|
|
 |
|
|  |
| |
 Why So Few Women in Science? Defining the Problem and Taking Action
20 May 2005
BSLC Auditorium room 109
This symposium is being co-sponsored by the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, the Enrico Fermi Institute, the James Franck Institute and the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The purpose of the symposium is twofold: first, to educate and update the university community, including faculty, administrators and students, on the issues and research surrounding the problem of the severe under-representation of women in science (in particular the physical sciences), and second, to motivate concrete actions to address this problem at the University of Chicago. Since the audience will be mainly scientists, the general themes of the symposium will echo the approach most scientists are familiar with in attacking new problems: Defining the Problem: Current statistics on women in science Understanding the Detector: Research on gender bias, both in the wider culture and within the academic community Selection Effects and Data Analysis: Understanding the climate in academic science Moving Ahead: Progress Report on the NSF Advance Program at the University of Michigan The symposium will conclude with a panel discussion by the four speakers, with a focus on suggestions for where we go from here.
Speakers Include: Rachel Ivie AIP co-author of the recent AIP report on Women in Physics and Astronomy Kimberlee Shauman UC, Davis Prof. of Sociology and co-author of "Women in Science : Career Processes and Outcomes" (with Yu Xie, University of Michigan) Londa Schiebinger Stanford Professor of History of Science in the Department of History and the Barbara D. Finberg Director of the Institute on Women and Gender. Schiebinger is author of "The Mind Has No Sex?", "Women in the Origins of Modern Science" (Harvard University press, 1989); the prize-winning "Nature's Body: Gender in the Making of Modern Science" (Beacon Press, 1993; Rutgers University Press, 2004); "Has Feminism Changed Science?" (Harvard University Press, 1999). Tim McKay Associate Professor of Physics Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education University of Michigan.
Organizing Committee: Evalyn Gates (Chair) Sean Carroll Heinrich Jaeger Eileen Sheu
Contact E-mail: wis05 pancake.uchicago.edu
|
| |
 Visualization of Astrophysical Data: Bringing Together Science, Art, and Education
25-27 May 2005
The visualization of real astrophysical data sets is a powerful tool for communicating science to the public and for teaching. The confluence of high quality data sets such as SDSS & WMAP, advances in computational techniques, and the continued march of Moore's law has enabled the use of stunningly beautiful and scientifically accurate images, animations, and interactives in a variety of settings (e.g. TV programs, museums, websites, digital planetaria, magazines, & undergraduate classrooms). Two dimensional, three dimensional, and hyper-dimensional (e.g. color coded 3D data) representations convey large amounts of information in a visceral fashion that can inform both experts and the public. As the data and techniques have progressed the boundaries between art and science have begun to blur and move towards research. This workshop will bring together astrophysicists, visualizers, and educators to discuss the current status and to debate the future direction of astronomical visualization as a tool for research, education, and public outreach.
Organizers: Randy Landsberg, Josh Frieman, Andrew Hamilton (CU Boulder), Andrey Kravtsov, Mark SubbaRao, & Alex Szalay (JHU).
Contact E-mail: randyoddjob.uchicago.edu
|
| |
 Big Bang & Beyond, 21st Century Cosmology
23-25 September 2005
Chicago, IL
Cosmology Short Course for Planetarium Staff:
this three day course will take participants to the frontiers of current cosmological research and provide them with the necessary tools to bring the excitement of discovery back to their home institutions. By bringing together the researchers making the discoveries with planetarium/museum/science center staff, who interact daily with the public, this course will help energize the presentation of cosmology in informal educational settings.
This intensive course will establish the framework of standard Big-Bang cosmology and provide insights into recent discoveries into its inner workings. We will follow the evolution of the universe from its earliest moments, about 14 billion years ago when it was a soup of elementary particles, until the present day when it is a tangled web of filaments consisting of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The observational foundations of our understanding of the universe include measurements of the temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background, the spatial distribution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and the expansion history of the universe. On the theoretical side, we will focus on cosmic acceleration at the two ends of time. We will review the predictions of cosmic inflation, acceleration during the short moment of time after the Big Bang, and see how to test them with current and future observations.
Contact E-mail: randykicp.uchicago.edu
|
| |
 New Views of the Universe, Kavli Institute Inaugural Symposium in memory of David Schramm
8-13 December 2005
Cosmological discoveries of the past 10 years have revolutionized our view of the Universe. The KICP Inaugural Symposium New Views of the Universe will focus on a broad range of topics from particle physics and cosmology of the early universe to structure formation in the local Universe. The Symposium aims to bring together cosmologists, particle physicists, astrophysicists, and astronomers from around the world to discuss the current status and the future of theory, experiments, and observations at the particle physics - cosmology interface. The Symposium will also honor the memory of David Schramm who was a pioneer of cosmology and particle astrophysics.
Online Materials
|
EFI Mini-Symposium
7 October 2005
11:45 am
RI 480
|
Symposium in Honor of Don Lamb's 60th Birthday
28 October 2005
1:00 pm
RI 480
Frederick Lamb (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) Neutron Star X-Ray Bursts: Early Days and Recent Developments Fulvio Melia (University of Arizona) In Black and White Stirling Colgate (Los Alamos National Laboratory) Galaxy-Massive Black Hole Formation and the Alpha-Omega Dynamo Tom Loredo (Cornell University) Bayesian Astrostatistics Edward Fenimore (Los Alamos National Laboratory) Gamma-Ray Bursts: Past, Present, and Future.
This event will be followed by dinner at the Quadrangle Club; tickets are 430, seating is limited. Please contact Stacy Cummings, (cummings@oddjob.uchicago.edu), (773)702-8203 by Thursday, Octiber 27th, if you wish to attend.
|
| |
Lawrence M. Krauss (Case Western University ), Public Lecture on his book: Hiding in the Mirror
3 November 2005
7:00 pm
Oriental Institute-Breasted Hall,1155 E. 58th St.
In HIDING IN THE MIRROR: The Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions, From Plato to String Theory and Beyond Lawrence M. Krauss, one of the most gifted, literate, and engaging writer-scientists today, examines why scientists and humanists alike have often believed that the answers to the great questions about human existence lie in the possibility that we live in a universe more complex than we can see or otherwise sense. Drawing on work by scientists, mathematicians, artists, and writers, from Einstein to Weyl, to Duchamps to C. S. Lewis, HIDING IN THE MIRROR explores whether extra dimensions simply represent abstract speculation or hold the key to a deeper understanding of the universe. As Krauss explains, his goals include more closely linking science and culture on the one hand, and providing a 'fair and balanced treatment' of string theory—the source of most of the recent fascination with extra dimensions—and its successors, on the other, including topics that have been embraced—and sometimes misunderstood—by the general populace, from black holes to life in other dimensions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
