SPS Fabric of the Cosmos Cafe

POSTER

Abstract

Hosted by Brian Greene and based on his best-selling book of the same title, \textit{The Fabric of the Cosmos }is a new four- part NOVA series that explores the deepest mysteries of space and time. The program was kicked-off by 30 ``Cosmic Cafes'' being held around the country funded by an NSF grant which allows SPS-NOVA to fund SPS chapters for these events. During the summer I assisted in planning this kick-off, reviewing and suggesting revisions of resources related to the NOVA series to make them relevant to an SPS audience. I also got to organize and moderate the first ``Cosmic Cafe.'' The Cosmic cafe that I organized was discussion based, with our speaker Dr. James Gates starting with a short talk and then opening the floor up for questions. By organizing a ``Cosmic cafe,'' I got real hand experience about the challenges an SPS chapter would face while organizing a cafe themselves. Based on my experience I shall also discuss the effectiveness of the first ever themed science cafe blitz. A science caf\'{e} is an informal discussion with an expert in a very casual location, usually a restaurant, coffee shop, or a bar. A science cafe is mostly discussion based, but has a lot of freedom for the format. A ``Cosmic'' cafe is a science cafe which is based around the topics discussed in the documentary ``The Fabric of the Cosmos.''

Authors

  • Anish Chakrabarti

    Drury University