The Winfield Public Library will offer a book discussion series during February through April as part of the upcoming traveling exhibition “Discover NASA: From Our Town to Outer Space.” Members of the community are invited to attend the free programs, which will take place at the library.

The series will begin Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 6:30 p.m., with a discussion of “The Martian” by Andy Weir.  It continues with “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe on March 7, “Contact” by Carl Sagan on March 28, and “Red Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson on April 18.

Southwestern College professor Patrick Ross will serve as the discussion leader for the series. Ross grew up during the beginning of manned space exploration and was glued to the television set for all of the Apollo missions.  His interest in science led to his pursuit of a bachelor of science in zoology at the University of Wisconsin and then master’s degrees in both statistics and biology at the University of California—Santa Barbara.  He completed his Ph.D. in the courtship behavior of guppies at the University of California—Santa Barbara in 2002.  Ross is now finishing his 20th year of teaching at Southwestern College where he serves as the chair of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.  He regularly participates in educational outreach activity at the college and throughout Kansas, including science shows, cadaver demonstrations, and book discussions.

To check out books and for more information about the series, contact the Winfield Public Library at (620) 221-4470 or visit the website at www.wpl.org.

“Discover NASA: From Our Town to Outer Space” is a national traveling exhibition. It is an inside look at NASA, America’s space agency, and covers six key NASA areas: human exploration, earth science, Mars exploration, solar system and beyond, aeronautics, and technology. Discover NASA will be on display at Winfield Public Library from Feb. 1 to April 19.

Southwestern College is a private institution granting undergraduate and graduate degrees and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.  About 1,700 students attend classes at the main Winfield campus, at six professional studies sites in Kansas and Oklahoma, or online around the world.