Lectures
Penn State Intercom......July 12, 2001

'AstroFest 2001' offers
astronomy activities

A free festival of astronomy for all ages will be held concurrent with the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. The third annual "AstroFest," sponsored by the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, will be conducted from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. through Saturday, July 14, on the University Park campus.

This year's event will be highlighted by a special public lecture by Frank Drake, chairman of the board of directors of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute. His free lecture, titled "The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life," will be presented at 4 p.m. Saturday, July 14, in 100 Thomas Building.

Drake's talk is the culmination of the 2000-2001 Friedman Lecture Series, which focuses on "Origins in Astronomy." In his lecture, Drake will discuss the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe and describe efforts to detect radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. In addition, Drake will speak about the great potential of the Allen Telescope Array, which has a greater than 10,000-square-meter collecting area using the combined power of 350 six-meter-diameter antennas.

All ages are welcome to look at the stars and to participate in a variety of activities during "AstroFest." Activities and events are free and will be conducted rain or shine in classrooms and in the planetarium on the fifth floor of Davey Laboratory. If the weather is clear, visitors may gaze through 10 telescopes on the roof of Davey Laboratory.

Special activities for children are planned from 8:30 to 9:45 p.m. each night, and families also may enjoy the regular demonstrations, picture shows and planetarium programs.

Wilkes-Barre to be host of
international conference

"The XVIII Surveying and Mapping Educators Conference 2001: A Spatial Odyssey" will be held July 15-19 at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. State Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski will present the keynote address for this international conference.

Since 1937, surveying educators have met informally at host institutions to discuss common problems and efforts in surveying education. Issues include curriculum planning; course content; teaching methods; suitability of textbooks and other teaching resource materials; laboratory and equipment support; requirements for surveying educators; educational requirements needed for the practice of surveying; and many other pedagogical issues.

This year's conference will bring presenters from Denmark, Australia, Spain, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Canada. In addition, most of the institutions in the United States offering baccalaureate degrees in surveying will be represented.

For more information, call Charles Ghilani at (570) 675-9127 or e-mail cdg3@psu.edu.

An overview of the conference can be viewed on the Web at http://surveying.wb.psu.edu/suredu/.

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