schools. Leading scientists spoke at school assemblies describing the field they’re passionate about, the rewards and challenges of their own career path and the opportunities for young people in the sciences (dubbed the “Nifty Fifty” and “Lunch with a Laureate” ).
—Second, we brought students to major science venues throughout the county for hands-on interactive experiments in state-of-the-art research environments, which we dubbed “Science on the Mesa.”
—Third, we brought the public to a series of fun and informal science events with a fun and catchy hook (dubbed, collectively, “Festival Events” with offerings like the Science of Wine, Chemistry of Love, Science of Chocolate, Politics of Science, and 75 others)
—Finally, we brought everyone together in Balboa Park for a major science expo. For this “Woodstock of Science,” 250 organizations presented hands-on interactive activities, exhibits and stage shows geared to the general public.
Here’s my tough grading of these events with a candid discussion of lessons learned and how I will do it differently at our national Science Festival—the USA Science Festival.
Lunch with a Laureate
Grade: A-
2,000 participants
Eight of Southern California’s Nobel Laureates hosted brown bag lunches with groups of 100 students, with an informal Q&A, about their perspectives on the future of science, and the Laureate’s own journey. The Laureates were terrific, bringing science to the kids’ level, personally greeting each student and remaining afterward to sign autographs.. The students and their teachers were asked to prepare questions in advance. We asked the Laureates to confine their opening remarks to five minutes, and to start the discussion with a current hot issue in their field. This program humanized these figures whose careers seem so remote and unattainable.
Nifty Fifty
Grade: B-
40,000 participants
One hundred of San Diego’s leading scientists presented school assemblies at middle and high schools. Many were truly magical, but some fell flat. Commanding
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Author: Larry Bock
In Memoriam: Our friend and Xconomist Larry Bock passed away on July 6, 2016. We at Xconomy are deeply saddened by his loss.
Larry Bock is the founder and organizer of the USA Science & Engineering Festival, and a former founder of the San Diego Science Festival. Mr. Bock is a Special Limited Partner to Lux Capital, a $100M nanotechnology-focused venture capital fund. He is a member of the Board of Directors of FEI Corporation (NASDAQ: FEIC), the leading supplier of tools for nanotechnology research. He is a General Partner of CW Ventures, a $100M life sciences venture capital fund.
Mr. Bock was the founder and former executive chairman and initial CEO of Nanosys and the founder and initial CEO of Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ: NBIX), Pharmacopeia (NASDAQ: PCOP), GenPharm International, which was acquired by Medarex for $100 million; Caliper Technologies (NASDAQ: CALP); Illumina Technologies (NASDAQ: ILMN), among numerous other firms.
He was also a seed or early-stage investor in variety of firms, including Acceleron Pharma, Aurora Biosciences, Biosym Technologies, ekoVenture. Gen-Probe, Gensia Pharmaceuticals, Genocea Biosciences, IDEC Pharmaceuticals Magen Biosciences, Oclassen Pharmaceuticals Plexikon Pharmaceuticals, Poland Partners, Sequana Therapeutics, Sapphire Energy, Siluria, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Software Transformation, and Viagene.
Mr. Bock started his career as a researcher in the early days at Genentech, the field of infectious diseases, where he was on the team that received the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize for demonstrating the world’s first recombinant DNA vaccine. He was a Venture Capital Associate with Fairfield Ventures (now Oxford Bioventures).
Larry and his wife, Diane, established the Larry and Diane Bock Chair in Nanotechnology at the University of California, Berkeley. They also founded Community Cousins, a non-profit foundation focused on breaking down racial barriers, that was selected by former Vice President Al Gore as one of 10 outstanding grass root efforts nationally. Larry is organizing the San Diego Science Festival with BioBridge of UCSD. He works extensively with the Sudanese and Burmese refugee’s networks in San Diego and is a tutor in math and sciences for Sudanese refugee children in St. Lukes Sudanese Refugee Network and a Mentor for Burmese refugee families through Jewish Family Services. Larry received his B.A. in Biochemistry (summa cum laude) from Bowdoin College and his M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA.
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