Graduate students at Cornell want to make their campus and their surrounding communities more aware of the power of science and the role that science and technology play in decision-making in Washington and the world at large. To spread this awareness, they invited leading authors and journalists to a one-day conference on science communication on campus in May.

The students and their faculty adviser, Steven Strogatz, professor in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, author of the recently published book Sync, and a well-known science communicator himself, invited all interested people on and off campus to attend the conference. The featured writers, including Ivan Amato, author of Stuff:The Materials the World is Made Of, and journalists Rick Weiss (a 1974 Cornell graduate) of The Washington Post and Robert Krulwich of ABC News, described the problems and rewards of successful science communication.

The conference, "Science for Everyone," was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program, which is designed to expand the interdisciplinary backgrounds of scientists, engineers, and educators.

"This conference is consistent with so much of the spirit of Ithaca, going back to Carl Sagan, in bringing science to the public," said Strogatz. "We would like this event to be held every year and to take its place in the community along with the Sciencenter and the Museum of the Earth."

"Public perception affects everything from political decisions to what our kids will study in school," said Thomas Oberst, an astronomy graduate student, who helped organize the workshop. "At the rate at which science and technology are shaping the world today, it is important that everyone have a respect and understanding for science."

—David Brand, Cornell News Service