For those of you who might be interested:
​Collegiate Peaks Forum Series presents "Humble Before the Void: Teaching Cosmology to Buddhist Monks" with Dr. Chris Impey, Thursday September 22 at 7:00 pm at the First Presbyterian Church, Salida. The Forum i​s​ honored to bring Distinguished Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona Dr. Chris Impey to Chaffee County. Surprise, delight, and unbridled mirth are not commonly encountered in the science classroom. But in the foothills of the Himalaya, at a program to teach cosmology to Buddhist monks, they were daily occurrences. Working with this unique audience spurred new ways of thinking about the universe and the art of teaching. This talk takes listeners on an adventure at the nexus of science, religion, philosophy, and culture. Chris has won eleven teaching awards and has taught two online classes with over 60,000 enrolled. He is a past Vice President of the American Astronomical Society and he has been a National Science Foundation Distinguished Teaching Scholar, the Carnegie Council's Arizona Professor of the Year, and most recently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. He's written over 40 popular articles on cosmology and astrobiology, two introductory textbooks, a novel called Shadow World, and seven popular science books: The Living Cosmos, How It Ends, Talking About Life, How It Began, Dreams of Other Worlds, Humble Before the Void, and a book on the future of space travel, called Beyond.