Every great leap forward starts with a burst of creativity. Someone sees the world as it is, dreams of what it could be, and then works to make the dream a reality. This is future telling, something that writers, innovators, and STEM experts do every day to imagine and create a better world.

Join Andy Weir (best-selling author of The Martian and Artemis) and researchers from Argonne National Laboratory as we explore how storytelling fuels creativity and spurs innovation.

Andy Weir worked as a software engineer until the success of The Martian allowed him to live out his dream of writing fulltime. Andy will talk about his path to publishing and share how current STEM research influences his science fiction.

After Andy’s talk, attendees will get to play NIU STEM Read’s math and puzzle games based on his latest book, Artemis.

Then, researchers in energy storage, nanotechnology, and supercomputing will join Andy Weir and NIU STEM Read Director Gillian King-Cargile on stage to share their origin stories, their paths to STEM, and their advice for the next generation of innovators.

Thursday, June 28

6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Welcome and Conversation with Andy Weir

6:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Artemis- Play NIU STEM Read's game based on the book

7:00 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. Meet the Researchers and Panel Discussion

7:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Q&A

Register by: June 21, 2018 11:59 PM Central Time

Click here for complete details.