Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Amy Mainzer, UCLA planetary science professor and Principal Investigator of NASA's NEO Surveyor mission, will explore the science of asteroids, the nuanced challenges of communicating potential cosmic hazards, and the complex intersection with media coverage. Drawing from her leadership of the successful NEOWISE mission that tracked near-Earth objects for over a decade, Mainzer brings unparalleled expertise in planetary defense and science communication. She was the science advisor for the 2021 film Don’t Look Up.
The Sloan Film Summit, launched in 1999, is part of Sloan’s greater efforts through its Public Understanding of Science and Technology initiative. Celebrating eight iterations, this year’s Summit (the fourth consecutive one produced by Film Independent) is a celebration of the program’s wide-ranging success supporting emerging filmmakers, while also bringing together a new group of artists and scientists to highlight how art and science interact and collaborate.
Amy Mainzer, UCLA planetary science professor and Principal Investigator of NASA's NEO Surveyor mission, will explore the science of asteroids, the nuanced challenges of communicating potential cosmic hazards, and the complex intersection with media coverage. Drawing from her leadership of the successful NEOWISE mission that tracked near-Earth objects for over a decade, Mainzer brings unparalleled expertise in planetary defense and science communication. She was the science advisor for the 2021 film Don’t Look Up.
The Sloan Film Summit, launched in 1999, is part of Sloan’s greater efforts through its Public Understanding of Science and Technology initiative. Celebrating eight iterations, this year’s Summit (the fourth consecutive one produced by Film Independent) is a celebration of the program’s wide-ranging success supporting emerging filmmakers, while also bringing together a new group of artists and scientists to highlight how art and science interact and collaborate.
