November 5, 2018
Reminder: Science Communication Week features adventures with 'The Food Explorer'
Science Communication Week is here and features events and programs that explore food and communicate science.
Kansas State University, the Sunset Zoo and other community partners have organized events that start today today and run through Saturday Nov. 10. For a full list of Science Communication Week events, visit k-state.edu/scicomm/events or check the Kansas Science Communication Initiative Facebook page at facebook.com/KansasScienceCommunicationInitiative.
Daniel Stone, author of "The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats," will give the keynote lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, at the Flint Hills Discovery Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.
"The Food Explorer" is a nonfiction account that focuses on Kansas State University alumnus and Manhattan native David Fairchild, a late 19th-century food explorer who traveled the world. He was the son of Kansas State University President George Fairchild.
Other highlights of Science Communication Week include workshops with Jory Weintraub, the science communication director with the Duke Initiative for Science and Society and a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University; a roundtable discussion on communicating science through story and film, led by Rebecca Safran, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado; an improv workshop; and a discussion surrounding CRISPR, anchored by Candace Seeve, science advancement manager at TechAccel.
Science Communication Week also includes the following events related to "The Food Explorer." All events are open to the public.
• The Manhattan Public Library will host a public discussion of "The Food Explorer" at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, at the Manhattan Public Library. William L. Richter, professor emeritus of political science and the university's first associate provost for international programs, will lead the discussion, which will focus on the importance of Fairchild's work in the U.S.
• A university faculty panel discussion of "The Food Explorer" will be from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, in the UMB Theatre at the Beach Museum of Art. The panel discussion will examine the work of Manhattan native sons David Fairchild, Charles Marlatt and Walter Swingle. Panelists include John Ruberson professor and head of the entomology department; Bonnie Lynn-Sherow, associate professor of history; Livia Olsen, academic services librarian at K-State Libraries; Jane Marshall, faculty emeritus in food, nutrition, dietetics and health; and Bill Schapaugh, professor of agronomy.
• Sunset Zoo's Science Saturday at Willie’s Fun Zone and the Science Communication Fellows will offer free family-friendly science activities before the Sunflower Showdown from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the Bramlage Coliseum main concourse.
• The Riley County Historical Society and Museum is offering a driving tour, "Where the Adventure Began: Touring the Home Town of the Food Explorers," beginning Wednesday, Nov. 7. The self-guided driving tour features locations connected to David Fairchild, Charles Marlatt, and other food explorers and innovators with connections to Manhattan and Riley County. Tour information is available at rileycountyks.gov/museum.
• The Manhattan Public Library and the Riley County Historical Society and Museum have organized a free exhibit, "The Food Explorers and their Riley County Connections," at the Riley County Historical Museum. The exhibit highlights the local connection to the food exploration and food safety recounted in "The Food Explorer."
Science Communication Week is part of the Kansas Science Communication Initiative and will incorporate other events such as Research and the State, Science on Tap and family activities at the Saturday, Nov. 10, Sunflower Showdown football game against the University of Kansas.
Campus and community sponsors for Science Communication Week include the Global Food Systems Initiative, the Sunset Zoo, the Flint Hills Discovery Center, the Office of the President, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the K-State Office for the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering, the Center for Engagement and Community Development, the Chapman Center for Rural Studies, the Department of Plant Pathology, the College of Arts and Sciences, TechAccel, the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and K-State Libraries.