Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.
Jennie Starstuff
SPACE Preceptor
Jennie Starstuff spends a lot of time thinking about how atoms that comprise you, her, and all the other life on this planet share a common origin in the interiors of long-forgotten stars.
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Current and Upcoming Modules
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Highlighted Modules
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All Modules
Creative Writing: Stories in the Darkness
Join the amazing Jennie Starstuff: NASA Solar System Ambassador with Sparrow F. Alden to talk about the coolest, trippiest space physics to inspire our fiction! We’ll learn stuff on one day to use as writing prompts for peer-review on the second day. The plan is to explore star lore and archaeoastronomy; gravity and relativity (things get really weird); stars and cosmic life cycles; and life in the cosmos (alien contact? Heck, yes!). What about the amazing spaces between? We will have wonderful sonifications (sound pictures) of some of the most wonder-filled, hard to believe astro science out there—just imagine the stories we’ll create!
Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.
Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.
Exploring The Three Body Problem
First ever Asian winner of the Hugo award for best novel, as well as winning the Chinese Yinhe (“Galaxy”) award for best novel, and nominated for the Nebula award for best novel, and serving as the source material for an upcoming Netflix series by the same name, The Three-Body Problem is an exploration of both humanistic and technological themes in the context of Chinese history and contemporary society, all set in a narrative of alien invasion. There are few novels better for beginning to explore Chinese science fiction, so please join us as we take a deep dive into this fascinating masterpiece!
Content advisory: Graphic depictions of historical violence.
Content advisory: Graphic depictions of historical violence.
Loving the Alien
Science fiction and other popular media frequently feature depictions of extraterrestrial life. From little green men to Daleks to the Borg and beyond, our stories are filled with visions of beings both alien to us yet also remarkably familiar.
This module will consist of two elements:
(1) Exploration and discussion of fictional extraterrestrials from popular series including but not limited to Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and assorted anime/comic book titles.
(2) An introduction to the real-world Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the field of astrobiology, which will help us more deeply appreciate the question, “Are we alone?”
This module will consist of two elements:
(1) Exploration and discussion of fictional extraterrestrials from popular series including but not limited to Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and assorted anime/comic book titles.
(2) An introduction to the real-world Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the field of astrobiology, which will help us more deeply appreciate the question, “Are we alone?”