ASTC 2023 Annual Conference
October 7–10, 2023
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Keynote Sessions
All Times EDT
The ASTC Annual Conference will include three keynote sessions that will bring our entire community together.
- Saturday, October 7, 2023
- Opening Keynote
- Sunday, October 8, 2023
- Alan J. Friedman Science Center Dialogues
- Monday, October 9, 2023
- Monday Keynote
Saturday, October 7, 2023
Opening Keynote Session
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Richardson Ballroom, Charlotte Convention Center
Join us as we kick off the ASTC 2023 Annual Conference with an opening keynote, the start to our 50th Anniversary celebration at conference, and the presentation of the first set of recipients for this year’s Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Awards.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jedidah Isler, Astrophysicist. Communicator. Advisor.
Dr. Jedidah Isler is an astrophysicist, educator, futurist, and policy-maker dedicated to using science and technology as a tool for social justice. A proud double-HBCU graduate, she became the first African American woman to complete her PhD in astrophysics at Yale University. She continued her award-winning research on hyperactive supermassive black holes on the faculty at Dartmouth College before joining the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) in 2021. At OSTP, she served as the Principal Assistant Director for Science & Society, advancing numerous STEM equity policy initiatives. She is also the founder and former executive director of the STEM en Route to Change (SeRCH) Foundation, Inc. and a nationally recognized public speaker whose work has appeared on numerous radio and television programs including NPR’s All Things Considered and TED Radio Hour, the Science Channel’s How the Universe Works, National Geographic’s feature miniseries MARS, and Crooked Media’s Pod Save the People. She has worked extensively with schools, universities, nonprofit organizations, and planetariums across the country to inspire and advance a more equitable future where anyone can participate in, contribute to, and benefit from science and technology.
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Alan J. Friedman Science Center Dialogues
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Richardson Ballroom, Charlotte Convention Center
This year’s Friedman Dialogues plenary session will tackle one of the most important scientific and technological issues of our time, with an engaging conversation between thought-leaders, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners about the current state of public understanding of artificial intelligence technologies and how increased public engagement can help these technologies develop in ways that support community priorities and accrue to the benefit of all people.
Participants:
- Dr. Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor, IAS | Institute for Advanced Study, and former Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
- Divya Siddarth, co-founder and co-director, The Collective Intelligence Project
- Tim Ritchie, President, Museum of Science, Boston; Chair-Elect, ASTC Board of Directors
Dr. Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. As former deputy assistant to President Joe Biden, she served as acting director and principal deputy director for science and society of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
Including her in the list of Ten People Who Shaped Science in 2022, Nature said of Nelson, “this social scientist made strides for equity, integrity and open access.” Nelson’s work at OSTP also drove Biden-Harris Administration strategy to develop science and technology policy that expands economic opportunity, protects civil rights, enhances security, advances equity, and ensures innovation works for, not against, our democratic values. During her tenure, Nelson led the team that developed the landmark Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, which lays the groundwork for policymakers, technology developers, entrepreneurs, legislators, civil society, and others to better safeguard people’s rights and access to opportunities as algorithms and AI reach further into our lives. She was recently named as one of the TIME 100 most influential people in AI.
Nelson was the inaugural Dean of Social Science at Columbia University, where she served on the faculty for a decade. From 2017-2021, she served as the 14th president and CEO of the Social Science Research Council and in this role launched a series of initiatives programs that brought research to bear on the impact of technology platforms on society.
An acclaimed social scientist, Nelson writes and lectures widely on the intersections of science, technology, medicine, and social inequality. She is the author of several books, including The Social Life of DNA. Her essays, reviews, and commentary have been featured in national and international media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Science.
Nelson is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Medicine, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Divya Siddarth is the co-founder of the Collective Intelligence Project, an experimental research organization that advances collective intelligence capabilities for the democratic and effective governance of transformative technologies. She was formerly Associate Political Economist and Social Technologist at Microsoft, and also holds positions at the Ethics in AI Institute in Oxford, the Ostrom Workshop, and the Plurality Lab at Harvard’s Safra Center for Ethics.
Tim Ritchie is the president of the Museum of Science, Boston. Starting in February 2020, Tim has brought the Museum a vision for reaching 100 million people a year by 2030, and for creating experiences that bring science to people at the pace of change.
Tim has served as the president of science centers across the country including McWane Science Center, in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Tech Interactive, in San Jose, California. He received his BA from Davidson College, his JD from Duke Law School, and his MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School.
At the conclusion of conference, Tim will begin a two-year term as Chair of the ASTC Board of Directors.
Monday, October 9, 2023
Monday Keynote Session including Keynote Remarks on Planetary Health
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Richardson Ballroom, Charlotte Convention Center
The final plenary of ASTC 2023 will look toward how public engagement with science is critical to cultivating a healthy planet. We’ll also be launching ASTC’s new planetary health initiative and honoring the second set of recipients of ASTC’s Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Awards.
North Carolina Remarks: Reid Wilson, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, Co-Founder and Leader, The All We Can Save Project
Reid Wilson has served as the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) since January 2021. From 2017-2020, Wilson was the department’s chief deputy secretary, responsible for the agency’s natural resource divisions. Prior to joining DNCR, Wilson was the executive director of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, a statewide nonprofit that advances land conservation and connects people to the outdoors. He previously served in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, rising to chief of staff, and the national Sierra Club. Wilson has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Biology from Grinnell College in Iowa.
Dr. Katharine Wilkinson is a bestselling author, strategist, and teacher, working to heal the planet we call home. TIME magazine featured her as one of 15 “women who will save the world.”
Dr. Wilkinson’s books on climate include the bestselling anthology All We Can Save (2020, co-editor), The Drawdown Review (2020, editor-in-chief and lead writer), the New York Times bestseller Drawdown (2017, lead writer), and Between God & Green (2012), which The Boston Globe dubbed “a vitally important, even subversive, story.” She co-hosts the top 1% podcast A Matter of Degrees, telling stories for the climate curious with Dr. Leah Stokes.
Dr. Wilkinson leads The All We Can Save Project, a nonprofit she co-founded with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. The Project’s mission is to nurture the leaderful climate community we need for a life-giving future, using the tools of narrative change, community building, deep learning, and tending the emotional-spiritual root from which climate engagement grows. She is the creator of All We Can Save Circles, a popular model for deep dialogue about the climate crisis and building community around solutions, and Climate Wayfinding, an experiential program that supports people in gaining clarity, courage, and connection for their climate journeys.
Previously, Dr. Wilkinson was the principal writer and editor-in-chief at Project Drawdown, where she led the organization’s work to share climate solutions with audiences around the world. She speaks widely, including at National Geographic, Skoll World Forum, and the United Nations. Her TED Talk on climate and gender equality has over 2 million views, and Apolitical named her one of the “100 most influential people in gender policy.” She serves on the boards of Doc Society and Chattahoochee Now and advises numerous climate-related initiatives.
A homegrown Atlantan, Dr. Wilkinson holds a doctorate in geography and environment from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and a BA in religion from Sewanee, where she has taught as a visiting professor. Formative months spent in the Southern Appalachians, as a student at The Outdoor Academy, shaped her path. She is happiest on a mountain or a horse.
Find her on social @DrKWilkinson and @drkwilkinson.