Monday, February 19, 2007

AAAS in San Fran

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is wrapping up its annual national meeting this weekend in San Francisco. If you are interested in the interface between science and society, this is a place to meet folks that are passionate about science. The meeting attracts scientists, educators, policy makers and media from every branch of science, and several peripheral to it (religion, history, economics). There are a number of events that bring folks whose paths may never cross into the same room. I have attended two meetings and found them useful for identifying interdisciplinary projects, meeting people that could help my future career, and canvassing potential speakers for the Forum on Science Ethics and Policy at the UW. In fact four of my FOSEP colleagues are in San Fran now.

Like a lot of the giant science meetings these days, the conference is a time when the media have easier access to potential science stories. In addition to a spike in science stories in your local paper over Presidents' Day weekend, AAAS hosts a news blog, and some other meeting updates. The AAAS website also hosts Eurekalert as a daily science news story resource.

Next year's meeting is in Boston. Hmmmm. Boston in February....

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