{"448841":{"#nid":"448841","#data":{"type":"news","title":"A Minor for Major Geeks","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThough the subject may be inherently fictional,\u003C\/strong\u003E professor and director of Undergraduate Programs in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/yaszek\u0022\u003ELisa Yaszek\u003C\/a\u003E will tell you that science fiction is not wholly divorced from reality. Thanks to the freedom of imagination, ideas in science fiction often lead to big developments in real-world science and technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSometimes in modern scientific and technological research it\u2019s easy to fall into a trap if you\u2019re a scientist or engineer or policy maker of saying, \u2018What I\u2019m talking about is real, it\u2019s not science fiction [or fantasy],\u2019\u201d Yaszek says. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to lose sight of how scientists and engineers are inspired by science fiction to think differently and creatively about the world. Their work is as much creative and imaginative as it is practical and applied.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech was among the first universities to teach science fiction at the collegiate level, but had never offered any formal program of study in the field. But starting this year, Tech students may now officially pursue a minor in Science Fiction Studies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYaszek leads the Institute\u2019s Science Fiction Initiative within the School of Literature, Media and Communication. She says the minor was born in part from incredible demand from students. The science-fiction courses always fill up quickly, and students have consistently asked for more ways to embrace and study the genre during their time at Tech, she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents pursuing the minor will be required to take two courses \u2014 one on science-fiction literature and one on science-fiction film and television \u2014 and three other science fiction-related electives of their choosing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYaszek says this is how students can tailor the sci-fi minor to their own interests. Those interested in creating their own science-fiction work could take courses in creative writing or video production, while a biomedical engineering student might take a course on biomedicine and culture that examines the representation of artificial or bionic body parts in science fiction, for example.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe feel that we can offer students a really thorough exploration of science fiction across a range of media, and also provide them a framework to talk about it in the technological and scientific contexts they\u2019re working in elsewhere in their majors,\u201d Yaszek says. \u201cWe can provide them a new way, and a hopefully fun and productive way, of thinking about the work they do and the kind of work other people do in the modern world.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 1969, the first collegiate science-fiction course was taught at the University of Kansas. Just two years later in 1971, Professor Irving F. \u201cBud\u201d Foote officially introduced science-fiction studies to Tech students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTech was a real pioneer in thinking about the ways fiction can be used to address real-world issues in science and technology,\u201d Yaszek says. \u201cThe Institute has a very long-standing commitment to science fiction.\u201d\u003Ca class=\u0022thickbox no_icon\u0022 href=\u0022http:\/\/gtalumnimag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/LisaYaszek1.jpg\u0022 rel=\u0022gallery-48131\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFoote retired in 1999 and donated his personal collection of more than 8,000 sci-fi books, one of the largest of its kind in the nation, to Georgia Tech. Following his\u003Cbr \/\u003E departure, Yaszek filled his role and became the faculty face for the Institute\u2019s science-fiction studies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo other prominent science-fiction academics have a home at Tech. Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/telotte\u0022\u003EJay Telotte\u003C\/a\u003E is a leading scholar on film and television, and Professor of the Practice \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/goonan\u0022\u003EKathleen Ann Goonan\u003C\/a\u003E is a critically acclaimed sci-fi author and futurist.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYaszek says it\u2019s unique to have three science-fiction scholars on staff, which makes Tech very competitive with other programs of its kind around the nation. Tech\u2019s science-fiction program, of course, stands out because of its proximity to so much cutting-edge science and technology happening in other departments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETelotte believes the science-fiction courses are so popular because most Tech students have an innate passion for the subject matter. \u201cI find them much more willing to speak up, to involve themselves in classes, to do outside viewing and basically bring their own experiences to class,\u201d Telotte says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBecause they are so exposed to the genre, students have a keen interest in better understanding it, Telotte says. \u201cYou can\u2019t get around it: Wherever you look in the media and popular culture, you bump into science fiction in one form or another,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd if it is something we run into, we have to think about it because it conditions how we look at the rest of the world. It becomes imperative that we study it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFive Must-See Science-fiction Films\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe asked professors Jay Telotte and Lisa Yaszek of Georgia Tech\u2019s Science Fiction Initiative to recommend a handful of classic science-fiction movies everyone should watch.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Col\u003E\u003Cli\u003E2001: A Space Odyssey: \u201cIt\u2019s the most visionary of science-fiction films. \u2018Where are we going?\u2019 it asks. \u2018What are we going to be like?\u2019 \u2018How might humanity evolve?\u2019 \u2014 Telotte\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Col start=\u00222\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003EBlade Runner: \u201cThis story of humans and replicants provides the insight that, real or robot, we\u2019re not all that different. We\u2019re all products of our culture, and that\u2019s OK. We can all share moments of love and freedom and expression. Also, visually, it sets the tone for so many of the dystopic high-tech movies we\u2019ve watched over the past 30 or so years.\u201d \u2014Lisa Yaszek\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Col start=\u00223\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003EForbidden Planet: \u201cIt\u2019s THE film about space flight, alien cultures and robotics. It\u2019s the film that effectively introduces the three laws of robotics that Isaac Asimov had propounded much earlier, and introduces them to a popular audience.\u201d \u2014Telotte\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Col start=\u00224\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003EMetropolis: \u201cIt\u2019s one of the first full-length science-fiction films. It has the most amazing sets in the universe\u2014they\u2019re just beautifully, beautifully constructed\u2014and its iconography is enduring. Much of the science-fiction imagery we see today can be traced back to Metropolis.\u201d \u2014 Yaszek\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Col start=\u00225\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003ESnowpiercer: \u201cI love it because it\u2019s a truly international effort. It\u2019s based on a French comic book that was turned into a movie by a Korean director and features a global cast of actors. It\u2019s visually stunning, narratively compelling, and it\u2019s the face of the future.\u201d \u2014 Yaszek\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EOriginally featured in the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThough the subject may be inherently fictional,\u003C\/strong\u003E professor and director of Undergraduate Programs in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/yaszek\u0022\u003ELisa Yaszek\u003C\/a\u003E \u0026nbsp;will tell you that science fiction is not wholly divorced from reality.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Though the subject may be inherently fictional, professor Lisa Yaszek will tell you that science fiction is not wholly divorced from reality."}],"uid":"27498","created_gmt":"2015-09-16 14:32:50","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:33","author":"Rachel Miles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-09-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-09-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"405971":{"id":"405971","type":"image","title":"Lisa Yaszek","body":null,"created":"1449254153","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:35:53","changed":"1475895129","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:09","alt":"Lisa Yaszek","file":{"fid":"76122","name":"lisayaszekweb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lisayaszekweb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lisayaszekweb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":77968,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/lisayaszekweb.jpg?itok=Xx1F0zzB"}}},"media_ids":["405971"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/scifi.lmc.gatech.edu\/minor\/","title":"Sci-Fi at Tech"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"39781","name":"LMC"},{"id":"167171","name":"science fiction"},{"id":"171482","name":"science fiction minor"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane\u003Cbr \/\u003EDirector of Communication\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Erebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}