Shawn Carlson and LABRats
Make The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe carried a
feature article about Dr. Shawn Carlson, the founder
and Executive Director of the Society
for Amateur Scientists, in its 12 September 2005
edition. In "His scouts will learn science, not
tie knots" (available here
until about 12 October 2005), reporter Carolyn Y. Johnson
described Shawn's admiration for his grandfather, a
brilliant amateur scientist without a college degree
who was not taken seriously. Early on, Shawn decided
that he wanted to be taken seriously.
By the ordinary standards of success, Shawn succeeded
when he earned a doctorate in physics at the University
of California, Los Angeles, and worked as Chief Observer
at the Leuschner Observatory 30-inch telescope and leader
of the data collection team for the Berkeley Automated
Supernova Search.
But Shawn eventually realized that,
like his grandfather, his love of science extended well
beyond physics. In 1993, he left his professional science
positions to found the Society for Amateur Scientists.
In 1995 Scientific American magazine selected
Shawn to write "The Amateur Scientist" column.
Shawn wrote the column until 2001, when the magazine
changed its traditional focus and dropped the column.
Writing "The Amateur Scientist"
while running the Society for Amateur Scientists was
more than a full time job, and Shawn found it very difficult
to support his family. At an especially low point, Shawn
received a coveted McArthur "genius award"
fellowship, which was accompanied by a $290,000 grant.
Now Shawn has a new vision, changing
the way science is taught in the United States. To implement
this goal, Shawn launched the LABRats program through
the Society for Amateur Scientists.
In a 1999 PBS
interview, Shawn said, "The other thing I'm
most passionate about is the future of science education
in this country. We do an abysmal job at educating young
people in the sciences; many countries do much better.
If we are going to continue to be a world leader in
technology, we have to do much better."
Stay tuned for more about LABRats in
The Citizen Scientist.
Forrest M. Mims III 
|
