Archive of the
Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvouz (LASERs)

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The L.A.S.E.R.s are an international program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversation with an audience. The L.A.S.E.R. (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) series was started by Piero Scaruffi in january 2008 as a local forum for presenting art and science projects underway in the Bay Area, and is coordinated worldwide by Leonardo ISAST. The mission of the LASERs is to provide the general public with a snapshot of the cultural environment of a region and to foster interdisciplinary networking. Each evening, free of charge and open to the public, presents up to four artists, scientists, philosophers, historians, inventors and scholars who are working on paradigm shifts. See the current locations and schedule of Bay Area LASER series and Leonardo ISAST's page for worldwide series. See the gallery of past presenters. See the videos of past presentations. Past Bay Area LASERs San Francisco - LASER 1.1 (january 2008): Roger Malina (Leonardo ISAST), David Stork (Ricoh Innovations and Stanford Univ), Douglas Kahn (UC Davis) , Laura Peticolas (Berkeley's Space Science Lab) San Francisco - LASER 1.2 (march 2008): Tami Spector (SFU), Amy Ione (Diatrope Institute), Kathelin Gray, Sharon Daniel (UC Santa Cruz) San Francisco - LASER 1.3 (may 2008): Ken Goldberg (UC Berkeley), Carlo Sequin (UC Berkeley), Kris Paulsen (UC Berkeley), Trevor Paglen (UC Berkeley) San Francisco - LASER 1.4 (14 july 2008): Amy Ione (Diatrope Institute), Roger Malina (Leonardo ISAST), Robert Rich, Lynette Cook San Francisco - LASER 1.5 (8 september 2008): Thomas Zimmerman (IBM), Sharon Siskin (SF Dump), Deborah Munk (SF Dump), William Hsu (SFSU), Matt Heckert San Francisco - LASER 1.6 (10 november 2008): Sam Bower (Green Museum), Nomi Talisman (Israel), Frank Pietronigro (Zero Gravity Art Consortium), Hasan Elahi (San Jose State Univ) San Francisco - LASER 2.1 (12 january 2009): Steve Wilson (SFSU), Dor Abrahamson (UC Berkeley), Kavita Philip and Beatriz da Costa (UC Irvine), Paul Rabinow (UC Berkeley) Mountain View (SETI Inst) - LASER 2.2 (11 february 2009): Amy Ione (Diatrope Institute), Frank Pietronigro (Zero Gravity Arts Consortium), Cosmo Kichman (DeYoung Museum), Robert Rich LASER 2.3 (San Francisco, 9 march 2009): Ruzena Bajcsy (UC Berkeley), Irene Chien (UC Berkeley), Richard Rinehart (UC Berkeley Art Museum), Wayne Vitale (composer) LASER 2.4 (Mountain View, 8 April 2009): Warren Sack (UC Santa Cruz), Hasan Elahi (San Jose State University), Chris McKay (NASA AMES) LASER 2.6 (Mountain View, 10 June 2009): Sheila Pinkel (artist), Robert Edgar (Stanford Univ), Liena Vayzman (San Jose State University), Roger Malina (CNRS Marseille) LASER 2.7 (San Francisco, 13 july 2009): Jamie McHugh (John Kennedy University), Daniel "Cosmo Kichman" Grupp (Artist), Rhonda Holberton (Artist), Terrence Deacon (U.C. Berkeley) LASER 2.8 (Mountain View, 12 august 2009): David Stork (Ricoh and Stanford), Laura Granka (Google and Stanford), Darlene Lim (NASA), Irene Chien (UC Berkeley) LASER 2.9 (San Francisco, 14 september 2009): Rachel Beth Egenhoefer (USF), Chris McKay (NASA AMES), Bonnie DeVarco, Zann Gill LASER 2.10 (Mountain View, 14 october 2009): Julie Newdoll (Artist), Steve Wilson (SFSU), Wayne Lanier (San Francisco Exploratorium) LASER 2.11 (San Francisco, 9 november 2009): Jim Campbell (artist), Phil Ross (artist), Warren Sack (UC Santa Cruz), Renetta Sitoy (artist) LASER 2.12 (Mountain View, 11 december 2009): Chris Chafe (Stanford CCRMA), Brad Drda (SF Dump), Cindy Stokes (Photographer) LASER 3.1 (San Francisco, 11 january 2010): Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison (Artists), Joe Davis (MIT), Laura Granka (Stanford Univ), Victoria Vesna (UCLA) LASER 3.2 (Mountain View, 10 february 2010): June Power (Altor Systems), John Edmark (Stanford Univ), Carlo Sequin (U.C. Berkeley), Gertrude Reagan (Visual Artist) LASER 3.3 (San Francisco, 8 march 2010): Anna Couey (Artist), Taraneh Hemami (Artist), Helena Carmena (California Academy of Sciences), Jesse Austin & Charles Lee (BIOS Design Collective) LASER 3.4 (Mountain View, 14 april 2010): Rachel Beth Egenhoefer (USF), Ken Eklund, Phil Ross (USF), Tami Spector (USF) LASER 3.5 (San Francisco, 10 may 2010): Chris Palmer (Artist), Therese Lahaie (Artist), Mona El Khafif (California College of the Arts), Evelyne Gayou (INA France) LASER 3.6 (Mountain View, 9 june 2010): Robert Lang (Origami Artist), Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison (UC San Diego), Victoria Scott and Scott Kildall (Artists), Robert Buelteman (Photographer) LASER 3.7 (San Francisco, 12 july 2010): Linda Gass, Peter Foucault, Imin Yeh, Cindy Stokes LASER 3.8 (Mountain View, 11 august 2010): Shona Kitchen (San Jose State University CADRE), Leila Takayama (Willow Garage and Stanford Univ), Fred Kuttner (U.C. Santa Cruz), Roger Malina (CNRS Marseille) LASER 3.9 (San Francisco, 13 september 2010): Tanu Sankalia (USF), Deborah Aschheim (Visual artist), Anne Fougeron (Architect), Jeff Hull (Nonchalance) LASER 3.10 (Mountain View, 13 october 2010): Renetta Sitoy, Henrik Bennetsen and Chris Palmer LASER 3.11 (San Francisco, 8 november 2010): Robert Edgar (Sunnyvale Art Institute), Ken Eklund (game designer), Robert Lang (origami artist), Tom McKeag LASER 3.12 (Mountain View, 8 december 2010): Bathsheba Grossman, Phillip Prager, Peter Foucault , Wayne Vitale LASER 4.1 (San Francisco, 10 january 2011): Mathias Crawford, Robert Buelteman, Suzanne Husky, Robert Horn LASER 4.2 (Mountain View, 9 february 2011): Steven Oscherwitz (University of Washington), Bill Smart (Washington University and Willow Garage), Miu-Ling Lam (UCLA), Pamela Z (Multimedia artist) LASER 4.3 (San Francisco, 7 march 2011): Henrik Bennetsen (Katalabs), Niki Ulehla (Recology), Melanie Swan (DYIgenomics), Eri Gentry (Biocurious) LASER 4.4 (San Francisco, 9 may 2011): Elizabeth Jameson, Kal Spelletich, Caroline Lewis, Robert Davis, Minna Harri LASER 4.5 (San Francisco, 11 july 2011): Margarita Marinova (NASA), James Thompson (Stanford), Grisha Coleman (Arizona State Univ), Pamela Z LASER 4.6 (Stanford, 3 august 2011): Jonathan Trent (NASA), Cindy Stokes (Photographer), Robert Edgar (Sunnyvale Art Institute), Ken Eklund (game designer) LASER 4.7 (USF, 12 september 2011): Alan Cooper and Julianne Stafford (USGS), Luciano Chessa (San Francisco Conservatory), Leonard Pitt (Flying Actor Studio), Randal Koene (Carboncopies) LASER 4.8 (Stanford, 5 october 2011): Henrik Bennetsen, Rachel Beth Egenhoefer (USF), Trudy Myrrh Reagan, Wayne Vitale Special (Bay Area Science Festival, 2 november 2011): Robert Buelteman, Therese Lahaie, Deborah Munk, John Edmark, Martin Pohl & Christian Gonzenbach LASER 4.9 (USF, 7 november 2011): Laurie Frick, Bob Ostertag, Walter Kitundu, Jennifer Parker (UC Santa Cruz) LASER 4.10 (Stanford, 7 december 2011): Shona Kitchen, Carlo Sequin (UC Berkeley), Margarita Marinova (NASA), Peter Foucault LASER 5.1 (USF, 9 january 2012): Piero Scaruffi, Mark Wagner, GianPablo Villamil, Cheryl Leonard LASER 5.2 (Stanford, 1 february 2012): Luca Antonucci & Daniel Small, Zann Gill, Anne Fougeron, Phil Ross LASER 5.3 (USF, 12 march 2012): Shamit Kachru (Stanford), Indre Viskontas, Scott Kildall, Rebecca Kamen LASER 5.4 (Stanford, 4 april 2012): Michael Marmor (Stanford), Alan Cooper and Julianne Stafford (USGS), Sara Loesch-Frank (Stanford), Leonard Pitt LASER 5.5 (USF, 14 may 2012): Sean Gourley, Shanshan Sheng, Mark Feldman LASER 5.6 (Stanford, 6 june 2012): Renetta Sitoy, Luciano Chessa, Abigail De Kosnik, Javier Ideami LASER 5.7 (USF, 9 july 2012): Christina Smolke, Mark Jacobson, Ian Winters LASER 5.8 (Stanford, 8 august 2012): Sydell Lewis, Shamit Kachru, Indre Viskontas, Christine Peterson LASER 5.9 (USF, 10 september 2012): Hana Mori Bottger, Jennifer Dionne, Jesse Houlding, Vijaya Nagarajan LASER 5.10 (Stanford, 10 october 2012): Andrew Todhunter, Terry Berlier, Mark Jacobson, Cheryl Leonard LASER 5.11 (USF, 12 november 2012): Christina Mazza, Stella Zhang, Derek Sears, Marti Hearst LASER 5.12 (Stanford, 12 december 2012): Audrey Shafer, Mark Wagner, Jennifer Dionne, Jennifer Parker LASER 6.1 (USF, 14 january 2013): Piero Scaruffi, Meredith Tromble, Alison Gopnik, Alvy Ray Smith LASER 6.2 (Stanford, 6 february 2013): Carina Earl, Luke Muehlhauser, Christine Marie, Helene Mialet LASER 6.3 (USF, 11 march 2013): Curt Frank, Deborah Gordon, Terry Berlier, Katharine Hawthorne LASER 6.4 (Stanford, 4 april 2013): Jesse Houlding, Vijaya Nagarajan, Salma Arastu, Chris McKay LASER 6.5 (USF, 13 may 2013): Lucia Ayala, Reuben Margolin, Sara Loesch, Sasha Leitman, John Granzow LASER 6.6 (Berkeley, 5 june 2013): Indre Viskontas, Robert Buelteman, Jennifer Dionne, Vijaya Nagarajan LASER 6.7 (Stanford, 6 june 2013): Sean Gourley, Walter Kitundu, Jeremy Mende, Melanie Swan LASER 6.8 (USF, 8 july 2013): Christine Marie, David Deamer, Adrian David Cheok, Sarah Cahill LASER 6.10 (Berkeley, 7 august 2013): Mark Wagner, Melanie Swan, Robert Rich, Kal Spelletich LASER 6.9 (Stanford, 8 august 2013): David Israel, Jeanne Finley, Tony Pratkanis, Niki Ulehla LASER 6.11 (USF, 9 september 2013): Helene Mialet, Bernie Lubell, Allison Leigh Holt, Margot Gerritsen First Santa Cruz LASER (UC Santa Cruz, 8 october 2013): Ken Goldberg, Jennifer Gonzales, Gail Wight, Greg Laughlin LASER 6.12 (Stanford, 10 october 2013): Kate Nichols, Sasha Leitman, Taraneh Hemami, Katharine Hawthorne LASER 6.13 (Berkeley, 9 october 2013): Zann Gill, Wayne Vitale, Jennifer Parker, Cheryl Leonard November 4, 2013 - USF San Francisco: Tania Lombrozo, Paul Skokowski, Laura Richard, Sita Bhaumik December 11, 2013 - UC Berkeley: Marcy Darnovsky, David Salesin, Chris McKay, Javier Ideami December 12, 2013 - Stanford University: Uwe Bergman, Alison Gopnik, Ellen Fullman, David Stork January 13, 2014 - USF: Paula Birnbaum, John Cumbers, Kiri Rong, Danielle Siembieda-Gribben February 11, 2014 - UC Berkeley: Kinetic artist Bernie Lubell, Visual artist Katherine Sherwood, Curt Frank (Stanford Univ/ Chemical Engineering), Eric Paulos (UC Berkeley/ Living Environment Lab) February 12, 2014 - Stanford University: Dave Deamer (UCSC/ Astrobiology), Mark Applebaum (Stanford/ Computer Music), Margot Gerritsen (Stanford/ Computational Math), Kim Anno (California College of the Arts) March 10, 2014 - USF San Francisco: Visual artist Katherine Worel, composer Ellen Fullman, Visual designer Jeremy Mende, Dawn Sumner (UC Davis/ Earth and Planetary Sciences) April 2, 2014 - UC Berkeley: Jim Crutchfield (UC Davis/ Chaos Scientist), Visual artist Shan Shan Sheng, Lucia Jacobs (UC Berkeley Psychology), Video artist/filmmaker Renetta Sitoy April 3, 2014 - Stanford University: Electronic composer Robert Rich, Patricia Burchat (Stanford/ Physics), Kinetic artist Kal Spelletich, Recology curator Sharon Spain May 5, 2014 - USF: Terry Johnson (UC Berkeley), Chhoti Rao (USF), Bruno Olshausen (Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at UC Berkeley), Ashley Bellouin (Musician) June 11, 2014 - UC Berkeley: Tania Lombrozo (UC Berkeley Psychologist), Rachel Haurwitz (CaribouBioSciences), Annapurna Pandey (San Jose State Univ/ Anthropology), David Stork (Rambus Labs) June 12, 2014 - Stanford University: Stacey Bent (Stanford/ Sustainable Energy), Soraya Murray (UC Santa Cruz/Digital Media), Danielle Tullman-Ercek (UC Berkeley/ Synthetic Biology), Kiri Rong (Curator) July 7, 2014 - USF: Catherine King (International Museum of Women), Alan Rath (Digital Video Sculpture), Jackie Quinn (Google & Autodesk), David Glowacki (Stanford) July 27, 2014 - Djerassi: Devavani Chatterjea, Jim Crutchfield, Curtis Frank, Ari Frankel, Charlotte Jacobs, Sasha Petrenko, Budi Prakosa and Andreas Siagian, Donna Sternberg, Dawn Sumner, Pireeni Sundaralingam, Meredith Tromble August 6, 2014 - UC Berkeley: Danielle Siembieda-Gribben (Visual Artist and Curator), Philip Marcus (UC Berkeley/ Mechanical Engineering), Marion O'Leary (Stanford), Andrea Lingenfelter (USF) August 7, 2014 - Stanford: Jonathon Keats (Philosopher), Stuart Kendall (California College of the Arts), Lynn Rothschild (NASA Astrobiologist), Indrani Baruah (Architect and Visual Artist) September 8, 2014 - Univ of San Francisco: Loren Frank (UCSF), Lia Cook, Marcy Darnovsky (Center for Genetics and Society), Birgitta Whaley (Berkeley Quantum Information and Computation Center) October 8, 2014 - UC Berkeley: Alison Gopnik (UC Berkeley/ Psychology), Stephen Palmer (UC Berkeley/ Cognitive Science), Edward Frenkel (UC Berkeley/ Mathematics), Drue Kataoka (Visual Artist) October 9, 2014 - Stanford University: Andrea Stevenson Won (Stanford/ Virtual Reality), Margot Knight (Djerassi Resident Artists Program), Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian), Patricia Lange (California College of the Arts) October 11, 2014 - Special LASER for the Art Silicon Valley Fair: Kal Spelletich (Kinetic Artist), Lia Cook (Visual Artist), Alan Rath (Digital Sculptor), Robert Buelteman (Photographer) November 10, 2014 - Univ of San Francisco: John Granzow (Stanford CCRMA), Amy Ho (Visual Artist), Brenda Hutchinson (Composer), Danielle Tullman-Ercek (UC Berkeley/ Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) December 10, 2014 - UC Berkeley: Paula Birnbaum (USF), Carlo Sequin (UC Berkeley), Laetitia Sonami (Sound Artist), Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian) January 12, 2015 - USF: Sasha Petrenko (Choreographer), Meredith Tromble (San Francisco Art Institute), Charlotte Jacobs (Standford University), Pireeni Sundaralingam (poetry and neuroscience) February 11, 2015 - UC Berkeley: Jonathon Keats (Philosopher), Tami Spector (SFU/ Chemistry), Birgitta Whaley (UC Berkeley/ Quantum Lab), Amanda Hughen (Visual Artist) February 12, 2015 - Stanford University: Lucia Jacobs (UC Berkeley), Rachna Nivas (Chitresh Das Dance Company), Chris Chafe (Stanford/ CCRMA), Josef Parvizi (Stanford/ Medicine), Catherine Radford Zoi (Stanford/ Energy Engineering) March 9, 2015 - USF: Indrani Baruah (Architect and Visual Artist), Stephen Bailey (Lawrence Berkeley Labs) Christine Metzger (California College of the Arts), Weidong Yang (Kine-tech) March 18, 2015 - Stanford: Chris McKay (NASA), Roger Malina (Univ of Texas/ Astrophysicist), Allison Leigh Holt (Visual Artist), Katharine Hawthorne (Choreographer) April 8, 2015 - UC Berkeley: Melanie Swan (Institute for Blockchain Studies), Lily Alexander (UC Santa Cruz), Amy Ho (Multimedia Artist) May 11, 2015 - USF: Laura Maguire (Stanford/ Philosophy), Tami Spector (USF/ Organic Chemistry), Marjorie Schwarzer (USF/ Museum Studies), Michal Gavish (Visual Artist) June 10, 2015 - UC Berkeley: Robert Lang (Origami Artist), John Edmark (Stanford/ Design), Kathryn Roszak (Dance Lumiere), Anna Davidson (UC Davis/ Plant Sciences) June 11, 2015 - Stanford: Maria McVarish (Stanford/Art), Bruno Olshausen (Berkeley Neuroscience), Tito Jankowski (Biocurious), Paul DeMarinis (Stanford/Music) July 13, 2015 - USF: Melanie Swan (Institute for Blockchain Studies), Margot Knight (Djerassi Resident Artists Program), Stuart Russell (UC Berkeley/ Center for Intelligent Systems), Nicholas de Monchaux (UC Berkeley Architecture) August 12, 2015 - UC Berkeley: Greg Niemeyer (UC Berkeley/ Center for New Media), Charlotte Jacobs (Stanford), Lauren Baines (Choreographer), Vivienne Ming (Neuroscientist) August 13, 2015 - Stanford: Tami Spector (USF), James Wall (Stanford/ Biodesign), Weidong Yang (Kine-tech), Tony Wyss-Coray (Stanford/ Neurology) September 14, 2015 - USF: Jasmina Bojic (Stanford/Cinema), Rob Meagley (ONE Nanotechnologies) , Daiane Lopes Da Silva (Choreographer), October 14, 2015 - UC Berkeley: Christine Metzger (California College of the Arts), Jenn Smith (Mills College), Sasha Petrenko (Choreographer), Pieter Abbeel (UC Berkeley/ Robotics) October 15, 2015 - Stanford: Brian Conrad (Stanford/ Math), Andreas Weigend (Stanford and former chief scientist at Amazon), Meredith Tromble (San Francisco Art Institute), Elizabeth Kessler (Stanford/ Art) November 9, 2015 - USF: Therese Lahaie (Media Artist), Derek Ouyang (Stanford/ Architecture), Cherie Hill (Choreographer), Robert Horn (Social Scientist) December 9, 2015 - UC Berkeley: Lisa Wymore (UC Berkeley/ Theater), Weidong Yang (Interactive Digital Art), Paul Payton (Chief Data Scientist of VisaLabs), Gregorij Kurillo (Berkeley/ Teleimmersion Lab) December 10, 2015 - Stanford: Danielle Siembieda-Gribben (Visual Artist and Curator), Sally Benson (Stanford/ Energy Engineering), Christine Metzger (California college of the Arts), James Doty (Founding Director, Stanford's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education), January 11, 2016 - USF: Anna Davidson (UC Davis), Hideo Mabuchi (Stanford/ Applied Physics), Fabrice Florin (ex Wikipedia), Rieko Yajima (AAAS and Stanford/ Design) February 10, 2016 - UC Berkeley: Rachna Nivas (Chitresh Das Dance Company), Ken Goldberg (UC Berkeley), Leah Krubitzer (UC Davis/ Neurobiology), David Anderson (UC Berkeley/ SETI@home) February 11, 2016 - Stanford: Jennifer Widom (Stanford/ Computer Science), Birgitta Whaley (Berkeley Quantum Information and Computation Center), Rieko Yajima (Stanford/ Design), Christine Lee (Visual Artist) March 14, 2016 - USF: Jenn Smith (Mills College), Vanessa Sigurdson (Autodesk Pier 9), John Law (Burning Man), Philip Sabes (UCSF/ Neuroscience) April 13, 2016 - Stanford: Dada Centennial Celebration, featuring: Stanford CCRMA, Luciano Chessa, Robert Edgar Band, Cosana Eram, Thomas Haakenson, Jonathon Keats, The L.A.S.T. Ensemble, John Law, Maria Makela, Piero Scaruffi, Kal Spelletich, Theresa Wong April 14, 2016 - UC Berkeley: Alex Reben (Robot Inventor), Cere Davis (Media Artist), Cosana Eram (Univ of the Pacific), Michael Sturtz (Stanford/ Design) May 9, 2016 - USF: Lydia Degarrod (California College of the Arts), Stan Shaff (Audium), Lauren Baines (Choreographer), Adam Gazzaley (UCSF/ Neuroscience) June 15, 2016 - UC Berkeley: Cherie Hill (Choreographer), Fabrice Florin (Artist and Technologist), Roberta Buiani (Artist, Critic and Curator), Margot Knight (Djerassi Resident Artists Program) June 16, 2016 - Stanford: Tom Abel (Stanford/ Physics), Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian), Nicholas de Monchaux (UC Berkeley Architecture), Andra Keay (Silicon Valley Robotics) July 11, 2016 - USF: Lark Buckingham (Berkeley/ Center for New Media), Cere Davis (Media Artist), Beibei Song (Essinova) + Panel on "When computers make art, is art still art?" August 10, 2016 - Stanford: Tina Seelig (Stanford), Paul Payton (VisaLabs), Rachel Haurwitz (Caribou BioSciences), Adrien Segal (Data Artist) August 11, 2016 - UC Berkeley: Vanessa Sigurdson (Autodesk Pier 9), Laura Maguire (Stanford), Loren Frank (UCSF), Theresa Wong (Composer) September 12, 2016 - USF: Nina Waisman (Media Artist), Andra Keay (Silicon Valley Robotics) , Anders Bach Pedersen (Composer), Goran Konjevod (Origami Artist) October 12, 2016 - UC Berkeley: Michal Gavish (Visual Artist), John Law (Burning Man Festival), Henry Segerman (Oklahoma State/ Mathematics) , Luciano Chessa (Composer) October 13, 2016 - Stanford: Curt Frank (Stanford), Greg Niemeyer (UC Berkeley/ Center for New Media), David Anderson (UC Berkeley/ SETI), Jenn Smith (Mills College) November 14 - USF: Amy Balkin (Media Artist), Peter Walter (UCSF/ Biochemistry and Biophysics), Mitch Altman (Virtual reality pioneer and Noisebridge founder), Mary Tang (Stanford/ Nanofabrication) December 7 - UC Berkeley: Philip Sabes (UCSF/ Neuroscience), Fyodor Urnov (UC Berkeley/ Genomics), Stan Shaff (Composer), Adrien Segal (Data Artist) December 8 - Stanford: Cheryl Leonard (Composer), Mark Nelson (Stanford Peace Innovation Initiative), Thomas Juffmann (Stanford/Physics), Enar de Dios Rodriguez (Photographer), Phillip Haslinger (UC Berkeley/ Physics), Caterina Zhang (live from Shanghai) January 10, 2017 - USF: Dave Wolber (USF/ Computer Science), Madeline Girard (UC Berkeley), Erling Wold (Composer), Nina Czegledy (Artist and Curator, Toronto Univ) February 8, 2017 - UC Berkeley: Carlo Sequin (UC Berkeley), Andra Keay (Silicon Valley Robotics), Marjorie Schwarzer (University of San Francisco), Carrie Hott (Performance Artist) February 9, 2017 - Stanford: Vanessa Sigurdson (Autodesk Pier 9), Stan Shaff (Composer and Audium founder), Marilia Librandi Rocha (Stanford/ Literature), Susan McConnell (Stanford/Biology) March 14, 2017 - USF: Maria Makela (California College of the Arts), Theresa Wong (Composer), Luciano Chessa (Composer), Piero Scaruffi (Author) April 12, 2017 - Stanford: Goran Konjevod (Origami Artist), Marjorie Schwarzer (University of San Francisco), Megan Joan Palmer (Stanford/ Biosecurity), Eva Silverstein (Stanford/ Cosmology) April 13, 2017 - UC Berkeley: Ron Rael (UC Berkeley/ Architecture), John Cumbers (Synbiobeta), Kim Anno (California College of the Arts), Pantea Karimi (Media Artist) May 9, 2017 - USF: Brewster Kahle (Internet Archive), Thomas Juffmann (Stanford/Physics), Enar de Dios Rodriguez (Photographer), Phillip Haslinger (UC Berkeley/ Physics), Purin Phanichphant (Interaction Designer), Mark Nelson (Stanford Peace Innovation Lab) June 3 - San Jose: Maya Ackerman, Michael Kaufman, Andrew Blanton, Rhonda Holberton June 14, 2017 - UC Berkeley: Susan Moffat (Berkeley's Global Urban Humanities Initiative), Evie Leder (Video Artist), Carmen Aguilar y Wedge (Hyphen Labs), Karl Schaffer (Choreographer) June 15, 2017 - Stanford: Fred Turner (Stanford/ Communication), Fyodor Urnov (UC Berkeley/ Genomics), Elizabeth Jameson (Neuro-artist), Adrien Segal (Media Artist) July 11, 2017 - USF: Melissa Merencillo (Virtual Reality Designer), Pantea Karimi (Media Artist from Iran), Gary Boodhoo (Videogame designer), Jan Rindfleisch (Art Historian) August 9, 2017 - UC Berkeley: Brewster Kahle (Internet Archive), Erling Wold (Composer), Andrew Blanton (San Jose State Univ), Melissa Merencillo (Virtual Reality Designer) August 10, 2017 - Stanford: Luciano Chessa (Neofuturist Composer), Neeraj Sonalkar (Stanford/ Design), Alex Reben (Stochastic Lab), Jan Rindfleisch (Art Historian) September 12, 2017 - USF: Gregorij Kurillo (Berkeley/ Teleimmersion Lab), Liat Berdugo (Media Artist), Hsiao-Yun Chu (SFSU), Manuela Travaglianti (UC Berkeley/ Political Science) October 4, 2017 - UC Berkeley: Paul Dresher (Composer), Micheline Marcom (Novelist), Gary Boodhoo (Videogame Designer), Rosanna Guadagno (Stanford Peace Innovation Lab) October 5, 2017 - Stanford: Maya Ackerman (Santa Clara Univ/ Computational Creativity), Mikey Siegel (Consciousness Technologist), Michael Snyder (Stanford/ Genomics) November 14, 2017 - USF: Stephanie Brown (Univ of San Francisco), Damian Madray (DXLabs), Jeff Johnson (USF/ Computer Science) December 13, 2017 - UC Berkeley: Shiry Ginosar (UC Berkeley/ A.I.), Meredith Drum (Arizona State Univ), Allen Saakyan (Eureka Science Comedy), John Bischoff (Composer & Mills College) December 14, 2017 - Stanford: Mel Day (SJSU), Melissa Merencillo (Virtual Reality Evangelist), Steve Omohundro (A.I. and Blockchain researcher) January 9, 2018 - USF: Tamira Elul (Touro University), Jennifer Berry (Beekeeper & Media Artist), Ian Winters (Media Artist), Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian & LASER founder) February 14, 2018 - UC Berkeley: Sandy Huang (UC Berkeley/ A.I.), David McConville (Buckminster Fuller Institute), Mikey Siegel (Consciousness Technologist) February 15, 2018 - Stanford: Qifeng Chen (Intel Labs/ Artificial Intelligence) , Audrey Shafer (Stanford Univ/ Medicine and the Muse) , Robert Buelteman (Photographer) , Carlo Sequin (UC Berkeley/ Computer Science March 6, 2018 - USF: Carlo Sequin (UC Berkeley/ Computer Science), Qifeng Chen (Intel Labs/ Artificial Intelligence), Robert Buelteman (Photographer), Paul Dresher (Composer) April 10, 2018 - Stanford: Catherine Chalmers (Media Artist), Carrie Hott (Media Artist), Janine Zacharia (Stanford/ Communication & Journalism), Blair Kaneshiro (Stanford/ CCRMA) May 8, 2018 - USF: Neeraj Sonalkar (Stanford/ Design), Deneb Karentz (USF/Biology), Karen Ande (Documentary Photographer), Mauro Fortissimo (Kinetic Artist, Poet & Piano Deconstructor) June 14, 2018 - Stanford: Geri Migielicz (Stanford/ Communications), Adriana Manago (UC Santa Cruz), Patricia Lange (CCA), Reza Zadeh (Stanford/ Artificial Intelligence) August 6, 2018 - Stanford: Li Jiang (Stanford/ Robotics), Stephanie Brown (Univ of San Francisco) , David Stork (Rambus Labs), Andrey Kurenkov (Stanford/ Computational Vision Lab) September 11, 2018 - USF: John Bischoff (Mills College/ Composer), Meredith Drum (Media Artist), Clair Brown (UC Berkeley), Bharath Ramsundar (CTO of Computable) September 25, 2018 - Stanford: Hank Greely (Director of the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences), Irina Raicu (Santa Clara University/ Director of the Internet Ethics Program), Margaret Levi (Director of the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences), Soraya Murray (UC Santa Cruz/ Film and Digital Media) October 11, 2018 - Stanford: Hughen/Starkweather (Visual Artists), David McConville (Buckminster Fuller Institute), Fabio Barry (Stanford/ Art), Carrie Partch (Stanford/ Biochemistry) November 13, 2018 - USF: Ellen Peel (SFSU/ Literature), Laura Splan (Media Artist), Dasha Ortenberg (Designer/Artist), Alex Reben (Inventor and Artist) December 10, 2018 - Stanford: Helen Blau (Stanford/ Biology), Michal Kosinski (Stanford Graduate School of Business), Hirohisa Tanaka (Stanford/ SLAC), Mauro Ffortissimo (Kinetic Artist) January 22, 2019 - USF: Reza Zadeh (Stanford Institute for Computational Mathematics), Patricia Lange (CCA), Rhonda Holberton (Media Artist), Chip Lord (Media Artist) February 14, 2019 - Stanford: EJ Chichilnisky (Stanford/ Neurosurgery), Lucia Aronica (Stanford Prevention Research Center), Christopher Tyler (City University of London), Ge Wang (Stanford CCRMA) March 26, 2019 - USF: Juniper Harrower (UC Santa Cruz), JD Beltran (Media Artist), Ge Wang (Stanford CCRMA), Andrew Blanton (San Jose State Univ) April 11, 2019 - Stanford: Jay McClelland (Stanford/ Center for Mind, Brain and Computation), Helen Bronte-Stewart (Stanford/ Neurology), Adrienne Mayor (Stanford/ Classics), Rhonda Holberton (Media Artist) May 14, 2019 - USF: Hughen/Starkweather (Media Artists), Peter Maravelis (City Lights), Stephan Crawford (ClimateMusic Project), Omar Miranda (USF) June 13, 2019 - Stanford: Kimford Meador (Stanford/ Neurology), Dasha Ortenberg (Designer/Artist), Vivek Bagaria (Stanford/ Electrical Engineering), Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian) July 9, 2019 - USF: Lea Witkowsky (Innovative Genomics Institute/ Policy Analyst), Vanessa Chang (California College of the Arts), Caroline Cocciardi (Art Writer), Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian) August 8, 2019 - Stanford: William Newsome (Stanford/ Neuroscience), Jessica Feldman (Stanford/ Biology), JD Beltran (Media Artist), Mehran Sahami (Stanford/ Computer Science) September 10, 2019 - USF: Stephen Auger (Media Artist) & Benjamin Smarr (UC Berkeley/ Neuroscience), Lucia Aronica (Stanford Prevention Research Center), Anja Ulfeldt (Media Artist), Willard Van De Bogart (Author & Composer) October 10, 2019 - Stanford: Irving Weissman (Stanford/ Biology), James Ferrell (Stanford/ Systems Biology), Aja Duniven (Animate, Global Peace Train, Coalition for Collaborative Development), Yoon Chung Han (SJSU & Media Artist) November 12, 2019 - USF: Danielle Wright (NASRC), Christopher Tyler (City University of London), Charles Lindsay (SETI AIR), Andrey Kurenkov (Stanford/ A.I.) December 12, 2019 - Stanford: Liqun Luo (Stanford/ Neurobiology), Danton Char (Stanford/ Medicine), Daniel Dever (Stanford/ Regenerative Medicine), Jaroslaw Kapuscinski (Stanford Intermedia Performance Lab) January 14, 2020 - USF: Lisa K Blatt (Photographer) Adrienne Mayor (Stanford/ Classics) ( video) Jules Litman-Cleper (Media Artist) (video) Andra Keay (Silicon Valley Robotics) (video) February 13, 2020 - Stanford: Lars Steinmetz (Co-Director, Stanford Genome Technology Center) ( video) Christine Marie (Light Artist), (video) Krishna Shenoy (Stanford/ Neuroscience), (video) Terry Berlier (Kinetic Artist) (video) Click here for the 2020s (covid and after) Email me if you'd like to be on the mailing list for these interdisciplinary cultural events. A video in which i presented the LASERs at UCLA Chronology 12 Dec 2007: piero suggests to organize a meeting of Leonardo ISAST's Scientists Working Group as a prelude to Leonardo ISAST's Leonardo Day of June 3 at UC Berkeley for Leoardo ISAST's 40th anniversary; Roger Malina, chair of Leonardo ISAST, suggests to ask Jeff Babcock at SFSU to host the event 14 Dec 2007: Jeff Babcock of SFSU, later also a chair of Leonardo ISAST, meets at my house to discuss the new series and strongly supports the idea of making it a periodical event 14 Jan 2008 at SFSU (835 Market St) with no title (just "a meeting of the Leonardo Scientists Working Group") and with very little fanfare (the invite went to a mailing list of 56 people) 22 Feb 2008: piero comes up with the title LASE (Leonardo Art Science Evenings) and Roger adds "Rendezvous" (LASER) 10 Mar 2008: The first "Leonardo Art/Science Evening Rendezvous" takes place at SFSU 11 Feb 2009: piero starts a second LASER series at SETI Inst in Mountain View 13 july 2009: The San Francisco LASERs move to Univ of San Francisco, co-chaired by Tami Spector and piero 3 august 2011: piero starts a LASER series at Stanford complementing his Stanford Multidisciplinary Multimedia Meetings of the Arts, Sciences and Humanities (SMMMASH) January 2013: Victoria Vesna starts a LASER series at UC Los Angeles 16 february 2013: JD Talasek starts a LASER series at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC 5 june 2013: piero starts a LASER series at UC Berkeley, sponsored by Minerva Foundations May 2013: Ellen Levy starts a LASER series in New York October 2013: John Weber stats a LASER series at UC Santa Cruz October 2013: Anna Davidson starts a LASER series at UC Davis February 2014: Heather Barnett starts a LASER series in London at the University of Westminster March 2014: Roger Malina holds the first LASER in Texas July 2014: Margot Knight starts the Scientific Delirium Madness program at the Djerassi in Woodside September 2014: Nina Czegledy holds the first LASER at the University of Toronto October 2014: Siddharth Ramakrishnan holds the first LASER at the University of Puget Sound (Washington State) February 2015: Carlos Castellanos starts a LASER series at Kansas State University July 2015: First LASER Leadership Meeting, held at the Djerassi's in Woodside 2015: ... lost track of all inaugural LASERs of this season... June 2016: First San Jose LASER LASER organizers meeting of 2015 at the Djerassi Center: LASER organizers meeting of November 2021: LASER organizers meeting of March 2022:

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