The Center for Inquiry Institute and CFI—Tallahassee 
are proud to host a two-day conference on

Science for Everyone
Promoting Science Education
and Skeptical Inquiry

October 14-15, 2011

Aloft Hotel
200 North Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32308

Click Here to Register!

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Scientific research and education is a powerful driver of social progress and public well-being. Yet new scientific discoveries can't translate into helpful technologies unless the public is able and willing to understand and use them. This task of educating the public and generating enthusiasm for science is hard enough, even without the anti-science forces so prevalent today. Thus we must engage the scientifically illiterate while fending off those dogmatic opponents who block tomorrow's research with yesterday's myths. 

Speakers at this CFI Institute will explain how science and skeptical inquiry is for everyone and how poignant science education can translate into necessary and effective political activism. Join us for an insightful and energizing day full of experience and wisdom from prominent leaders fighting for science on every front.

Speakers include:

Richard Carrier, Ph.D., is the renowned author of Sense and Goodness without God and Not the Impossible Faith, as well as numerous articles online and in print. He received his PhD in ancient history from Columbia University in 2008, and now specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism, the origins of Christianity, and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome. For more about him and his work visit www.richardcarrier.info.

Sir Harry Kroto, Ph.D. is currently a Francis Eppes professor of Chemistry at Florida State University, where he is carrying out research in nanoscience and cluster chemistry as well as developing exciting new Internet approaches to STEM educational outreach. In 1996 he was knighted for his contributions to chemistry and later that year was one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their discovery of C60 Buckminsterfullerene—a new form of carbon. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and holds an emeritus professorship at the University of Sussex in Brighton, United Kingdom. In 1995 he launched the Vega Science Trust, and later initiated the Global Educational Outreach for Science, Engineering, and Technology program (GEOSET). GEOSET seeks to exploit the revolutionary creative dynamics the Internet (which he calls the GooYouWiki-World) to improve the general level of science teaching worldwide. His website is at www.kroto.info.

Joe Nickell, Ph.D. is Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and "Investigative Files" columnist for Skeptical Inquirer. A former stage magician, private investigator, and teacher, he is author of numerous books, including Inquest on the Shroud of Turin (1998), Pen, Ink and Evidence (2003), Unsolved History (2005) and Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (2007). He has appeared in many television documentaries and has been profiled in The New Yorker and on NBC's Today Show. His personal website is at www.joenickell.com.

John Shook, Ph.D. is director of education and senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry Transnational in Amherst, N.Y., and research associate in philosophy at the University at Buffalo, since 2006. Prior to joining CFI, Dr. Shook was a professor of philosophy at the University of Oklahoma. He has authored and edited more than a dozen books about naturalism, pragmatism, and humanism. His most recent books are The God Debates (2010) and The Essential William James (as editor, 2011).

Rebecca Watson leads a team of skeptical female activists at Skepchick.org and appears regularly on the Curiosity Aroused podcast, the weekly Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe podcast, and the Little Atoms radio show. She travels around the world delivering entertaining talks on science, atheism, feminism, and skepticism. There is currently an asteroid orbiting the Sun with her name on it.

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Click Here to Register!

Conference program is scheduled for:
Friday, October 14: 7:30pm-9:30pm (reception)
Saturday, October 15: 8:30am-5pm (program)

Attention:
Due to the time required by the hotel for preparation, registrations submitted from now until
the conference will not include lunch. Discounted registration is now available:
$40 for the public, $20 for students (valid student ID required)

Lodging at the Aloft Hotel is available for the nights before and after the conference at the rate of $109 per day ($5/day for a parking space).  Rooms may be reserved by calling 850-513-0313 and requesting the "Center for Inquiry Institute" block.

For more information about the CFI Institute, please visit our web site.
Specific questions? Email a CFI Institute representative
or call us at (716) 636-4869 ext. 408