Rich Blundell

"It's a unique program, one I haven't been able to find anywhere else," says Rich Blundell, founder of Omniscopic Productions, a company that produces science programming for national media outlets.

"Science is so broadly important for all the issues we're facing. Some of these issues clearly will be solved by science. But the reason why I think this is such a valuable program is that for even issues that aren't obviously related to science, their solutions still lie in the scientific outlook."

Blundell's present project is writing and filming scientists studying the impact of global warming on coral reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He says the underlying philosophy behind the scientific outlook is an essential part of the curriculum.

"There is an ethical stance of how we treat the environment and how we treat ourselves and each other," says Blundell, who is scheduled to graduate from the program in June. "This perspective emerges from what science has taught us. So it's not just technology that emerges from science; there is an ethic about our place in the cosmos, as well. It's fascinating. It changes your world view, really."