New Pentagon disclosures and renewed public interest in unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), commonly known as UFOs, are driving fresh debate about government transparency and unexplained aerial sightings.
Leading voices on these topics include Rice University experts Karin Austin and Jeffrey Kripal.
Karin Austin, director of the Center for the Impossible
Founded at Rice, the Center for the Impossible is a research collection and public-facing initiative dedicated to preserving archival materials related to:
- UFO and UAP encounters.
- Psychic, telepathic and other anomalous psi-experiences.
- Near-death and out-of-body experiences.
- Esoteric traditions.
Austin can discuss:
- The growth of public and institutional interest in UFOs/UAPs.
- The cultural and historical significance of UAP-related archival collections.
- The relationship between government disclosure efforts and increased public attention to UAPs.
- The need to remove stigma and encourage a paradigm shift in science and academia, including institutional support for methodologically rigorous research.
- The need for government transparency, congressional oversight and funding.
Jeffrey Kripal, the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought
Kripal can discuss:
- UFOs/UAPs and modern mythology.
- The cultural and religious significance of alien encounter narratives.
- Government disclosure efforts and public fascination with UFO phenomena.
- The history of religions as a history of contact.
- Consciousness studies and extraordinary human experience.
- The intersection of science, spirituality and popular culture, particularly in science fiction.
- How UFO narratives shape modern belief systems.
To schedule an interview with any of the experts, please contact Marcy de Luna at marcy.deluna@rice.edu or Chris Stipes at chris.stipes@rice.edu.