English Prof and Author Christopher Cokinos Selected to Participate

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that Utah State University assistant professor of English Christopher Cokinos has been selected to participate in the U.S. Antarctic Program during the 2003-2004 austral summer. Cokinos will collect what he calls "ugly, important rocks," — meteorites, which are found in abundance at the bottom of the planet.


Cokinos, who is under contract with Tarcher/Putnam to publish "The Fallen Sky: Eccentrics and Scientists in Shooting Stars," will be sponsored by the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, administered through the NSF's Office of Polar Programs. As a visiting writer to Antarctica, he will participate in another NSF program called the Antarctic Search for Meteorites.

"My book will be about meteorites — more specifically, about how the human passion for them plays itself out in different places and in different ways," Cokinos said. "Not only will I focus on real-life people and stories but also on the science, which is fascinating."