Words Matter Science Writing Symposium Set for Tuesday at Caltech

PASADENA, Calif.—Two of the country's most renowned science journalists and a leading expert on robot vehicles will take part in the fifth annual Words Matter Science Writing Symposium at 4 p.m. Tuesday, February 20, in 155 Arms Hall on the California Institute of Technology campus.

This year's guest panelists will be Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Robert Lee Hotz, of the Los Angeles Times, and Michael Shermer, founding director of the Skeptics Society and a regular columnist for Scientific American. The third panelist will be Richard Murray, a professor of engineering at Caltech who leads the school's autonomous vehicle team in the DARPA challenges.

Hotz is the author of Designs on Life: Exploring the New Frontiers of Human Fertility. In addition to the Pulitzer, he has won writing awards from the American Academy for Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union.

Murray is Caltech's Everhart Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems. His teaching and research focus on analysis and design of feedback systems. The recipient of the 2006 Feynman Teaching Prize, he is the author of a textbook, Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers.

Shermer, who is executive director of the Skeptics Society, is also a science correspondent for 89.3 KPCC FM and the author of eight popular science books, including Why People Believe Weird Things and Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design.

Words Matter is a Caltech program that brings a variety of prominent writers to campus for short residencies and special events. For more information about this symposium and Words Matter, go to http://wordsmatter.caltech.edu/symposium.html or call (626) 395-3706.