Tag Archives: US National Academies of Sciences

Webinar on television and film productions collaborating with scientists

David Bruggeman in an Aug. 26, 2012 posting on his Pasco Phronesis blog features information about a webinar being co-hosted by the National Academies of Sciences (through their Science and Entertainment Exchange initiative) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS),

The Science and Entertainment Exchange, a National Academies program to facilitate connections between entertainment productions and scientists and engineers that could serve as advisers for those productions.  On Wednesday [Aug. 29, 2102], the Exchange is holding a webinar to discuss recent productions and how various films and television programs are trying to maximize entertainment value and the accuracy of scientific and technical information.

Here’s a little more about the webinar from the AAAS event page,

Summer is synonymous with Hollywood blockbusters and the popular genre for these films (more often that not) is science fiction. “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Prometheus,” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” are just three of this summer’s box office heavyweights, each offering over the top special effects meant to wow audiences. But how much of what we are seeing is actually scientifically possible?

… Hollywood’s approach towards science, and scientists, has started to change.

In this hour-long webinar we’ll look at some TV and film collaborations that are bringing scientists and Hollywood professionals together in an effort to create programming that is both entertaining and more scientifically accurate.

Guest Speakers:

Kevin Grazier
Science Advisor/Researcher
NASA

Kevin Grazier is a writer/producer and also currently the science advisor on TNT’s “Falling Skies,” Syfy’s upcoming epic “Defiance,” and next summer’s blockbuster “Gravity.”  He formerly served as science advisor on “Eureka,” the Peabody-award-winning “Battlestar Galactica,” “The Event,” and several other series.  Grazier is a recovering rocket scientist, and spent 15 years on the Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan. Still an active researcher, his research areas are numerical method development and long-term large-scale computer simulations of Solar System dynamics, evolution, and chaos.

David Kirby
Senior Lecturer in Science Communication
University of Manchester, UK

David Kirby is an evolutionary geneticist and senior lecturer in science communication studies at the University of Manchester, UK. He has explored the collaboration between scientists and the entertainment industry and has publications in Social Studies of Science and Public Understanding of Science on this topic. His book Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists and Cinema demonstrates scientists’ impact on the culturally powerful medium of cinema and how these texts have subsequently affected real world science and technology.

Ann Merchant
Deputy Executive Director for Communications
National Academies of Sciences

Ann Merchant is currently the Deputy Executive Director for Communications at the National Academies of Sciences in Washington, D.C., where she is responsible for a number of innovative outreach programs that contribute to an increased public understanding of science. She was instrumental in launching the Science & Entertainment Exchange (“The Exchange”), a program of the National Academy of Sciences that seeks to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers. Merchant is also an adjunct professor at the College of Professional Studies at the George Washington University where she teaches marketing in the masters-level publishing program.

Moderator:

Adam Ruben
Writer/Comedian/Molecular Biologist
Sanaria Inc.

Adam Ruben is a writer, comedian, storyteller, and molecular biologist in Washington, D.C. Ruben currently works at Sanaria Inc., a biotech company in Rockville, Maryland, developing a vaccine for malaria. Ruben has performed stand-up comedy for over ten years at clubs, colleges, and private venues. A former freelance writer for National Lampoon, Ruben is the author of the humor book Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School (Broadway Books, 2010) and the monthly column “Experimental Error” in Science Careers.  He has appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the Food Network’s “Food Detectives,” and the Science Channel’s “Head Rush,” and will soon co-host a new show on the Discovery Channel called “You Have Been Warned.”

You will have to register for the free one hour long webinar which starts 9 am PDT, 12pm [noon] EDT, 5 pmUK on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.

I have written previously about the Science and Entertainment Exchange in my Sept. 6, 2011 posting about the organization’s appearance at the American Chemical Society’s Fall 2011 national meeting and in a May 7, 2010 posting about scientists and their portrayal in movies and other media.