PatIntNews

Date:May 23-26, 2009

Address: Earth, Water, Sky

Sudbury, Ontario

Keynotes, panels, events, tours

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE: "Memories of Miriah" -- Sudbury's most dramatic moment came just over two billion years ago, when a meteor the size of a small mountain slammed into the region at high speed and left a crater hundreds of kilometres across.

Astronomers named this massive rock Miriah, and its impact opened up a huge portion of the earth's crust, releasing heavy metals that eventually turned the region into a miner's paradise.

2009 conference highlights:

A hands-on tour through Sudbury's world-renowned bio-remediation
Science North's IMAX team on large format film production
International Year of Astronomy sub-theme: First Nations star tour
Mining technology deep under Earth and bound for other planets
CSWA awards gala/entertainment in Science North's dazzling Inco Cavern
Progressive networking dinner: Eat your way through Science North!
Panels, workshops, tours for writers, research communicators, others
CIHR Cafe Scientifique with regional cancer research experts
Keynote speakers Lawrence Krauss, Robert Sawyer and more...

Today, you can still make out the remnants of this event using aerial radar imaging, but what visitors to Sudbury now find is the brooding landscape of the Canadian Shield...A landscape that so haunted the Group of Seven painters.

World-class science, world class science communication.

Our hosts for our latest annual conference, May 23-26, 2009, are Science North and Laurentian University, two institutions that capture much of the character of the city and the region. Together they will be offering us a showcase of the research and development that has transformed Sudbury literally from the ground up.

This year's conference will offer insights into the robotic technology that has taken over many of the often grueling and dangerous tasks carried out by human miners, as well as providing the inspiration for mechanized explorers on Mars.