In the last year or two, the public profile of science outreach activities seems to have grown in the Boston area. The city is known for lots of good science, but so much of it happens behind closed doors, away from the public. These three upcoming events however show that the distance between science and the public is shrinking in Boston.
1. The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science and the MIT Museum are hosting a free networking event (including an open bar!) this Friday (Sept 26) at the MIT Museum (265 Mass. Ave in Cambridge, near Central Square) from 5 to 8pm. Here’s the blurb I got in an email:
The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) and the MIT Museum
invite you to an evening of networking, science outreach, and fun. Come hear about plans for the COPUS 2009 Year of Science and learn how you can get involved. Featuring over two dozen science outreach organizations from MIT and across the Greater Boston area. If you are a science educator, a researcher, or just interested in the public understanding of science, this is the event of the season. With videos, presentations, posters, handouts, demos,
performances, and more. Open bar, snacks, and music, too.
FREE and open to all. No alcohol will be served without ID.
2. Next year’s Cambridge Science Festival will be next April and the organizers have just issued a call for entries. They’re looking for people to put on a program or host an event (eg public lectures, performances, tours, workshops, etc ). More details here.
3. Next Tuesday at Harvard Medical School, an afternoon symposium Science and the Presidential Election will take place, with some fairly important folks from the Washington DC science policy world on the programme.
With the presidential debates now getting underway, it’s time to take a closer look at what the candidates are saying and doing on issues related to science and technology.