Program Series: Science and Society
The Science & Society (SS) Series presents topics at the intersection of science, public policy, social issues, and daily life. These programs allow active engagement between policy makers, scientists and program participants.
Previous SS events have covered science in films, Women in STEM, the science of music, science education policy, gender stereotypes, and how curiosity-driven research impacts society.
Distinguished SS speakers have included Cristal Thomas, former Deputy Governor of Illinois; Robbert Dijkgraaf, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Advanced Study and Leon Levy Professor; and Lawrence Krauss, Ph.D., Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Department, and Inaugural Director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University.

In the past decade, we’ve heard a lot about the innate differences between males and females. So we’ve come to accept that boys can’t focus in a classroom and girls are obsessed with relationships: “That’s just the way they’re built.” Continue reading “The Myth of Brain Sex”

The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) is pleased to host a national dialogue on gender at the nexus of innovation and entrepreneurship with emphasis on the health and medical sciences sector. Building on the momentum generated from two previous Summits, the AWIS National Summit will center on how we, as a society, can fuel innovative solutions to global challenges facing all our citizens. Continue reading “A Roadmap For Inclusion”

Our Women in STEM: Connect is back! This year’s event will feature a lively panel discussion with Q&A, video shorts, and will be followed by networking. We welcome everyone, from women just contemplating a future in a science-related field to career veterans, and all those in between. Men are welcome to attend!

Graphic narratives—also known as comics—are increasingly being used to unpack complex concepts and experiences. Despite the stigma of being thought of as juvenile reading matter (and not ‘real reading’ at that), comics actually have a long history of addressing complex topics. When serious graphic novels began appearing in the 1980s, they were met with great critical acclaim by both popular media and academia. A significant cohort of comics tackling scientific topics now exists.
Continue reading “A Picture is Worth 1000 Words—Teaching Science With Comics”

Those who practice science know that research is full of wrong turns, cul-de-sacs, mistaken identities, false findings, errors of fact and judgement, and only the occasional success. Firestein, the author of the highly praised Ignorance, argues that the view that science is infallible originates in an education system that teaches nothing but facts and is proliferated by media who report on discoveries but almost never on process. Continue reading “Failure: Why Science is So Successful”