Schedule Overview
Keynote: The Wizard of UM in New Zealand
Presentation Type
Presentation
Abstract / Artist's Statement
If you were a wizard in search of a location for a career-capping sabbatical, what could be more exciting than Middle Earth (a.k.a., New Zealand)? Through the kindness of UM, I was able to spend January through mid-July 2014 traveling throughout this island nation. I drove more than 16,000 kilometers on the left-hand side of the road, performing 117 times to more than 10,000 students as a science and goodwill ambassador for both UM and the New Zealand University system. I was invited to perform for visitors to the Weta Workshop, home of the people who create costumes and props for Middle Earth productions. I wandered through the woods in my wizard regalia at the film location of Rivendell and sipped a cup of cider in Hobbiton’s Green Dragon Tavern. While on the South Island, I was hosted by the University of Otago in Dunedin. On the north, I was based at the University of Waikato in Hamilton.
Besides exploring the differences between US and NZ educational systems, I spent plenty of time as an environmental scientist learning about their pressing issues – water quality problems resulting from the intensification of dairy herds that underpin their current agricultural economy and the use of pesticide 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) for predators that have taken native bird populations to the brink of extinction. I visited two predator-free islands where flightless birds and native plant communities are making a dramatic come-back. I was directed to a secret pool where a hundred baby seals bond in riotous play beneath a sparkling waterfall. I got to carry a year-and-a-half old brown kiwi for release into one of the most successful North Island wildlife reserves. Finally, I tramped many miles on NZ’s Great Walks, some of the world’s finest back-country trail systems.
Keynote: The Wizard of UM in New Zealand
UC Theater
If you were a wizard in search of a location for a career-capping sabbatical, what could be more exciting than Middle Earth (a.k.a., New Zealand)? Through the kindness of UM, I was able to spend January through mid-July 2014 traveling throughout this island nation. I drove more than 16,000 kilometers on the left-hand side of the road, performing 117 times to more than 10,000 students as a science and goodwill ambassador for both UM and the New Zealand University system. I was invited to perform for visitors to the Weta Workshop, home of the people who create costumes and props for Middle Earth productions. I wandered through the woods in my wizard regalia at the film location of Rivendell and sipped a cup of cider in Hobbiton’s Green Dragon Tavern. While on the South Island, I was hosted by the University of Otago in Dunedin. On the north, I was based at the University of Waikato in Hamilton.
Besides exploring the differences between US and NZ educational systems, I spent plenty of time as an environmental scientist learning about their pressing issues – water quality problems resulting from the intensification of dairy herds that underpin their current agricultural economy and the use of pesticide 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) for predators that have taken native bird populations to the brink of extinction. I visited two predator-free islands where flightless birds and native plant communities are making a dramatic come-back. I was directed to a secret pool where a hundred baby seals bond in riotous play beneath a sparkling waterfall. I got to carry a year-and-a-half old brown kiwi for release into one of the most successful North Island wildlife reserves. Finally, I tramped many miles on NZ’s Great Walks, some of the world’s finest back-country trail systems.