CCNY Faculty, Alumni Join World Science Festival

The City College of New York will be well represented at the World Science Festival, which runs June 10 – 14, with some of CCNY’s prominent scientists and alumni participating in the program.  The Festival aims to cultivate public interest, awareness and support for science by taking it out of the laboratory and into the streets, theaters, museums, and public halls of New York City.  Participating presenters include entertainers, writers and artists, as well as scientists.

Nobel Laureate and CCNY Alumnus Leon Lederman, ’43, will participate in “Matter: Stories of Atoms and Eves,” a panel discussion in which Nobel prize-winning scientists, renowned writers and esteemed artists tell on-stage stories about their personal relationship with science.  It will take place Friday evening, June 12, at The Players Club.

Ofer Tchernichovski, Associate Professor of Biology and Director of CCNY’s Animal Behavior Laboratory, will take part in another panel session, “Avian Einsteins.” Panelists include biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers, musicians and writers, who will explore how striking parallels between bird and human brains are providing new insights into how we acquire language and links between hearing and movement.  It will occur Saturday, June 13, at New York University’s Skirball Center.

The NOAA-CREST Center will present a hands-on weather activity as part of the Festival’s Street Fair in Washington Square Park, Sunday, June 14.  Participants will experience the Coriolis effect first hand, make personal clouds appear in a bottle and visualize what it is that makes the wind blow.    

For information on attending World Science Festival events, including purchasing tickets, visithttp://www.worldsciencefestival.com/.