Discover Blogs: Getting Ready for the USA Science & Engineering Festival

BIG shout out to Discover Magazine Blogs for their coverage of the Festival. For the original article find it here.

by Chris Mooney

This is a guest post by Darlene Cavalier, a writer and senior adviser at Discover Magazine. Darlene holds a Masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a former Philadelphia 76ers cheerleader. She founded ScienceCheerleader.com and cofounded ScienceForCitizens.net to make it possible for lay people to contribute to science.

The USA Science and Engineering Festival is approaching and several preamble events are taking place:

* Discover's Carl Zimmer will be speaking about communicating science in the media at the Koshland Museum on Thursday, 10/15.

* At the same time (ahem) I will be moderating a panel discussion on Tapping the Wisdom of Crowds at George Mason University, in partnership with Discover Magazine, the USA Science and Engineering Festival and ScienceForCitizens.net. Representatives from the White House, Innocentive, Galaxy Zoo, and the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars will be on the panel to discuss and debate the opportunities and the perils of turning everyone into an expert for everything from advancing scientific research to improving public policy to solving today's greatest challenges. Essential Details: Thursday 10/14, GMU, Research 1, Room 163, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA, 7pm-8:30 pm., RSVP: PSNELLIN@GMU.EDU]

Citizen science isn't your thing? Well here's something you've never seen before:

* 10 professional cheerleaders-turned-scientists and engineers will perform science-themed routines and cheers at the USA Science and Engineering Festival on October 23 and 24. These women are playfully challenging stereotypes as they help inspire young women-1.5 million of whom are little cheerleaders-to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. They'll even be signing autographs on their Science Cheerleader trading cards. More information on these remarkable women and this event, can be found here (Yes, Chris, you will also find pictures).

Prefer football to cheerleading? No problem:

* Through a partnership with the NFL, NBC, and the National Science Foundation, Science Cheerleader recently posted the first five of ten Science of NFL Football segments. If you are an educator, this is a sure-fire way to engage your young students in science!