Actor, communicator Alan Alda to lecture, give workshops

Alan Alda
Alda

Actor, director and writer Alan Alda will return to campus May 16-18 to deliver a free public talk, “Getting Beyond a Blind Date With Science,” Monday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Bailey Hall. The lecture will cover ways to effectively communicate science so anyone can understand it.

Free tickets are required and will be available at the following locations beginning Tuesday, April 26:

  • Willard Straight Hall Resource Center
  • Carpenter Hall Dean’s Suite
  • 420 Physical Sciences Building
  • Ithaca Visitor Center

Remaining tickets will be available at Bailey Hall one hour prior to the event.

While many remember Alda as Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce from the hit TV show “M*A*S*H,” it was his stint as host of PBS’s “Scientific American Frontiers” that led to his interest in communicating science. Alda has been using that experience to help scientists relate their work, ideas and concepts more effectively to the media, philanthropists, policymakers and the public.

He played a pivotal role in creating Stony Brook University’s Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, which uses improvisational theater and other techniques in workshops designed to help scientists communicate clearly and engagingly. The workshops were held at Cornell in 2013 and will be offered again in May to researchers and associates of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, which is hosting Alda’s visit.

Media Contact

Syl Kacapyr