on KQED Public Radio, TV and kqed.org in San Francisco. Kissack has been at KQED Radio for more than 11 years, working first as a producer for the daily call-in show "Forum," and then as senior producer for "The California Report." She also has worked for CBS Radio and contributed to National Public Radio, the British Broadcasting Corp. and Public Broadcasting Service.
Steve Rosenbaum, an author, filmmaker and entrepreneur. His new book "Curation Nation" provides a roadmap to a future where humans, not algorithms, help people navigate the rapidly overwhelming Web. As an innovator in film and interactive media, he created MTV UNfiltered, the first user-generated video program for the channel. Rosenbaum has produced films for A&E, Discovery, TLC, The History Channel, National Geographic, Court TV, Trio, HBO, VH1, MSNBC and CNN. As a feature director, he is best known for his film "7 Days in September," which chronicled New York's reaction to the 9/11 attacks. Today he is the founder and CEO of Magnify.net (https://Magnify.net), the video curation platform powering brands, publishing and community media.
"We encourage both faculty and students to attend," said professor Gabriela Weaver, director of the Discovery Learning Research Center and co-organizer of the Science Journalism Laureates program with professor Howard Sypher, head of the Department of Communication. "Science journalists represent a critical step in research: communication."
Also during their stay, the journalists will interact with the Purdue community and hear brief presentations from faculty. Several will visit classes.
The laureates are selected based on their reputation for thought-provoking work and aptitude for translating scientific discoveries into a format the public can easily understand.
The event's sponsors include all of Purdue's colleges or schools as well as the Discovery Research Learning Center, Discovery Park, Office of Engagement, Extended Campus, Global Policy Research Institute, Purdue Libraries, Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the Provost.
Writer: Jeanne V. Norberg, 765-494-2084, jnorberg@purdue.edu
Sources: Gabriela Weaver, 765-496-3055, gweaver@purdue.edu
Howard Sypher, (765) 494-3300, hsypher@purdue.edu