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I received a couple of great updates from our Las Cruces hub leader:

I just submitted our starting program on our NPR station - KRWG FM to the Year of Science web pages under Programs..

In January we are lucky to have four 15-minute interviews focusing on the Interpretation of Science (Science Education). Next month we are hoping to have another four interviews on Evolution.

I am not sure of the schedule of exactly when the interviews are on, but I think they may be on in the morning. The first (and all following will be also archived) is available on the web at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/krwg/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1453478&sectionID=6467

Our four interviewees for January are:

Christin Slaughter (Biology) - Christin is Outreach Co-odinator for the Biology Department and is currently working with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant to NMSU.

Carol Sutherland (Extension Plant Sciences). Carol talks to thousands of students, Master Gardeners and others on entomology every year.

Susan W. Brown (Director, Stem Outreach, Institute for Excellence in Math and Science Education).

Diane Walker (Doctoral Student, Science Education, College of Education).

I am amazed that we have been able to get this much done! The major credit should go to Fred Martino, who is the Assistant Executive Director of University Broadcasting, and who was totally supportive of this effort.

And in another email, he shared info about how they collaborate with the State Fair:

The story on the Southern New Mexico State Fair (we in New Mexico have several regional State Fairs plus the main State Fair in Albuquerque) is that we have a new fair director, Wilma Arroyos, and she thought we at NMSU should have a display at the 2008 fair. Unfortunately she brought this up about a month before the fair so we had no luck getting other departments in, but good old EPPWS is always ready for outreach and along with a lot of work by Carol Sutherland of Cooperative Extension we filled one half of a Cold War Era Quonset hut (about 120’ long, so we got the first 60’). It was as usual (we have done fairs before, including the one in Albuquerque) a great hit and I mentioned to Wilma that the Year of science was coming up and would she be interested. She said that they were thinking of renovating two more Quonset Huts and what if she gave those to us and made The Year of Science a theme of the 2009 Fair? I of course jumped on that and then panicked - what if I don’t get enough participation! Well I’m still not sure about that, but we seem to have interested the Asombro Institute for Science Education and the Las Cruces Museum of Natural History, plus the Las Cruces Astronomical Society. So I guess it is a go. The Fair is September 30-October 4, 2009.

Thanks Dave! For further info about the Las Cruces Year of Science activities, contact:

David B. Richman
nmbugman@taipan.nmsu.edu

Six-year-old Izy launched an official YoS Flat Stanley today at her school in Sarasota, FL. Hers is one of a few specially chosen Stanley's, who are taking scientific sojourns through the YoS themes, their adventures highlighted on the YoS Web site. Although her Stanley partook in the festivities at the Year of Science launch in Boston, as well as the Year of Science launch in San Francisco ... this send away held very special meaning for her. It was here that she had the honor of sharing with her friends how Flat Stanley was going on a journey of her dreams -- to visit scientists that study moose. Stay tuned to follow Stanley's adventures.

Two of our favorite people, Carl Zimmer (guest blogger for January in the Year of Science) and Chris Mooney (one of the intellectual founders of COPUS), are on this week’s Bloggingheads.tv Science Saturday broadcast talking about what to expect in the coming year in science. Another blogger described it as a like a Sunday morning talk show but with smart people.

You can listen to it online or download to your mp3 player.

This post was contributed by: M. Lee Allison, PhD, PG
State Geologist & Director
Arizona Geological Survey
www.azgs.az.gov

In celebration of the Year of Science 2009, Visionlearning (http://www.visionlearning.com) has just published ten new modules within a series titled the Process of Science. These new modules explicitly address the nature and practice of science, offering an answer to the question, “What is science and how does it work?” More information can be found on their Process of Science page.

Thanks to Anthony Carpi for sharing this great resource!!

The great feedback from the new Understanding Science Web site keeps coming in! We particularly loved this latest comment:

As a biology major and now a science educator in a museum, I’m thrilled to have this website as a resource. Thank goodness we can finally talk about creativity and science in the same sentence! I’ve been trying to get folks to see the difference in value between teaching the scientific method (which helps people become very good lab technicians) and teaching skills actual scientisits use such as wondering why and dreaming up ways to gather evidence and test ideas(which can lead to true science thought). Thank you, thank you! K.S.

Thanks for the great feedback!

January 11th marked the 4th anniversary of Family Appreciation Day in San Francisco through which every San Francisco family with children ages 0 to 18 years old receives FREE entrance and transportation to museums and attraction. This year it also marked the first of two Bay Area launch events for the Year of Science 2009. Held at the Crissy Field Center, the launch included the opportunity to explore fossils and natural history objects, examine surface tension, peer into Bay waters, test aerodynamic designs in a wind tunnel, color with natural pigments from plants, and generally reflect on the wonders of science that is all around us. Great fun was had by all!

The second launch event will take place in the South at the Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) on Saturday, Jan. 24, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visit Bay Area Science for more information.

An awesome update from Lee Allison about his Science Friday experience:

Ira Flatow interviewed me this afternoon live on his NPR show, Science Friday (the segment should be available tonight), from New York, as the first story of the new year, talking about 2009 as the Year of Science. We only had less than 10 minutes, but a lot of people must have been listening. I started getting calls and emails within minutes of hanging up the phone. New registrations to COPUS - the organizers of the YoS activities - started rolling in all afternoon.

I just logged on after dinner tonight and found my in box stuffed with
more groups signing on from all over the country as well as from Mali, Australia, and Guatemala. I saw at least a few Arizona organizations
signing up among the participants.

It's energizing to see and hear the interest in engaging the public about science. Judy Scotchmoor, the co-founder of COPUS, and Sheri Potter, our effervescent program leader, are in Boston tonight for the opening of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting on Saturday. Ira Flatow (left) and science writer Carl Zimmer (right, he blogs at Discover magazines The Loom) are featured presenters in a special session to formally launch 2009 as the Year of Science. Sheri told me this afternoon that what was going to be a rather intimate event is mushrooming in attendance. SICB says registration for the conference is up 20% with the YoS events creating a great sense of excitement.

What's my role in all this? Well, in the summer of 2005, Judy and I wrote a short white paper on the need for improving public understanding of science, at the urging of the National Science Foundation. They funded a small workshop that led to formation of COPUS, where I continue to serve on the steering committee. Some influential members of the science community suggested COPUS take the lead in organizing 2009 as a year to celebrate science and the group jumped at the idea.

Judy is the driving force behind the new Understanding Science website, whose roots are in the highly successful and popular Understanding Evolution site. Understanding Science officially goes public next Tuesday but Carl Zimmer is the YoS guest blogger for January and describes some of what he's discovered already in the site.

M. Lee Allison
State Geologist & Director
Arizona Geological Survey
416 W. Congress, #100
Tucson AZ 85701
520-770-3500, fax x3505
www.azgs.az.gov

I received an awesome email from one of our COPUS participants, on how they are celebrating Year of Science 2009. I thought others would enjoy reading about their great plans!

I suggested to another Prof that we (whoever) should make some extra local effort for public understanding of science in 2009. We decided to extend it to humanities and social science as well. He (a Prof in Religion and related historical theory, etc.) and I (a biologist-ecologist-biogeographer) went to the local newspaper, the Lethbridge Herald, and met with the Editors. They were pleased to have a regular column from us. It is called “The Public Professor”. The articles are very short (600 words), but run every Saturday, and meant to show what people in science and academic areas are thinking about, etc. The goal is to make it accessible and to gain public support for the process. In the first one, Jim Linville described the new column. I wrote the next one, which will be published Dec 27, on Darwin’s life (the HMS Beagle left Plymouth on Dec 27). I am writing the second one now, and the topic is the Year of Science, 2009, and with mention of some activities regarding Public Understanding of Science. We are also planning some public lectures and speakers around Darwin Day, and one on Burgess Shale (which is nearby; I’ve been there twice). As the year progresses, we will bring other science authors in. It’s only a small thing, but if scientists did it for every local paper in North America, it would make a big difference.

Email sent by: Dan Johnson University of Lethbridge, Canada