Pale Blue Dot III will be a unique event that engages scientists, media, and the public in the search for life on distant worlds. The workshop is organized into six sessions of invited review talks. Each session will have a Science Chair and a Media Respondent, a science journalist who will help facilitate and participate in discussion at the end of the session. We envision that this format will encourage clearer cross-disciplinary discussion as well as help scientists communicate more clearly to the public. The primary target audiences for these sessions are the scientists and media participants. There will be a brief overview of the science questions presented by scientists to media participants at the Four Points Sheraton by Chicago hotel on Sunday evening, September 17, and a mixer for scientists and media at the Adler on Monday night, September 18. The mixer will feature drinks and dinner, with participants organized in small groups to further explore individual session topics and encourage discussion on strengthening connections between scientists and journalists. Registrants will be provided with a contact list of all workshop participants and their interests in their registration packages.

On Tuesday night, September 19, there will be a free public event at the Harris Theater in Chicago that will include a public lecture followed by a panel discussion. We hope that all our workshop participants will also attend this event. A box dinner will be available at Adler prior to busing participants over to the Theater. We hope to transport a small number of "public friendly" posters to the theater for a small VIP reception prior to the lecture, so we strongly encourage scientists who are presenting posters to design their posters with the science commuincation goals of this workshop in mind.

Click here to download the Pale Blue Dot III Program