Alan Alda & Amy Cuddy to Launch “CLEAR + VIVID” Live Web Show

In the inaugural episode of CLEAR + VIVID, a new live web show to launch on Friday, September 16 at Noon Eastern, Alan Alda, actor, writer and science communication pioneer will interview Amy Cuddy, a Harvard professor, social psychologist, famed "power-pose" TED speaker and best-selling author of Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges.

CLEAR + VIVID, planned to air four times each year, will feature conversations between Alda and guests with varied views and specialties in communicating science. Thanks to a partnership with Heleo, viewers from around the globe will have an opportunity to ask questions live via Twitter and Facebook using the tag #clearvivid.

“I spent years of interviewing scientists from pretty much every discipline on the PBS show Scientific American Frontiers,” says Alda. “Now it’s going to be fascinating on our web series CLEAR + VIVID to talk with knowledgeable people about the one discipline that doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it should – the difficult, but crucial, art of the communication of science. This is really going to be fun."

Cuddy comments, “I am thrilled and honored to be delving into an issue I’m so passionate about, communicating science, with one of my greatest heroes, Alan Alda – a trailblazing champion of both science and communication. I’m still pinching myself.”

“I’m really looking forward to a live interview with Amy Cuddy,” echoes Alda. “She’s studied (and practiced!) the most basic, indispensable, elements of good communication. She understands the science of it and has mastered the practice of it. It should be a terrific conversation.”

CLEAR + VIVID is available via live stream on the newly-launched Alda-Kavli Learning Center, a beta website developed by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University and The Kavli Foundation to enhance public understanding of and engagement with science and medicine. Future episodes and special guests will be announced. In addition to CLEAR + VIVID, the Learning Center will feature the latest in science communication articles and research, as well as training events and opportunities for scientists and medical professionals to practice their communication skills. Learn more at www.AldaKavliLearningCenter.org.

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About Alan Alda

Alan Alda has earned international recognition as an actor, writer and director. For over 20 years he has worked to help broaden the public’s understanding of science. He helped found the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University where he is a Visiting Professor, developing innovative programs that enable scientists and medical professionals to communicate more effectively with the public. He also originated The Flame Challenge, a yearly international competition for scientists in which they compete to explain complex scientific concepts in ways understandable by 11-year-old children worldwide. www.alanalda.com

About Amy Cuddy

Amy Cuddy, PhD in social psychology (Princeton University), is an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School and a Visiting Associate Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. She’s also the New York Times best-selling author of Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, delivered the 2nd most-viewed TED Talk of all time, is a Young Global Leader in the World Economic Forum, one of Science Magazine’s Top 100 Scientists on Twitter, and was named one of 50 Women Who are Changing the World by Business Insider. She studies the science of how social judgment and nonverbal behavior affect our presence and performance under pressure. Her research has been published in top academic journals.www.amycuddy.com

About the Alda Center

Established in 2009 at Stony Brook University in New York, the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science works to enhance understanding of science by helping train the next generation of scientists and health professionals to communicate more effectively with the public, public officials, the media, and others outside their own discipline. The Center offers a range of instructional programs for science graduate students and scientists, as well as credit-bearing courses. www.aldacenter.org

About the Kavli Foundation

The Kavli Foundation, based in Oxnard, California, is dedicated to the goals of advancing science for the benefit of humanity and promoting increased public understanding and support for scientists and their work. The Foundation's mission is implemented through an international program of research institutes, professorships, and symposia in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience, and theoretical physics as well as prizes in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience. www.kavlifoundation.org