Adrift:  Does America have a future in space?

Eric Berger
Science Writer, Houston Chronicle

RECEPTION
6:30 pm
Lobby adjacent to McMurtry Auditorium
Duncan Hall

LECTURE
7:00 pm
McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall

ABSTRACT
Over the course of 2014 science writer Eric Berger looked at NASA’s building of a big new rocket, the collapse of the Constellation program, Congressional infighting for funds, shifting priorities of successive White House administrations, the promise of private space companies and, ultimately, the fate of Houston  as Space City. This is what he found.

BIOGRAPHY
Berger spent his college years at the University of Texas dreaming about the stars, which led him to an astronomy degree. But he decided studying a particular classification of stars in depth for the rest of his life seemed a little dull, and preferred meeting interesting people to the solitude of observatories. He dove into journalism, hoping to explain the complexities of science and medicine to the general public. Hoping to interact with readers, he began the SciGuy blog in early 2005, encompassing everything from nanometers to parsecs. Berger would like to see humans on Mars in his lifetime. 

AWARDS & RECOGNITION
2006 Texas Associated Press Managing Editors award for “best blog”
Two-time finalist for Online News Association award for best blog
Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2008 as part of Chronicle’s Hurricane Ike coverage for his role in blogging about the storm