Center for Science and the Imagination
Science Fiction Cuisine with Corey S. Pressman: Fast-Forward Fermentation
updated
"Unnatural Disasters" collects the scariest stories published in the pages of Orion. Featuring work by writers including Jesse Ball, Samantha Hunt, and Lauren Groff, as well as LaValle and Machado, the anthology explores nature’s dark side: strange phenomena, unforgiving and unwelcoming environments, peril and risk, decay and collapse.
To learn more about "Unnatural Disasters" and order a copy, visit orionmagazine.org/product/unnatural-disasters-tales-of-enchantment-danger-and-survival-from-orion-magazine.
About the Speakers:
Victor LaValle is the author of the short story collection "Slapboxing with Jesus," five novels, including "The Ecstatic" and "Big Machine," and two novellas, "Lucretia and the Kroons" and "The Ballad of Black Tom." He is also the creator and writer of two comic books, "Victor LaValle’s Destroyer" and "Eve." In 2023, his novel "The Changeling" was adapted into a series starring LaKeith Stanfield for Apple TV+. He has been the winner of the World Fantasy Award, Bram Stoker Award, and Shirley Jackson Award.
Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir "In the Dream House," the graphic novel "The Low, Low Woods," and the short story collection "Her Body and Other Parties." She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize and the Lambda Literary Awards for Lesbian Fiction and LGBTQ Nonfiction. Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Vogue, This American Life, The Believer, Guernica, and elsewhere.
Christopher Cox is the co-editor of "Unnatural Disasters" and editor-at-large at Orion Magazine. He is the former editor of Harper’s Magazine and a former senior editor of The Paris Review. Work that he has edited has won the National Magazine Award, the PEN Literary Award for Journalism, an Overseas Press Club award, and has been included in several Best American collections.
The event is introduced by Joey Eschrich, managing editor at the Center for Science and the Imagination.
About Orion Magazine:
Orion Magazine invites readers into a community of caring for the planet. Through writing and art that explore the connection between nature and culture, Orion inspires new thinking about how humanity might live on Earth justly, sustainably, and joyously. Learn more at https://orionmagazine.org.
About the Center for Science and the Imagination:
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more at https://csi.asu.edu.
A Science Fiction Sparkle Salon!
In this episode, Malka Older (The Mimicking of Known Successes), Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Empire), Karen Lord (the Cygnus Beta Novels and The Blue, Beautiful World), and Katie Mack (The End of Everything) discuss what it means to foster culture and community as a writer and a number of other intriguing topics!
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The Science Fiction Sparkle Salon is hosted by Dr. Malka Older and presented by ASU's Center for Science and the Imagination.
The show is edited and produced by Om Gawali. Title and graphics by Meg Frank.
About our special guests:
Leigh Alexander is an award-winning writer working at the intersection of technology and storytelling. She is a narrative designer for video games, a fiction author, an acclaimed critic of play, media, and culture, and a consultant for how to tell stories through design and interactive media. She has written for games including "Reigns: Her Majesty," "Reigns: Game of Thrones," "Love Island," "Neo Cab," and "Where the Water Tastes Like Wine." Her fiction has appeared in Slate and the anthology "RESIST: Tales from a Future Worth Fighting Against," and her journalism and criticism have appeared in the BBC’s Radio 4, Slate, Gizmodo, The Guardian, and New York Magazine. Learn more at https://leighalexander.net.
Mia Armstrong-López is a managing editor at Arizona State University, where she coordinates editorial projects focused on health, science, and justice. She also collaborates with researchers to translate their work into essays and articles that are accessible to the general public. Her writing has been featured in national and international outlets including the New York Times, Slate, the Marshall Project, Letras Libres, Nexos, and Reforma. She has taught journalism, English, and writing at universities in Mexico and the U.S. and prisons in Arizona. She holds degrees in journalism and international relations from ASU and is a Fulbright García Robles grantee. Learn more at https://miaaarmstrong.com.
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more and sign up for email updates about publications, events, and projects at https://csi.asu.edu.
Thanks to Om Gawali for expert editing and postproduction.
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
Watch other CSI Skill Tree episodes: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN5muqvLAASr3XmjnUyXUnnShIPzlTfkp
About our special guests:
Souvik Mukherjee is an assistant professor in Cultural Studies at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, in Calcutta, India. Souvik is the author of three books: “Videogames and Storytelling: Reading Games and Playing Books”; “Videogames and Postcolonialism: Empire Plays Back,” and most recently, “Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: Development, Culture(s) and Representations.” He is currently working on a book project on Indian board games and colonialism. In 2019, he was named a distinguished scholar by the Digital Games Research Association, or DiGRA, and was a Higher Education Video Game Alliance Fellow in 2022. Learn more at cssscal.org/faculty_souvik.php.
Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay is an associate professor in the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo, and the principal investigator and lead for CoFUTURES, an international research group on global futures funded by the European Research Council. He runs the Holodeck games research lab at the University of Oslo, and he co-founded the research collective Theory from the Margins. He is the co-editor of the books “Indian Genre Fiction: Pasts and Future Histories” and “The Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms,” which explores visions of possible futures arising from non-Western cultures and histories. He joined us on a previous episode of CSI Skill Tree to discuss “Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri”: youtu.be/OhAiz4t3gEc. Learn more at https://cofutures.org.
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more and sign up for email updates about publications, events, and projects at https://csi.asu.edu.
The ASAP Lesson Plan Archive is a free, permanent resource accessible to all STEM teachers in Arizona and beyond, consisting of the best STEM lesson plans submitted by our Fellows, as we work to provide all teachers with high quality lessons to enhance STEM curriculum and STEM Education Ecosystems for years to come!
🌎The FREE ASAP Lesson Plan Archive: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/stem-lesson-plans
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
Programs like the ones provided by STEMteachersPHX are accelerating Arizona’s STEM education ecosystem and providing innovative learning and training opportunities for teachers statewide. Learn more about the Arizona STEM Acceleration Project (ASAP) at https://stemteachers.asu.edu.
ASAP would like to thank AFA Tucson President Col. Wally Saeger and all of our volunteers and partners, including Starbase Arizona, Civil Air Patrol, DoD STEM, Boeing, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), for participating in this two-day event.
Collaborations such as these are accelerating Arizona’s STEM education ecosystem and providing innovative learning and training opportunities for teachers statewide. Learn more about the Arizona STEM Acceleration Project at https://stemteachers.asu.edu.
Collaborations such as these are accelerating Arizona’s STEM education ecosystem and providing innovative learning and training opportunities for teachers statewide. Learn more about ASAP at https://stemteachers.asu.edu.
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
About our special guests:
Siyang Gao is a writer, translator, and video game localizer who specializes in narrative-heavy video games. He runs a one-man localization studio from his home in Pennsylvania.
Emily Xueni Jin is an essayist and translator who translates both from Chinese to English and the other way around. She is a PhD candidate in East Asian Languages and Literature at Yale University, where her research focuses on Chinese science fiction, translation, language, and technology.
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more and sign up for email updates about publications, events, and projects at https://csi.asu.edu.
Special thanks to Devan Hakkal for editing this video.
This film is a trailer for The Climate Action Almanac. To read the book, visit https://www.climatealmanac.org.
Partial Credits (see 05:40 for full credits):
Director: Taryn O’Neill
Screenwriters: Tamara Krinsky and Taryn O’Neill
Producers: Tamara Krinsky and Taryn O’Neill
Executive Producers: Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich
Line Producer: Tamara Krinsky
Associate Producer / ASU Faculty Advisor: Jason Davids Scott
Cinematographer: Josh Belveal
Editor: Josh Belveal
Production Sound: Daniel Reddick
VFX Artist: Elizabeth Leung
Music and stock footage licensed through Motion Array.
To learn more about Scirens, visit https://scirens.com.
To learn more about the Center for Science and the Imagination, visit https://csi.asu.edu.
A Science Fiction Sparkle Salon!
In this episode, Malka Older (The Mimicking of Known Successes), Annalee Newitz (Four Lost Cities), Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Empire), Karen Lord (the Cygnus Beta Novels and The Blue, Beautiful World), and Katie Mack (The End of Everything) discuss populism and democracy and whatever else they feel like talking about.
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The Science Fiction Sparkle Salon is hosted by Dr. Malka Older and presented by ASU's Center for Science and the Imagination.
The show is edited and produced by Devan Hakkal. Title and graphics by Meg Frank.
The Lesson Plans submitted by our Fellows enter into the ASAP Lesson Plan archive, a free resource accessible to all STEM teachers in Arizona and beyond, as we work to provide all teachers with free lessons to enhance their STEM curriculum!
🌎The FREE ASAP Lesson Plan Archive: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/stem-lesson-plans
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
To read a short essay on "Hypnospace Outlaw" coauthored by our guests, Katherine Buse and Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal, visit https://mailchi.mp/asu.edu/imaginarypapers16-dec2023.
About our special guests:
Katherine Buse is assistant professor of Cinema and Media Studies and a researcher at the Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization at the University of Chicago. She writes and teaches about digital media, technoscience, science fiction, and environmental issues. Learn more at https://www.katherinebuse.com.
Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal is Ruth and Paul Idzik Collegiate Chair in Digital Scholarship and assistant professor of English and Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame. He researches the politicoeconomic and sociocultural entanglements of our technological worlds. Learn more at https://www.ranjodhdhaliwal.com.
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more and sign up for email updates about publications, events, and projects at https://csi.asu.edu.
The Lesson Plans submitted by our Fellows enter into the ASAP Lesson Plan archive, a free resource accessible to all STEM teachers in Arizona and beyond, as we work to provide all teachers with free lessons to enhance their STEM curriculum!
🌎The FREE ASAP Lesson Plan Archive: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/stem-lesson-plans
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
Featuring speakers Mike Vargas and Amanda Whitehurst, our project Convergence Leads, this webinar has everything you need to know about Year 2!
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
On July 11, 2023 Orion Magazine and ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination joined forces to probe these mycological mysteries with biologist and author Merlin Sheldrake, scholar and naturalist Kaitlin Smith, best-selling novelist Jeff VanderMeer and author and lecturer Corey Pressman. Together they discussed the fascinating and sometimes contradictory ways in which mushrooms are shaping our cultures and our world.
About the panelists:
Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist and author of Entangled Life, a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and winner of the Royal Society Book Prize and the Wainwright Prize. Merlin is a research associate of the Vrije University Amsterdam and works with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks and the Fungi Foundation.
Kaitlin Smith is a writer, scholar, naturalist, and founder of Storied Grounds—a Boston-based venture that delivers outdoor learning experiences and virtual tools that foster connection to place through folk knowledge and humanistic ideas. Kaitlin is also a Ph.D student in History of Science at Harvard and lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Called “the weird Thoreau” by the New Yorker, Jeff VanderMeer has written many bestselling and award-winning works of fiction, including the Southern Reach trilogy. His nonfiction on the environment has appeared in Orion, The Nation, Current Affairs, the Los Angeles Times, Esquire, and more.
Corey Pressman is an artist, author, and teacher at the school of integrative health and wellness at the University of Portland. His work at the university focuses on finding ways, through imagination, to manage stress and compassion fatigue for caregivers.
About Orion Magazine:
Orion magazine invites readers into a community of caring for the planet. Through writing and art that explore the connection between nature and culture, Orion inspires new thinking about how humanity might live on Earth justly, sustainably, and joyously. Learn more at orionmagazine.org
About the Center for Science and the Imagination:
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more at https://csi.asu.edu.
Watch all CSI Skill Tree episodes: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN5muqvLAASr3XmjnUyXUnnShIPzlTfkp
About our special guests:
Gareth Damian Martin is the developer of “Citizen Sleeper” and the game “In Other Waters,” both developed through their one-person studio, Jump Over the Age. They are the founding editor of Heterotopias, a zine covering video games and architecture. They hold a PhD in experimental literature from Royal Holloway, University of London. Learn more at jumpovertheage.com and https://citizensleeper.com.
Phoebe Wagner is a writer, academic, and editor of three solarpunk anthologies, including “Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk & Eco-Speculation” and “Almanac for the Anthropocene: A Compendium of Solarpunk Futures.” She holds a PhD in literature and teaches creative writing at Lycoming College. Learn more at https://phoebe-wagner.com.
CSI Skill Tree is hosted by Joey Eschrich, managing editor at the Center for Science and the Imagination.
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more at https://csi.asu.edu.
In this fourth panel in the series, held on June 14, 2023, we discuss “Future of [X]” projects, a growing trend of efforts from think tanks, companies, academics, and activists that use collections of science-fictional short stories, artwork, and essays to help policymakers and the public better imagine a variety of potential futures on a particular topic. What makes for an effective “Future of [X]” project, broadening our thinking and supporting decision-making about our shared technological future?
To learn more about the Applied Sci-Fi Project, visit https://csi.asu.edu/applied-sci-fi.
Our panelists:
Annalee Newitz writes science fiction and nonfiction. They are the author of three novels including “Autonomous,” which won the Lambda Literary Award, and two books of science journalism including “Scatter, Adapt and Remember,” a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in science. They have a monthly column in New Scientist and they co-host the Hugo Award–winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.
Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times–bestselling and World Fantasy Award–winning author. His novels and almost one hundred stories have been translated into nineteen different languages. He has been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, and Astounding Award for Best New Science Fiction Author. Born in the Caribbean, he currently lives in Ohio.
August Cole is the author of the novels “Ghost Fleet” and “Burn In,” both with Peter W. Singer. He is a managing partner at Useful Fiction, a consultancy that works on futures projects. He is a nonresident fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Creativity, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center on Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council.
Amy Johnson is a visiting research fellow at MIT’s Language & Technology Lab and a research affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, where she explores speculative approaches to technology and social change. She holds a PhD from MIT and is a member of SFWA and Codex; her stories and poetry have appeared in Lightspeed, Diabolical Plots, Escape Pod, and Fantasy Magazine, among others, and she edited the “Drones & Dreams” and “Stories from (Un)Identified Worlds” anthologies.
Tory Stephens creates opportunities that transform organizations and shift culture. He is a resource generator and community builder for social justice issues, people, and movements. He currently works at Grist Magazine as their climate fiction creative manager, and uses storytelling to champion climate justice and imagine green, clean, and just futures. In another life he owned a kick-butt streetwear company, and he would have gotten away with eating the last cookie too, if it weren’t for his three meddling kids.
Moderator:
Joey Eschrich is the managing editor for the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, and an assistant director of Future Tense, a partnership of Slate, ASU, and New America that explores emerging technologies, policy, and society. He coedited the collection “Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities,” supported by a grant from NASA, and “Cities of Light,” created in collaboration with the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The Lesson Plans submitted by our Fellows enter into the ASAP Lesson Plan archive, a free resource accessible to all STEM teachers in Arizona and beyond, as we work to provide all teachers with free lessons to enhance their STEM curriculum!
🌎The FREE ASAP Lesson Plan Archive: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/stem-lesson-plans
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
About our special guests:
Pamela Carralero is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Humanities at Kettering University and a climate resilience practitioner. Her practice-based research focuses on building climate change resilience at the community level; her scholarship investigates how ecocriticism informs the communication and experience of climate risk. Learn more at https://www.pcarralero.com.
Matthew Derby is a writer and designer whose credits include the scripted podcast “Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind,” the feature film “Gone in the Night,” and “The Silent History,” an interactive novel designed and written for iOS devices. He has served as an editor at The Believer and is a game designer at Harmonix/Epic Games. Learn more at https://matthewderby.com.
About the Center for Science and the Imagination: The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more at https://csi.asu.edu and follow the Center on Twitter at @imaginationASU.
In this third panel in the series, held on December 8, 2022, we explore the past, present, and future of strategic foresight practice, map the similarities and differences between strategic foresight and science fiction, and consider how to leverage both fields to help us collaboratively design a better tomorrow.
To learn more about the Applied Sci-Fi Project, visit https://csi.asu.edu/applied-sci-fi.
Our panelists:
Jane McGonigal (@avantgame) is the New York Times bestselling author of “Reality is Broken,” “SuperBetter,” and “Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything, Even Things That Seem Impossible Today.” She directs social simulations, Future Scenario Club, Storytime for Futurists, monthly signals of hope scavenger hunts, and more futures fun at Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California.
Madeline Ashby (@madelineashby) is a science fiction writer, futurist, speaker, teacher, and immigrant living in Toronto. She has worked with Intel Labs, the Institute for the Future, SciFutures, Nesta, Data & Society, The Atlantic Council, the Center for Science and the Imagination, Changeist, and others. She is the author of the Machine Dynasty series, and her novel “Company Town” was a Canada Reads finalist. She is also a contributor to “How To Future: Leading and Sense-making in an Age of Hyperchange,” with Scott Smith.
Steven Weber (@bw_strat) is a partner at Breakwater Strategy and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He focuses on the political economy of knowledge-intensive industries, with special attention to information technology, finance, health care, and global political economy issues relating to competitiveness. He is a frequent contributor to scholarly and public policy debates on international politics and U.S. foreign policy. One of the world’s most expert practitioners of scenario planning, Weber has worked with more than 50 companies and organizations to develop this discipline as a strategy planning tool in for-profit, non-profit, and government settings.
Leah Zaidi (@Leah_Zaidi) is a strategic worldbuilding and foresight expert, and executive director at Multiverse Design. She has worked with prestigious organizations such as the United Nations, Stanford University, and various Fortune 100 companies. Her research on strategic worldbuilding has won awards and is taught in universities around the world. As a strategist, she has tackled complex challenges such as the futures of democracy, refugee crises, and the metaverse. Leah is an advisor to the foresight divisions of Canada and Finland. She has also done developmental editing on five published novels.
Kevin Bankston (@kevinbankston) is a fellow at ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination, where he researches the relationship between science fiction and real-world innovation. Kevin is also an accomplished executive leader in the arena of technology law and policy, having spent nearly 20 years working in the public interest sector as an attorney and advocate at organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy & Technology, and New America’s Open Technology Institute. He is now AI Policy Director at Meta, developing policies and processes for ensuring responsible AI development.
This webinar was an opportunity for fellows to receive more detailed information about the requirements of the fellowship, connect with the professional development partners, and have their questions about the program answered.
The strength of our Arizona STEM Education ecosystem relies on the ability of our educators to dream big, set goals and ultimately achieve them. ASAP is designed to support educators looking to accelerate activities, enrich lessons, and provide materials for students.
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
Two years later, in another moment of anxiety and possibility, we’re presenting a second cycle of Us in Flux stories and events, inviting authors and experts to provide glimpses of better futures shaped by new social arrangements, communities, and forms of governance, with a focus on bottom-up creativity and problem-solving at the local level.
From June to October 2022, we published a new, original piece of flash fiction followed by a virtual chat with the author and their special guests.
In this episode, we chat with author Elsa Sjunneson and Laura Cechanowicz, an expert on worldbuilding and assistant professor jointly appointed in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and the Graphic Information Technology program in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Together, they discuss "The Island," Elsa's story exploring ability and disability, journalism, and the choices involved in creating truly adaptable communities.
Read "The Island": https://csi.asu.edu/projects/usinflux/sjunneson-uif/
Keep up with the Us in Flux series: https://csi.asu.edu/usinflux
Follow our panelists:
Elsa Sjunneson: snarkbat.com
Laura Cechanowicz: https://search.asu.edu/profile/4004946
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/imaginationASU and Instagram: instagram.com/imaginationasu
In this second panel in the series, held on September 29, 2022, we explore how the tools of sci-fi narrative are used in the field of design to better imagine, experience, and shape possible futures.
Whether these emerging design practices are categorized as design fiction, sci-fi prototyping, useful fiction, experiential futures, or worldbuilding, there is a growing field of futurists and design professionals applying these science-fictional techniques to advise companies, governments, and nonprofits on how to prepare for the opportunities and challenges that the future will bring.
To learn more about the Applied Sci-Fi Project, visit https://csi.asu.edu/applied-sci-fi.
Our panelists:
Bruce Sterling (@bruces) is an internationally bestselling author, journalist, editor, columnist, and critic. He is perhaps best known for his ten visionary science fiction novels, as a founder of the cyberpunk movement, and as the editor of the quintessential cyberpunk anthology “Mirrorshades.” His much-heralded nonfiction includes “The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier” and “The Epic Struggle of the Internet of Things.”
Julian Bleecker (@darthjulian) is the co-founder of Near Future Laboratory and CEO of OMATA. He is a multidisciplinary engineer, product designer, creative technologist, and strategy-oriented futurist. He looks at the world a bit sideways, seeking opportunities to create digital products that are unanticipated, unexpected, and beautiful alternatives to the status quo.
Anab Jain (@anabjain) is a filmmaker, designer, and futurist. She is co-founder of Superflux, a pioneering speculative design and experiential futures studio, working for clients and commissioners such as V&A, Google, Red Cross, UNDP, IKEA, and Deepmind. She has delivered keynotes at TED, Skoll, House of Lords and House of Commons UK, and shown work at MoMA New York, V&A London, National Museum of China, and Museum of the Future Dubai. She serves as professor for design investigations at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.
Alex McDowell (@worldbldg) is a narrative designer. He served as a production designer for more than 30 years of feature films by David Fincher, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, and others, and he is the originator of world building as a disruptive design system. He is now creative director at Experimental Design Studio, designing storytelling for change in media, education, industry, and institutions. He is a professor at USC Media Arts + Practice, and director of the World Building Media Lab and Institute.
Radha Mistry (@radha_mistry) has a background in architecture, narrative environments, and strategic foresight. She leads the Americas Region Foresight business at Arup, teaches speculative design at the MFA Transdisciplinary Design program at The New School (Parsons), and strategic foresight at the Design MBA program at the California College of the Arts. She spends most of her time exploring the impact of emerging signals of change and how they’ll change the way we design and make things in the future. Her foresight career also includes time at organizations such as Autodesk and Steelcase.
Brian David Johnson (@BDJFuturist) has made the future his business. From 2009 to 2016, he was Intel Corporation’s first-ever futurist. Currently, he is a professor at Arizona State University’s Global Futures Laboratory and School for the Future of Innovation in Society. He also works in a private practice with a broad range of groups, including governments, militaries, corporations, nonprofits, and start-ups, to help them envision their future. He holds more than 40 patents and is the bestselling author of books of science fiction and fact (“Threatcasting,” “The Future You,” “WaR: Wizards and Robots,” and “21st Century Robot”).
Kevin Bankston (@KevinBankston) is a fellow at ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination, where he researches the relationship between sci-fi and real-world innovation. Kevin is also an accomplished executive leader in the arena of technology law and policy, having spent nearly 20 years working in the public interest sector as an attorney and advocate at organizations like the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Center for Democracy & Technology, most recently serving as the Director of the Open Technology Institute at New America. He is now a Director of Privacy Policy at Meta Platforms, Inc., where he leads Meta’s AI Policy Team in developing policies and processes for ensuring responsible AI development.
Teachers selected will receive a $4500 stipend and $2000 in supplies for their classrooms. Fellows commit to taking 30 hours of STEM professional development, turning in 4 STEM lesson plans, and working on an outward-facing project with their students. The ASAP team is looking for teachers mostly in grades 5-8, but will also consider including teachers in other grades, based on applications submitted. The initial first-round deadline for admission to Year One of our program is Saturday, October 8, 2022, at 11:59 pm Arizona time!
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
ASAP is a grassroots effort to enhance and accelerate STEM activities statewide in Arizona schools. The project is teaming up with educators, professional development organizations, and funding partners to build a more collaborative, imaginative foundation for the development and distribution of STEM resources and training opportunities for educators throughout Arizona.
The strength of our Arizona STEM education ecosystem relies on the ability of our educators to dream big, set goals, and ultimately achieve them. ASAP is designed to support educators looking to accelerate activities, enrich lessons, and provide materials for students.
Key benefits for educators include:
· Funding for classroom STEM acceleration
· A community of support
· Professional development opportunities
· Access to STEM curriculum and lesson materials
If you're interested in learning more about The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project feel free to connect with us on our socials!
⭐ASAP Website: https://stemteachers.asu.edu/
⭐ASAP Facebook: facebook.com/groups/azstemaccelerationproject
⭐ASAP Instagram: instagram.com/azstemacceleration
Two years later, in another moment of anxiety and possibility, we’re presenting a second cycle of Us in Flux stories and events, inviting authors and experts to provide glimpses of better futures shaped by new social arrangements, communities, and forms of governance, with a focus on bottom-up creativity and problem-solving at the local level.
From June to September 2022, we'll publish a new, original piece of flash fiction followed by a virtual chat with the author and their special guests.
In this episode, we chat with author Suyi Davies Okungbowa and Lance Gharavi, professor of film, dance, and theatre and affiliate faculty at the Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming at Arizona State University. They discuss "Sympathy," Suyi's story about robotics, child care, public policy, and the contested politics of child development.
Read "Sympathy": https://csi.asu.edu/projects/usinflux/sympathy-by-suyi-davies-okungbowa
Keep up with the Us in Flux series: https://csi.asu.edu/usinflux
Follow our panelists:
Suyi Davies Okungbowa: suyidavies.com
Lance Gharavi: lancegharavi.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/imaginationASU
Two years later, in another moment of anxiety and possibility, we’re presenting a second cycle of Us in Flux stories and events, inviting authors and experts to provide glimpses of better futures shaped by new social arrangements, communities, and forms of governance, with a focus on bottom-up creativity and problem-solving at the local level.
From June to September 2022, we'll publish a new, original piece of flash fiction followed by a virtual chat with the author and their special guests.
In this episode, we chat with author Phoebe Wagner and Punya Mishra, associate dean of scholarship and innovation at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Here, they discuss “University, Speaking,” Phoebe’s story about reimagining universities as radically open to their communities, and better attuned to addressing local challenges.
Read "University, Speaking" here: https://csi.asu.edu/projects/usinflux/university-speaking/
Keep up with the Us in Flux series here: https://csi.asu.edu/usinflux/
Follow our panelists:
Phoebe Wagner: phoebe-wagner.com
Punya Mishra: punyamishra.com
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Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/imaginationASU
About our special guests:
Amos Roddy (he/him) is a composer, sound designer, and producer primarily working in video games. His credits include the Kingdom series, "In Other Waters," "Cloud Gardens," and most recently "Citizen Sleeper." Learn more at https://www.amosroddy.com.
Tochi Onyebuchi (he/him) is the author of the novel "Goliath." His previous fiction includes "Riot Baby," a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and NAACP Image Awards and winner of the New England Book Award for Fiction, the Ignyte Award for Best Novella, and the World Fantasy Award; the Beasts Made of Night series; and the War Girls series. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times and NPR, among other places. Learn more at https://www.tochionyebuchi.com.
Two years later, in another moment of anxiety and possibility, we’re presenting a second cycle of Us in Flux stories and events, inviting authors and experts to provide glimpses of better futures shaped by new social arrangements, communities, and forms of governance, with a focus on bottom-up creativity and problem-solving at the local level.
From June to September 2022, we'll publish a new, original piece of flash fiction followed by a virtual chat with the author and their special guests.
In this episode, we chat with author Carter Meland and professor Grace Dillon about “Becoming Birch,” Carter's story about rock music, unexpected connections, and northern Minnesota forests.
Read "Becoming Birch" here:
https://csi.asu.edu/projects/usinflux/becoming-birch/
Keep up with the Us in Flux series here: https://csi.asu.edu/usinflux/
Follow our panelists:
Carter Meland: https://cahss.d.umn.edu/faculty-staff/carter-meland
Grace Dillon: https://www.pdx.edu/indigenous-nations-studies/our-faculty-and-staff
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Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/imaginationASU
In this first panel in the series held on May 12, 2022, "The Sci-Fi Feedback Loop: Mapping Fiction’s Influence on Real-World Tech", we explore the past, present and future of sci-fi's influence with experts Michael Bennett, Tim Chang, Cory Doctorow, Malka Older and Sherryl Vint, moderated by Kevin Bankston.
Our Speakers:
Michael G. Bennett (@MGBennett) serves as Director of Student Experiential Learning Programs for the Discovery Partners Institute at the University of Illinois, where he is responsible for overseeing the institute’s growing portfolio of academic and informal learning programs, and leading a team that implements and manages them. He has extensive experience in curriculum development, with a particular emphasis on anticipatory governance, future scenarios, Afrofuturism, and science and technology policy.
Tim Chang (@timechange) co-leads Mayfield’s Consumer investment practice and is an experienced investor and global executive. He has been twice named to the Forbes Midas list of Top Tech Investors and received the Gamification Summit award for Special Achievement. Tim’s venture capital experience includes leading investments at Norwest Venture Partners and Gabriel Venture Partners. His operational experience includes working in product management and engineering across Asia for Gateway, Inc., and General Motors. Tim holds an MBA with honors from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an MS and BS in Electrical Engineering/System Engineering from the University of Michigan. Tim is an accomplished musician, a reformed biohacker, and passionate about Body/Mind/Spirit wellness. He serves on the non-profit boards of Reimagine Death and Gray Area Arts.
Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Radicalized and Walkaway, science fiction for adults; How To Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and conspiracy; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer. His latest book is Attack Surface, a standalone adult sequel to Little Brother; his next nonfiction book is Chokepoint Capitalism, with Rebecca Giblin, about monopoly and fairness in the creative arts labor market (Beacon Press, 2022). In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Malka Older (@m_older) is a writer, aid worker, and sociologist. Her science-fiction political thriller Infomocracy was named one of the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, Book Riot, and the Washington Post. The Centenal Cycle trilogy, which also includes Null States (2017) and State Tectonics (2018), was a finalist for the Hugo Best Series Award of 2018. She is also the creator of the serial Ninth Step Station and author of the short story collection …and Other Disasters (2019). Named Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs for 2015, she has more than a decade of field experience in humanitarian aid and development. Her doctoral work on the sociology of organizations at Sciences Po Paris explores the dynamics of post-disaster improvisation in governments. Malka is also a faculty associate at ASU's School for the Future of Innovation in Society.
Sherryl Vint is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies and Chair of the Department of English at the University of California, Riverside, where she directs the Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science program. She was a founding editor of Science Fiction Film and Television and is an editor for the journal Science Fiction Studies and the book series Science in Popular Culture. She has published widely on science fiction, including, most recently, Biopolitical Futures in Twenty-First Century Speculative Fiction (2021) and Programming the Future: Speculative Television and the End of Democracy (2022, co-authored with Jonathan Alexander).
Kevin Bankston, @KevinBankston
Kevin Bankston is a Fellow at ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination, where he researches the relationship between sci-fi and real-world innovation. Kevin is also an accomplished executive leader in the arena of technology law and policy, having spent nearly 20 years working in the public interest sector as an attorney and advocate at organizations like the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Center for Democracy & Technology, most recently serving as the Director of the Open Technology Institute at New America. He is now a Director of Privacy Policy at Meta Platforms, Inc., where he leads Meta’s AI Policy Team in developing policies and processes for ensuring responsible AI development.
A Science Fiction Sparkle Salon!
In this episode, Malka Older (the Infomocracy trilogy), Annalee Newitz (Four Lost Cities), Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Empire), Amal El-Mohtar (This is How You Lose the Time War), Karen Lord (Unravelling), and Katie Mack (The End of Everything) discuss populism and democracy and whatever else they feel like talking about.
Need more sparkling science fiction in your life? Stay tuned for Episode 3!
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The Science Fiction Sparkle Salon is hosted by Dr. Malka Older and presented by ASU's Center for Science and the Imagination.
The show is edited and produced by Aravind Hari Nair. Title and graphics by Meg Frank.
This episode of CSI Skill Tree is co-presented with Orion Magazine, an ad-free, quarterly print publication at the convergence of ecology, art, and social justice. Learn more about Orion at https://orionmagazine.org.
About our special guests:
Ken Liu (he/him) is the author of “The Dandelion Dynasty,” a silkpunk epic fantasy series (starting with “The Grace of Kings”), as well as “The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories.” He frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, cryptocurrency, history of technology, bookmaking, narrative futures, and the mathematics of origami. Learn more at https://kenliu.name.
Liz Fiacco (she/her) has worked on a number of commercial video games, such as “Kena: Bridge of Spirits,” “The Last of Us 2,” “Uncharted 4,” and “Pillars of Eternity,” in addition to developing use cases and tools for live machine learning in Unity. She is passionate about interactive narrative and building emotional connections to characters through game mechanics. Outside of work, she plays “Dungeons & Dragons,” goes camping, and hangs out with her big dog. Follow Liz on Twitter @lizfiacco.
About the Center for Science and the Imagination: The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more at https://csi.asu.edu and follow the Center on Twitter at @imaginationASU.
About our special guests:
Randy Smith (he/him) is a video game director and designer known for his work on the "Thief" series, the indie sci-fi gardening game "Waking Mars," and superbrother's "JETT: The Far Shore." He specializes in ways to use interactivity to create meaning and aesthetics for players. Follow Randy on Twitter at @wavesallday_.
Luc Riesbeck (he/they) is a space policy and research analyst at Astroscale U.S., where he engages in cross-disciplinary collaboration to build comprehensive solutions to orbital sustainability challenges and enable the long-term stewardship of the space environment. He is a graduate of the Space Policy Institute master’s program at George Washington University. His research interests include ethics in science and technology, history, and applications for advanced robotics for rendezvous and proximity operations in space. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in social science and a minor in global China studies from New York University Shanghai. Follow Luc on Twitter at @LucRiesbeck.
About the Center for Science and the Imagination:
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more at https://csi.asu.edu and follow the Center on Twitter at @imaginationASU.
During the event, the panelists respond to questions and provocations posed by a global group of policy thinkers, researchers, and fiction authors.
"Crafting Climate Futures" is presented by the Olaf Stapledon Centre for Speculative Futures at the University of Liverpool, and the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University.
About our speakers:
Vandana Singh is an author of speculative fiction, a professor of physics at Framingham State University, and an interdisciplinary researcher on the climate crisis. She is the author of two short story collections, “The Women Who Thought She Was a Planet” and “Ambiguity Machines.” She was brought up in New Delhi and now lives near Boston.
Hannah Onoguwe is a writer of fiction and nonfiction based in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria, a region famous for its oil industry. She is the author of the short story collection “Cupid’s Catapult,” and an award-winning poet. Her work has been published in the anthology Africa 500 and the periodicals Omenana and Brittle Paper.
Xia Jia is a speculative fiction author and associate professor of Chinese literature at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Seven of her short stories have won the Galaxy Award, China’s most prestigious science fiction award. She is the author of the novel “Odyssey of China Fantasy: On the Road”, an academic volume, “Coordinates of the Future,” and four short fiction collections, most recently “A Summer Beyond Your Reach.”
Kim Stanley Robinson is a New York Times bestselling novelist and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. He has published more than twenty books, including the Mars trilogy, “Green Earth,” “New York 2140,” and most recently “The Ministry for the Future.” He works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and the Clarion Writers’ Workshop. He lives in Davis, California.
Adeline Johns-Putra is a professor of literature at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, China. Her books include “Climate Change and the Contemporary Novel” and “The History of the Epic.” She is an honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Born and raised in Malaysia, she has studied and worked in Australia, Finland, and the United Kingdom.
About our special guests:
Zoyander Street is an artist-researcher and critic working at the fringes of indie video games for more than a decade. Their practice focuses on video games, but also involves other forms of media art and (mis)uses of technology. Led by ethnographic and historical research, they create lo-fi glitchy games and custom hardware for festivals, galleries, and museums, using interaction design to harness the expressive potential of audience participation. They are a neurodivergent, genderqueer trans man living in South Yorkshire, in the country currently known as the United Kingdom. They are on the boards of NEoN Digital Arts and Critical Distance, and are a PhD student in Sociology at Lancaster University. Learn more at https://zoyander.cc.
Rachel Carr is an assistant professor of English and the program coordinator for Women's and Gender Studies at Lindsey Wilson College. She earned her Ph.D. in English and a graduate certificate in Women's and Gender Studies from the University of Kentucky in 2019. Before coming to Lindsey Wilson, she was an assistant writing program administrator at the University of Kentucky. Her current research project, “But What Has Helga Crane to Do with the West Indies? Plantation Afterlives in the Black Atlantic,” explores how Modernist Literature reckons with the plantation system’s impact on the natural world.
About the Center for Science and the Imagination:
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more at https://csi.asu.edu.
In this episode Malka Older (the Infomocracy trilogy) invites Annalee Newitz (Four Lost Cities), Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Empire), Amal El-Mohtar (This is How You Lose the Time War), Karen Lord (Unravelling), and Katie Mack (The End of Everything) for a free-wheeling conversation about life, the universe, and everything.
Need more Sparkle in your life? Episode 2 of the Science Fiction Sparkle Salon is currently in production!
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The Science Fiction Sparkle Salon is hosted by Dr. Malka Older and presented by ASU's Center for Science and the Imagination.
The show is edited and produced by Tyler Eglen. Title and graphics by Meg Frank.
In the spring of 2021, ASU's Center for Science and the Imagination invited organizers, scholars, curators, scientists and innovators of all stripes to apply for its new Applied Imagination Fellowship program.
The call for applications drew responses from around the world, in fields ranging from art and design to community advocacy, environmental studies, international development, economics, literature, astronomy, filmmaking, engineering, journalism and more.
Today, we are proud to announce an inaugural class of five fellows who will work on projects to motivate transformative change and advance visions of inclusive futures.
Learn more about the fellows and their projects at https://csi.asu.edu/fellows/applied-imagination/
This episode features “The Mailbox" a short science fiction film about time travel and Chinatowns co-written and directed by Louis Yin. We start by screening the film, and then have a conversation with Louis, a writer and filmmaker based in China, and Diane Wong, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University and a researcher who studies the Asian diaspora and the urban immigrant experience.
During the TV Dinner event, we screened "The Mailbox" in its entirety. In this video, you'll see a the trailer of the film instead.
We would like to thank Storycom for their support and collaboration on this event. Storycom is the first professional story commercialization agency in China, and is dedicated to bringing excellent Chinese SF stories to domestic and global audiences in various formats. Storycom also presents The Shimmer Program to introduce new audiences to Chinese SF. Learn more at twitter.com/ShimmerProgram.
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Check out an exclusive video created to accompany this event, featuring poet, artist, educator, and anthropologist Corey S. Pressman teaching about Martian civilization, quantum cooking, and the future of fermentation.
youtu.be/W_xbM7FL09Y
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About the Center for Science and the Imagination:
The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to create visions of the future that are inspiring, inclusive, and imaginative. Learn more at https://csi.asu.edu.