Open to the public and free of charge.

All attendees must register on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_X_L6lRDcTlm76W47QYizrQ

The Public Forum will feature a discussion about climate change and the Chesapeake Bay between philosophers and historians of science and the Assistant Administrator for NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, as well as the public. The PSA Public Forum invites interested people to join a conversation about what led to scientific predictions of changes in the Chesapeake Bay and how and why they got it so right? What goes into modeling the complex factors that have led to the rise of sea level, the warming water, and extreme weather that impact the wildlife on land and the fish and shellfish in the water? The event will feature three panelists (a philosopher, a historian, and a scientist) and a moderator, who is also a philosopher. Each panelist will make brief remarks highlighting philosophical issues related to how science works, why it succeeded in predicting changes in the Chesapeake Bay, and how it avoided mistakes that would have led to wrong projections. This will be followed by an open discussion between the three panelists facilitated by the moderator, and then the moderator will invite questions from the audience. The discussion is intended to be accessible to all those interested.

Panelists

• Naomi Oreskes (Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University)

  A world-renowned geologist, historian and public speaker, she is a leading voice on the role of science in society and the reality of anthropogenic climate change. 

  Oreskes is author or co-author of over 200 scholarly and popular books, articles, and opinion pieces, including Merchants of Doubt (Bloomsbury, 2010), The Collapse of Western Civilization (Columbia University Press, 2014), Discerning Experts (University Chicago Press, 2019), Why Trust Science? (Princeton University Press, 2019), and Science on a Mission: American Oceanography from the Cold War to Climate Change (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming). Merchants of Doubt, co-authored with Erik Conway, was the subject of a documentary film of the same name produced by participant Media and distributed by SONY Pictures Classics, and has been translated into eight languages.

  Oreskes wrote the Introduction to the Melville House edition of the Papal Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality, Laudato Si, and her opinion pieces on climate change have appeared in leading newspapers around the globe, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the Times (London), and Frankfurter Allegemeine. Her awards and prizes include the 2016 Stephen Schneider Award for outstanding Climate Science Communication, the 2015 Public Service Award of the Geological Society of America, the 2015 Herbert Feis Prize of the American Historical Association for her contributions to public history, the 2014 American Geophysical Union Presidential Citation for Science and Society. She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  In 2018 she was named a Guggenheim Fellow for a new book project with Erik Conway, "The Magic of the Marketplace: The True History of a False Idea," which will be published by Bloomsbury Press.

• Wendy Parker (Professor of Philosophy, Virginia Tech)

  Wendy Parker's research focuses on the methodology and epistemology of contemporary science – especially questions related to modelling, evidence, explanation and values – with a particular focus on climate science and meteorology. Her papers have been published in a range of philosophical and scientific journals, including Philosophy of Science, the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Climatic Change and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Since 2017, she has been Co-Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Wendy is also very interested in the use of science in policymaking. Upon finishing her PhD, she spent a year as the American Meteorological Society / University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (AMS/UCAR) Congressional Science Fellow in the U.S. Senate. She is currently a contributing author to the 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

• Craig McLean (Acting Chief Science and Assistant Administrator, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 

  Craig McLean is serving as the Acting Chief Scientist of NOAA providing direction for science and technology priorities as well as the Assistant Administrator for NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. He is responsible for overseeing, directing and implementing NOAA's research enterprise including a network of research laboratories and the execution of NOAA programs including the Climate Program, Weather Research, National Sea Grant, and Ocean Exploration, to name a few. Among a number of formal international engagements in science and technology, Mr. McLean serves as the U.S. Representative to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and as the U.S. Representative for the U.S.-European Union-Canada Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation.
  
  Mr. McLean has previously served throughout NOAA, in the National Marine Fisheries Service, National Ocean Service, NOAA's General Counsel, and was the founding Director of NOAA's Ocean Exploration program. He served in uniform for nearly 25 years in NOAA's Commissioned Corps, retiring at the rank of Captain. Mr. McLean is a Fellow of the Explorers Club and of the Marine Technology Society, and a past-president and former chairman of the Sea-Space Symposium.

Moderator

• Michael Weisberg (Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and Perry World House's Inaugural Faculty Fellow)

  Michael Weisberg serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Biology and Philosophy and co-director of the Penn Laboratory for Understanding Science and the Galápagos Education and Research Alliance. His research focuses on methodological issues arising in the life and social sciences, especially the ways that highly idealized models and simulations can be used to understand complex systems. He also works on climate adaptation issues that sit at the interface of physical, biological, and social systems. Dr. Weisberg's research group has recently completed the most comprehensive study to date of North Americans' attitudes about and knowledge of evolutionary biology, and is working with experimental documentary filmmaking techniques to help address common misconceptions. He regularly discusses his findings with academic audiences, policy makers, and the public including audiences at the Penn Lightbulb Café, BBC's "Up All Night," the AAAS, the National Academy of Sciences, and with park officials, naturalist guides, and tourists in the Galápagos.

Organizers

• John Bickle (chair)
• David Danks
• Steven Gross
• Valerie Hardcastle
• Sandra Mitchell
• Jessica Pfeifer
• Adina Roskies
• Morgan Kelsey Thomson
• Michael Weisberg