Speaker series opens season with journey into space

NEWS RELEASE
Issued - August 27, 2010

ARDMORE, Okla. — The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation will open the 2010-2011 Profiles and Perspectives season by retracing the journey of Noble scientist Elison Blancaflor, Ph.D., who blasted his research into space as part of NASA's spring space shuttle mission.

Blancaflor's presentation, entitled Tales of Discovery: Boldly Going Where No Mustard Plant Has Gone Before, will take place at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010, at the Ardmore Convention Center. The Profiles and Perspectives series is open to the public and offered at no cost courtesy of the Noble Foundation.

During his talk, Blancaflor will provide the audience with a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of sending an experiment into space. He'll detail the excitement of earning the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the pressures and near disaster endured during the pre-flight preparations, and the pure elation of watching the Space Shuttle Discovery launch.

"This is truly an amazing story told by a passionate and entertaining speaker," said Mary Kate Wilson, Noble Foundation director of granting and chair of the Profiles and Perspectives Committee. "So often we take for granted the overwhelming amount of work and technical skill involved in space travel, but Dr. Blancaflor's presentation reminds us that launching a space shuttle is truly a difficult and awe-inspiring process."

Blancaflor will also discuss the long-range implications of how his plants' trek into space could benefit agriculture in the Southern Great Plains, as well as its impact on future space exploration.

"For scientists at the Noble Foundation, this research will provide us insight into how plants grow here on Earth and how we can improve them," Blancaflor said. "For NASA, plants play a key role in deep space exploration. If humans are going to visit Mars or colonize space, plants will provide a regenerative life support system, so we must understand how the lack of gravity affects their growth."

Profiles and Perspectives will continue its season on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010, with internationally renowned archeologist Kara Cooney, Ph.D. who will take an insightful look at pyramids during her talk, Out of Egypt: Pyramids – The Shape of the Gods. An assistant professor of Egyptian art and architecture at UCLA, Cooney will lead audience members on a journey around the world to understand why human beings are obsessed with the pyramid shape.

"From plants in space to pyramids to our presentations in the spring, this season of Profiles and Perspectives continues our great tradition of providing informative, thought-provoking and entertaining speakers to residents of southern Oklahoma," Wilson said. "Each speaker will take our audiences on an amazing journey that they will not soon forget."

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For media inquiries concerning the Noble Foundation, please contact:

J. Adam Calaway

jacalaway@noble.org

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc. (www.noble.org), headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a nonprofit organization conducting agricultural, forage improvement and plant biology research; assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs; and providing grants to nonprofit charitable, educational and health organizations.