Kean, a South Dakota native and a writer for Science magazine, will deliver his address at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 13 at the Muenster University Center Ballroom. A bestselling author and a one-time runner-up in the National Association of Science Writer’s award for best young writer, Kean has been featured on “Radiolab” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” His book, “The Disappearing Spoon,” details the carbon, neon, silicon, gold and every element on the Periodic Table as they play out their parts in human history, including finance, mythology, the arts and medicine. The lecture is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing.

Additional events scheduled for the 2012 SDAS Annual Meeting include “Science and a Sustainable Future” symposium at 9 a.m. on April 13; “South Dakota Wind Energy: Physics, Logistics and Challenges” lecture by Jeff Rud, East River Electric Cooperative, at 1:30 p.m. on April 13; and a Sustainability Symposium at 2:45 p.m. on April 13. April 14 activities feature a “Science Education and a Sustainable Future” symposium from 9 a.m. to noon and contributed paper sessions A-D from 9 a.m. to noon. A poster session follows at 12:15 p.m. All symposiums, lectures and paper and poster sessions will be at the Muenster University Center, second floor.

The South Dakota Academy of Science was founded in 1915 at a meeting in Aberdeen. Founder and then president Dr. Hilton Ira Jones discussed the need for the Academy’s founding in the organization’s first presidential address. Having seen the benefits of the newly formed Academy of Science in Oklahoma, Dr. Jones, who had just come to South Dakota from Oklahoma, thought that a similar organization in South Dakota would benefit the teachers. It was at this first gathering, Nov. 22-23, 1915, that the Academy’s first constitution and by-laws were adopted. The following year, in Watertown, S.D., motions were made and passed to hold all future meetings at the various colleges and normal schools of the state during the school year.

For more information about the 2012 Annual Meeting of the South Dakota Academy of Science, including Kean’s keynote address or registration for attendance at the technical sessions, please contact Miles Koppang, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at USD, mkoppang@usd.edu.

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