If youβre a space expert you know your science but explaining it in a way that excites the public is not always easy. Several of ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs faculty are rock stars in both areas, which is why they are back at Megacon this year.
Megacon is the Southeastβs largest science fiction and pop culture convention attracting up to 100,000 people to the four-day event. Visitors attend celebrity panels (including our faculty), shop for comics and collectibles, and dress up as their favorite character from Marvel, DC, Anime, and host of other fandoms.
This is the third time planetary scientist and Pegasus Professor Joshua Colwell will be participating in panels and the second time he and his colleagues will be taping the Walkabout the Galaxy Podcast, which the group started in 2014.
βThis is a fun event with an enthusiastic audience,β Colwell says. βThe conference is about science fiction, fantasy and comics. A lot of yesterdayβs science fiction is todayβs reality and itβs a great venue to share scientific discoveries which often are even more incredible than science fiction. I call Walkabout the accidentally educational podcast because we all learn something while having a fun time, and MegaCon is a perfect fit for that. It is a great opportunity to educate people and inspire future scientists and engineers at the same time.β
The goal of the podcast and the reason the faculty participate in MegaCon is to help people understand space science and why it matters in an entertaining way.
In 2019, Colwell took to social media to interact with Megaconβs attendees in a fun video where he interviewed cosplay players and talked about the science behind their favorite world. In 2020, MegaCon was canceled because of the COVID pandemic, but in 2021 it came back. Colwell was joined by Associate Professor Adrienne Dove and planetary scientist Phil MetzgerΒ β00MSβ05PhD, who all served on guest panels. Colwell and Dove also recorded the podcast with Brendan Byrne β13, a radio reporter for WMFE and now a ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ communication graduate student who earned a bachelorβs in political science from the university. Byrne is the host of WMFEβs show and podcast Are We There Yet?, which focuses on human space exploration. Byrne joins the team again this year and will record an episode of his show as well.
βWe love getting the chance to record the podcast in front of a live audience, to be able to do Q&A, and so weβre not the only ones laughing at our (terrible) nerdy jokes,β Dove says. βMegaCon is a great and unique opportunity for that. And itβs fun for me to go not only as a panelist, but also as a guest, to check out other panels and shows and admire the impressive display of cosplay creativity.β
Many of the same faculty are returning to Megacon for a repeat. Joining them this year is Hannah Sargeant a postdoctoral scholar at ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ whose research focuses on in-situ resource utilization on the moon. Her focus is developing resources that will be needed for future space missions. She will co-host the Walkabout the Galaxy Podcast with Colwell and Dove.
βThis will be my first ever convention so Iβm excited just to be there,β Sargeant says. βItβll also be the first time Iβll be part of a podcast recording with a live audience, so Iβm hoping they will bring some extra energy to the show and that they will come away from it knowing a little bit more about the exciting things going on in our universe.
Hereβs the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ schedule for those of you attending the conference.
Thursday
5 p.m.Β Fascinating: The (New) Science of Star Trek – Colwell and ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Physics Instructor Adam LaMee
6 p.m. Touring Tatooine – Colwell
Friday
NoonΒ Β Pop Culture and STEM Education – Colwell
Saturday
11 a.m. Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Walkabout the Galaxy – The Fun Astronomy Podcast, with Colwell, Dove, Sargeant and Byrne
Sunday
11 a.m. Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Are We There Yet? Artemis and Beyond: The Return of Humans to Deep Space, with Colwell, Dove and Byrne
