About Origins
The ASU Origins Project is a transdisciplinary initiative that nurtures research, energizes teaching, and builds partnerships, offering new possibilities for exploring the most fundamental of questions who we are and where we came from. Much of the most exciting research being done today involves exploring questions of origins. We foster the origins work being done across Arizona State University, recruiting distinguished faculty and generating relationships that explore the most complex, profound questions facing humankind today.
Every year we host a number of international workshops which gather the world’s top researchers from a variety of fields. At the same time, the ASU Origins Project works to raise the profile of origins-related issues and broaden scientific literacy through curricular initiatives and public discussions. Our efforts aim to create knowledge, improve education, and raise public awareness on key issues with the ultimate goals of helping solve pressing global problems, improving quality of life, and informing the development of sound public policy.
The Origins Project:
»Fosters new interdisciplinary research and dialogue.
• Hosts high profile, transdisciplinary symposia and conferences that foster dialogue and stimulate new thinking
• Sponsors long-term workshops focused on exploring questions and solutions to problems at the edge of knowledge
• Supports leading postdoctoral researchers exploring at the edge of human knowledge
»Partners with scholars to transform PreK-16 education.
• Establishes Origins professorships across the academic spectrum, including permanent visiting appointments for the world’s most respected scholars
• Links students with world-class scientists to create enthusiasm for science and nurture the next generation of scientific innovators
• Collaborates to develop new materials for use in PreK-16 education
»Acts as an advocate for science education and public engagement of science issues.
• Develops new tools to improve public understanding of science and journalistic coverage of science issues
• Builds community through public symposia, digital resources, cultural initiatives, and other outreach initiatives
Pictures on this page:
Top: Physicists Paul Davies, Stephen Hawking, and Lawrence Krauss speak at the ASU Origins Project Science & Culture Festival 2011
Middle: Nobel Laureates at ASU Origins Project Symposium 2009; l-r: Baruch Blumberg, John Mather, David Gross, Sheldon Glashow, Frank Wilczek, and Walter Gilbert.
Left: Panelists at 2011 Great Debate: What is Life? l-r Lawrence Krauss, Richard Dawkins, Sidney Altman, Lee Hartwell, Roger Bingham, Chris McKay, Paul Davies, Craig Venter
Support the ASU Origins Project today!