How to Write About Science and Technology to a Lay Audience

Lee Gutkind
Professor of English
University of Pittsburgh
Editor and Founder
Creative Nonfiction Journal

Thursday, April 12, 2007
2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
SS109 (through white doors
next to Institute for Humanities Research)

Lee Gutkind has pioneered the teaching of creative nonfiction, conducting workshops and presenting readings throughout the United States, as well as being the former director of the writing program at the University of Pittsburg and currently Professor of English there. Harper’s Magazine has credited Gutkind as being the founder of the creative nonfiction movement, in which he frequently crosses genres as a writer, editor and reporter. Gutkind is a published novelist, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and has served as a consulting editor at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., teaching narrative techniques to reporters, producers and editors at the Science Desk.

Gutkind's latest book, Almost Human: Making Robots Think, is slated for release in March 2007 from Norton. Almost Human goes behind the scenes at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, offering a remarkable, intense portrait of the robotic subculture and the challenging quest for robot autonomy. Gutkind spent six years as a self-described “fly on the wall” watching a group of grad students and scientists try to develop human movement and decision-making capabilities in their creations.

The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU) is affiliated with the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes (CSPO), in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. CNS-ASU research, education and outreach activities are supported by the National Science Foundation under cooperative agreement #0531194.

Contact Information:
Joi Trottier
Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University
PO Box 874401
Tempe, AZ 85287-4401
480-965-7074