How And Why Science

Makes The News

DANBURY — Cornelia Dean, senior science writer for The New York Times and author of an acclaimed book on scientific and public policy issues in managing America’s coastal resources, will discuss what makes science “newsworthy,” and why some science stories never make the morning newspaper or evening television news, in a lecture Thursday, April 12, at Western Connecticut State University.

Ms Dean, who previously served as The Times’ chief science editor, will explain “How and Why Science Makes the News” as part of WestConn’s spring semester Science-at-Night series, sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences to promote wider public understanding and informed public policy on significant topics of scientific research. Ms Dean’s talk will begin at 7 pm and will be in WCSU’s Science Building Room 125. The building is on the midtown campus, near the corner of Osborne Street and Dr James Roach Avenue.

Admission is free.

Ms Dean is the author of the critically acclaimed 1999 book Against the Tide: The Battle for America’s Beaches, which was named a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year and received Honorable Mention for the Library Journal’s Best Book of the Year award. Against the Tide combined dramatic factual accounts of natural disasters with painstaking research of scientific studies to provide a comprehensive portrait of coastal erosion, beachfront destruction, and the consequences of human intervention and economic development for the future of America’s coastline.

In addition to her successful career as a journalist and author, Ms Dean has shared her insights on science, public policy, and journalism as a visiting instructor and lecturer at colleges across the Northeast. During the 2003-04 academic year, she held a fellowship at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

She also has taught seminars and classes at Vassar College, the University of Rhode Island, and the Columbia University School of Journalism. Her professional affiliations include memberships on the Corporation Board of Trustees of Brown University and the advisory board of the Metcalf Institute for Environmental and Marine Reporting.

For more information, call Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr Jennifer Frederick at 837-9365.