ITHACA, N.Y. -- Graduate students at Cornell University want to make their campus and their surrounding communities more aware of the power of science and the role that science and technology play in decision-making in Washington and the world at large. To spread this awareness, they have invited leading authors and journalists to a one-day conference on campus, May 10, on science communication.

The students and their faculty adviser, Cornell professor of applied mathematics Steven Strogatz, author of the recently published book Sync and a well-known science communicator himself, are inviting all interested people on and off campus to attend the conference. The featured writers, including Ivan Amato, author of Stuff: The Materials the World is Made Of , and journalists Rick Weiss (a 1974 Cornell graduate) of The Washington Post and Robert Krulwich of ABC News, will describe the problems and rewards of successful science communication. The conference will be held in Sage Hall B-09, beginning at 10 a.m. There is no charge.

"This conference is consistent with so much of the spirit of Ithaca, going back to Carl Sagan, in bringing science to the public," says Strogatz. "We would like this event to be held every year and to take its place in the community along with the Sciencenter and the Museum of the Earth."

The conference, "Science for Everyone," is being funded by grants from the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program, which is designed to expand the interdisciplinary backgrounds of scientists, engineers and educators.

Thomas Oberst, an astronomy graduate student who helped organize the workshop, notes that "this conference is for those who have a real interest in communicating science to everyone." He says, "Public perception affects everything from political decisions to what our kids will study in school. At the rate at which science and technology are shaping the world today, it is important that everyone have a respect and understanding for science."

Other speakers will include Barnard College cosmologist Janna Levin, author of How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space; Meredith Small, professor of anthropology at Cornell and author of Our Babies, Ourselves ; Jonathan Miller, a freelance radio producer for National Public Radio; William Calvin, a neurobiologist at the University of Washington and author of A Brain for All Seasons; Human Evolution and Abrupt Climate Change ; and John Brockman, founder of a literary and software agency.

Other organizers are Bruce Lewenstein, Cornell associate professor of communication, and graduate students Monica Gonzalez-Marquez and Dan Graham.

Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability.

"Science for Everyone":http://people.psych.cornell.edu/~djg45/scienceforeveryone/