May 31, 2012

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I’m at the 2012 World Science Festival!

The 2012 World Science Festival runs from May 30 – June 3, and I am here in New York City attending some of the events. Last night I got the chance to attend Icarus at the Edge of Time, a film that featured a score composed by Philip Glass and performed live by Orchestra of [...]

By Princess Ojiaku

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

The 2012 World Science Festival runs from May 30 - June 3, and I am here in New York City attending some of the events.

Last night I got the chance to attend Icarus at the Edge of Time, a film that featured a score composed by Philip Glass and performed live by Orchestra of St. Luke’s. I also got to briefly chat with narrator LeVar Burton, filmmakers Al + Al, and the co-founder of the festival, Tracy Day. I'll write more about that experience in a forthcoming post.

This morning I got up bright and early to attend the announcement of the 2012 Kavli Prizes, streamed live from Oslo, Norway. I did some excited tweeting about attending the event, especially when one of the Kavli Prize winners in Neuroscience, Cornelia Bargmann, was present at the announcement of her award.

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Tonight, I'll head to Madness Redefined: Creativity, Intelligence and the Dark Side of the Mind to hear about the links between creativity, madness, and intelligence. This is a topic I've always wondered a little about myself, as the stereotypes of musicians, writers, and scientists usually fits within those descriptive nouns.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the event Reawakening the Brain through Music. As you might guess, I am EXTREMELY excited about getting to hear Oliver Sacks speak, and Petr Janata at UC Davis was one professor I seriously considered working with for doctorate research. The speakers at the event also include musician Stanley Jordan and music therapist Concetta Tomaino. It's safe to say I can't wait to attend.

The final World Science Festival event I'll attend, Cool Jobs, is on Saturday afternoon. This event highlights scientists with cool jobs, and scientifically-themed rapper Baba Brinkman is one of those featured. I'm hoping that he will bust out a few rhymes during the event!

There are a few more events on Sunday the 3rd, but I'll be heading back home to Durham then. I'm excited to be writing about these events and hope that you get a chance to check out some of the World Science Festival too!

About Princess Ojiaku

Hey there! I'm a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin Madison in the Neuroscience and Public Policy program. I'm also a musician who played in two bands in North Carolina, one called Pink Flag and another called Deals. My personal passions are science, music, and cycling as transportation.

I got into science as a kid while tagging along and watching my mom do experiments in her lab. I found that while I loved science, I didn't want to be alone in an ivory tower, crunching data that few others would understand. I also noticed that many other people thought science was this scary and incomprehensible entity of obscurity. When I realized that there were people working to make science fun and accessible to everyone, I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do. The two things I find the most immensely interesting and continually impressing are music and neuroscience, so these are the topics that I'll focus on in my blog. Philosophy and politics are my second loves, so I might pop in an occasional post on these topics as well. Ultimately I am here to share things that give me wonder. I hope that reading Science with Moxie gives you a bit of that wonder too.

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