Science storytelling show The Story Collider is excited to appear for the first time at the Kraine Theater as part of STEM Fest 2016, featuring five true, personal stories of science in people’s lives.
Stories by:
Summer Ash
Paula Croxson
Frank Kennedy
Mike Pesca
Saad Sarwana
Hosted by Ben Lillie.
Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm.
Summer Ash is the Director of Outreach for Columbia University’s Department of Astronomy. Having been both a rocket scientist and a radio astronomer in the past, she’s now harnessing her powers for science communication to make the Universe a better place. She is the "In-House Astrophysicist" for The Rachel Maddow Show, hosts the Science Forward video series for CUNY, and has written for Scientific American, Slate, and Nautilus Magazine.
Paula Croxson is a neuroscientist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she researches the brain mechanisms and chemicals that are responsible for memory. She's particularly interested in complex, autobiographical life memories. Paula is from the UK and before coming to New York she received an M.A. in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford. When she's not doing science, she plays the flute, and she blogs for Psychology Today.
Frank Kennedy has three key scientific credentials. First, he won an "Honorable Mention" ribbon in his 4th grade science fair, he is married to a Philadelphia School District science teacher, and he is currently using the Scientific Inquiry Method to understand Autism as it effects his family. He is the inaugural winner of a story-telling contest sponsored by Slate's The Gist podcast and has been expertly coached by Matt Dicks, a self-made, story-telling legend from Connecticut. In his spare time, Frank has been locked in the Sewers of Paris, milked a Water Buffalo, cleaned lint from the dryer, graduated from Haverford College, crashed a party thrown by Michael Jordan, earned an MBA in Economic Development from Eastern College, operated a television remote control, danced on the streets of Rio during Carnival, slept on top of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, changed a Movie marquee, prayed with Mother Theresa at her crib in Calcutta, and slid into 700 gallons of Strawberry Jell-O...head first. More recently, Frank founded the Everything is Au-some Foundation to continue his advocacy work for families dealing with the mysterious challenges of Autism. He divides his other entrepreneurial time between business consulting, technical writing, and performing magic professionally. He lives happily near Philadelphia with his wife and two boys, Nathaniel and Calvin.
Mike Pesca is the host of Slate’s The Gist podcast, a daily current events, culture and opinions show. Before becoming Slate’s podcast host, was an NPR correspondent for over 10 years, most of which was spent covering sports. He has guest hosted the public radio programs On the Media, The Brian Lehrer Show, The Leonard Lopate Show, Science Friday, Left Right and Center, Bullseye, On Point, To the Point, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. He has won two Edward R. Murrow broadcasting awards, and regularly appears on MSNBC and CNN.
Saad Sarwana grew up in Pakistan, and moved first to Canada and then eventually to the US to attend graduate school in Physics. He's a professional physicist by day and an amateur standup comedian by night! As a Physicist,Saad has over 30 peer reviewed publications and two US patents. As a comedian Saad has performed over 1000 shows over 20 years. He co-hosts the Science Channel show "Outrageous Acts of Science", Season four starts to air in Feb 2016.