Science and the Power of a Good Story

Randy Olson began his scientific career with an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Washington and then went on to a PhD program at Harvard studying biology. His dissertation research took him to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to study coral reef ecology, and following his degree postdoctoral studies at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (this included time at McMurdo Sound and scuba diving under the Antarctic ice sheet). In 1988 he accepted a faculty position in the Zoology Department at the University of New Hampshire and received tenured status in 1992. But he soon realized that as much as he loved telling stories OF science, he had an even greater passion for telling stories ABOUT science.  He left for the University of Southern California film school, took up residence in Southern California, devoted considerable time to surfing, and learned to be an actor, director, and film producer. Along the way he discovered what none of his scientific training had given him: how to get people to listen to you. Through media presentations, real life examples from our meeting colleagues, and stories of spectacular failures and occasional successes he will both entertain and teach us how to tell people what we do in a way that they will remember.