A senior staff scientist at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar physics will speak about science communication at 8 tonight in 108 Wartik Laboratory.

In a program titled "The Best Evidence Yet . . . How Astronomers Report the Discovery of New Worlds," Stephen Maran will discuss good science communication.

Experts define science communication as writing "about complicated science subjects in a way that makes sense to the layman," said Suzanne Sinclair, coordinator of alumni affairs and special projects for the College of Science.

"The purpose is (to explain) how scientists communicate and interpret (scientific research and data) to the public, " she said.

Another purpose is to give students the opportunity to meet leaders in science communications so they may consider this as a career, she said.

Maran has been with the NASA/Goddard space flight Center since 1969.

He is currently working on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA-1 Space Shuttle Mission and is also editor-in-chief of the Reference Encyclopedia for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Maran is frequently consulted for astronomical publication of the National Geographic Society and Time Life Books.

In the past he has addressed subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.