Scenes from Kansas City

Matt Nisbet and I just got back yesterday from our first trip together to do a joint talk: At the spectacularly impressive Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri. The public event (followed by a solo "war on science" dinner's speech by yours truly to the Stowers Institute's principal investigators) went very well. We hope it's the start of great things to come.

Below, a few pictures from the trip...

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Professor Nisbet goes over his talk at the D.C. airport before we catch our flight to Kansas City. (Er, just kidding, he's grading papers.)

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Whoa. The Stowers Institute is the Taj Mahal of biomedical research. It even has its own mini-hotel (photo taken from our accommodations).

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During the day we toured the Institute and had one-on-one meetings with some of its scientists - as well as lunch with the post-docs.

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Then down to business--we begin the talk.....

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....and trade sections....

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....Mooney, Nisbet, Mooney, Nisbet, Mooney, Nisbet.....

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...followed by Q & A, where we're asked about which "frames" we prefer, for advice about how to communicate the stem cell issue in Missouri, about how to structure university communication courses for scientists, and other issues.

Audience members on hand in Kansas City included Dr. Steve Case, who was co-chair of the Kansas science standards writing committee amid the 2005 controversy in the state (he's one of the real good guys on the evolution issue), and fellow ScienceBlogger Josh Rosenau.

Our next talk, open to the public: Monday May 14th, 5 pm, Washington D.C. at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Details here.

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