Center for Inquiry Washington, DC
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Research & Education


Research

The Center has established a Research Institute to coordinate the research of distinguished scholars and social critics from around world, many of whom are appointed CFI research fellows or post-doctoral fellows. These include Professor Richard Wiseman, a parapsychological researcher at University of Hertsfordshire; Ibn Warraq, noted Islamic scholar; Professor Gerd Lüdemann, noted biblical scholar from Göttingen, Germany; Professor Richard Stenger, astrophysicist at the University of Colorado; and others.

Fellows of CSICOP include E. O. Wilson, Steven Weinberg, Richard Dawkins, Leon Jaroff, Martin Gardner, Susan Blackmore, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Joe Nickell, and Steven Pinker.

Humanist Laureates appointed by the Council for Secular Humanism include Umberto Eco, Arthur C. Clarke, Betty Friedan, Arthur Schlesinger, Richard Rorty, Jurgen Habermas, Peter Singer, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Gore Vidal, Simone Weil, Thomas Szasz, and Lionel Tiger.

Each academic year, the Center for Inquiry announces visiting research fellows and post doctoral fellows on a given program of inquiry selected by the Center (for example, the efficacy of medical prayer, the connection between theology and cosmology, or philosophical implications of neuro-science). Fellows who are appointed may use the SUNY Buffalo facilities, where they can interact with the university community, deliver guest lectures, and attend graduate seminars and colloquia. The results of their research are published and advertised to the public and media by the Center for Inquiry.

Education

The Center for Inquiry's Research Institute offers undergraduate level summer school, seminars, and workshops in critical thinking and the scientific outlook and its implications for religion, human values, and the borderlands of science. In addition to transferable undergraduate credit through the State University of New York (SUNY) system, CFI offers a thirty credit hour Certificate of Proficiency in Critical Inquiry. This three-year curriculum plan offers summer sessions at the main campus at SUNY-Buffalo in Amherst and the Skeptic's Toolbox workshop at the University of Oregon, Eugene.

If the Center is to proceed in contributing to a cultural reformation, then it needs to pay heed to education from the earliest grades. That is why the Center for Inquiry and CSICOP's Inquiring Minds program have sponsored trial programs to teach critical thinking for children, developed classroom curricular material and resources for educators, and are currently working on informal educational initiatives with museums, science centers, and community groups. CSH's Secular Family Network provides additional support and program development for parents and children and publishes a newsletter entitled Family Matters.


Further Reading:

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