Staff Report
UNM professors Mohamed El-Genk and Jean Michel Tournier are helping to expand the frontiers of space Feb. 2, when UNM's Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies will be sponsoring its 20th annual forum.
"Hopefully this will be a eye-opener to stimulate interest in science," El-Genk said.
The forum, titled Space Technology and Applications International, is one of the most highly recognized symposiums of its kind in the world, El-Genck said.
Five different conferences will be concurrently running throughout the conference. They include Thermophysics in Microgravity, Commercial/Civil Next Generation Space Transportation, the 20th Symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion, Human Space Exploration and the First Symposium on Space Colonization. The forum will be at the Albuquerque Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Their mission is to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and provide education and research opportunities for students, faculty and the community.
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"For those who need to meet with other experts, this would be their first choice," El-Genk said.
Representatives will be on hand from commercial industries, government agencies and institutes of higher education from around the world.
College students and professionals will trade information about new space technology, and experts in the fields of science and engineering will donate their papers on these topics to various libraries including UNM's Zimmerman Library.
On Saturday, Feb. 1, students can join a free fellowship offered by the forum. Enrollment in the fellowship is double organizer's goal, forcing the organizers to close the event to more students.
"Education is important -- our mission is education," El-Genk said.
This year also marks the 15th anniversary of high school students' contributions to the conference including display design projects that they worked on in teams and individually.
On Feb. 4, science fiction authors George R. Martin, Walter Jon Williams, Geoffrey A. Landis, M. Stirling, and Doug Beason will be discusing their recent books and their view on the connection between science fiction and science.
The event is cosponsored by NASA Headquarters and Field Centers, the Department of Energy, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
