Daniel Steinberg, Ph.D., is the Education Director for the Princeton Center for Complex Materials and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials. He joined Princeton University to direct science education programs in 2000 and leads dozens of education and outreach programs for teachers, students, and the public. Steinberg was an operations astronomer for the Hubble Space Telescope prior to joining Princeton. Scientists and engineers from the Princeton Center for Complex Materials and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials will also participate.
November 30 and December 14, 2017 - 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Daniel J. Steinberg, Ph.D., Princeton Center for Complex Materials
We will explore how interdisciplinary science really works in a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research center at Princeton University. With most research today being collaborative and interdisciplinary, this seminar will focus on how interdisciplinary science and engineering research are conducted at Princeton University. We will provide an opportunity to gather insight into some science and engineering practices employed in modern research. The NSF funded Princeton Center for Complex Materials has three interdisciplinary research groups on the cutting edge of physics, chemistry, engineering, materials science and technology to benefit society. It has a mission to “advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning.” This includes a broader impact mission to help society in part by communicating science to all. In addition to science research lectures and tours, we will discuss and experience how scientists are now prepared to communicate and share their science with non-expert audiences at all levels as well as other experts.
Teachers will meet and have discussions with professors in engineering, physics, chemistry, and material science about research and ethics in science. Tours of research labs and facilities will be included. We will converse about aspects of interdisciplinary research and how it really happens in the lab. Furthermore, we will also discuss many new initiatives to improve science communication.