University of Arkansas Announces Schedule for National Science Writers Conference

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University of Arkansas has announced the schedule for the 42^nd annual meeting of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW) to be held Nov. 7-10, 2004, at the University of Arkansas Center for Continuing Education.

The program will feature UA researchers, including Brent Smith, sociology; Donald Judges, law; Fred Stephen, entomology; Steve Stephenson, biological sciences; Fred Spiegel, biological sciences; Peter Ungar, anthropology; Laurent Bellaiche, physics; Jerry Havens, chemical engineering; and Jean-Francois Meullenet, food science. In addition, there will be researchers from the Department of Defense, the University of California Berkeley, the National Institutes of Health, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the University of California, San Diego, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Joint Global Change Research Institute.

"We are delighted that CASW is coming, and we are committed to working with them to present one of the most stimulating conferences the organization has ever had," said UA Chancellor John A. White, who will present welcoming remarks.

"We know this conference will provide an opportunity for us to showcase the University's research achievements and the compelling qualities of Northwest Arkansas for the best science writers in America," he added. "The effects of the conference will last for years, advancing the academic reputation of the university, with related implications for the economic development of our region and state."

Last year's CASW conference, called the "New Horizons in Science Briefing," was held in late October, jointly hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratories and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Two years ago, David W. Stahle, professor of geosciences at the University of Arkansas, was one of the featured scientists, speaking on "Rings of Truth: Ancient Trees, the Environment, and Human Affairs."

CASW is composed of science writers from the national news media, scientific agencies and organizations, and research universities.

The conference features outstanding scientists, not only from the host institution but also from the nation and world, who can present information about new research programs that are not yet on the front page. These briefings give science writers an opportunity to explore emerging lines of scientific research before they make it into the public domain.

The University of Arkansas was notified of its successful bid in a letter from Ben Patrusky, CASW executive director. In it, he expressed the "enthusiastic" acceptance of the CASW board for coming to Fayetteville.

"Your bid proved quite persuasive," Patrusky wrote. "There is little doubt that the University of Arkansas is bursting with terrific scientific/technological talent and first-rate stories, thus making your institution a choice venue for the briefing . let me assure you, based on my long years of organizing these briefings, that there is probably no more effective means of alerting the national (and world) press-and through them the public-of Arkansas' scientific prowess."

Members of the CASW board of directors include: Jerry Bishop, Wall Street Journal; Robert Murray, Howard University; Paul Raeburn, freelance; Christine Russell, freelance; Philip Boffey, New York Times; Lewis Cope, freelance; Barbara Culliton, Genome News Network/Celera Genomics; Arthur Fisher, Popular Science; Roald Hoffman, Cornell University; Fred Jerome, Gene Media Forum; Warren Leary, New York Times; Leon Lederman, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy; Polly Matzinger, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH; David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle; Charles Petit, U.S. News & World Report; Joanne Rodgers, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions; Carole Rogers, University of Maryland; Albert Rosenfeld, freelance; and Tom Siegfried, Dallas Morning News.

The University of Arkansas has been an active participant in CASW since 1998.