An Evening with Jad Abumrad

18 North Palafox Street,Pensacola FL 32502

14 April, 2022

Description

Award-winning Jad Abumrad is the creator and former host of Radiolab. Hear Abumrad, in person, for the free event, Thursday, April 14. April 14, join the UWF College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities for “An Evening with Jad Abumrad.” Abumrad is the creator and former host of Radiolab, a public radio program broadcast on nearly 600 stations across the nation and downloaded more than 12 million times a month as a podcast. The event, beginning at 7:30 p.m., is free and open to the public, tickets required. How do you craft an emotional story while translating very technical and abstract information? In his talk, “Island Hopping,” Abumrad draws from raw tape of interviews with scientists and focuses on the inherent struggles in science communication (or interpreting any technical or difficult information). He asks what happens when you get it wrong, how to fix it and how it’s useful to embrace error in the process. Abumrad employs his dual backgrounds as composer and journalist to create what’s been called “a new aesthetic” in broadcast journalism. He orchestrates dialogue, music, interviews and sounds into compelling documentaries that draw listeners into investigations of otherwise intimidating topics, such as the nature of numbers, the evolution of altruism, or the legal foundation for the war on terror. He’s won three George Foster Peabody Awards, and in 2011 Abumrad was honored as a MacArthur Fellow (also known as the Genius Grant). The MacArthur Foundation website says: “Abumrad is inspiring boundless curiosity within a new generation of listeners and experimenting with sound to find ever more effective and entertaining ways to explain ideas and tell a story.” Abumrad also created and hosted three seasons of More Perfect, a series about untold stories of the Supreme Court, which The New York Times called “...possibly the most mesmerizing podcast.” And in 2019, Jad Abumrad created Dolly Parton’s America (along with osm Audio’s Shima Oliaee) a Peabody Award-winning 9-part series that explores a divided America through the life and music of one its greatest icons. Hosted by the UWF College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, this event is presented by the Experience UWF Downtown Lecture Series. This series showcases scholars of outstanding prominence who promote the value and role of the Liberal Arts in building and sustaining contemporary culture. This event is made possible by a generous gift from the John C. Pace Symposium Series. Special thanks to the UWF Department of English and the Panhandle Tiger Bay Club. Learn more about this series at uwf.edu/downtownlectures.