Professor Robert T. Pennock

E-mail: pennock5{at}msu.edu
Mail: E-30 Holmes Hall, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing MI 48825-1107
Office: W-35 Holmes Hall
Phone: (517) 432-7701
WWW: http://www.msu.edu/~pennock5

A CALL FOR A PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness, we, the undersigned, call for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of The Environment, Medicine and Health, and Science and Technology Policy.

I'm one of the original signatories of Science Debate 2008. Please consider signing on to support this important petition.

UPDATE 9/1/08: See Barack Obama's answers to the 14 questions on science and technology posed by ScienceDebate2008. John McCain has now said that he will also answer the questions. They will be posted when he does. (UPDATE 9/15: McCains answers are now also included side by side with Obama's.)

In October 2005, I was called as an expert witness in the Kitzmiller et al v. Dover Area School Board case, which is being tried in the US District Court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The suit tested the constitutionality of a policy that allowed teaching of intelligent design creationism in a public school. You can read my expert report and deposition.

Of the various articles about my testimony, these were two of the most detailed: York Daily Record & CNN.

Dec. 20, 2005: The Kitzmiller verdict is in...Science wins in Dover! Please join me in a toast to Judge Jones!

Nov. 13, 2007: The trial is covered in a special 2-hour NOVA episode Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial. I appear in this and also in After the Trial: A Second Look on WKAR-TV which examines the impact of the trial in Michigan.

Some of my work using digital organisms to test hypotheses about the evolution of complexity and of altruism is discussed in the cover story of the Feb. 2005 issue of Discover magazine. [text, pdf]

My Nature article on Evolutionary Origin of Complex Features

Articles about this work in MSNBC, National Geographic, New Scientist, Space.com, Telegraph, and Slashdot.

Help support sound science education in Michigan
Join Michigan Citizens for Science.

Professor Robert T. Pennock

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Fall 2008

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