About NCAS
List of Current NCAS Board Members
The National Capital Area Skeptics is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit, educational and scientific membership organization that promotes critical thinking and scientific understanding.
NCAS was founded in 1987 in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia area. We are advocates for science and reason, actively promoting the scientific method, rational inquiry, and education.
Objectives:
- Promote critical thinking and scientific understanding.
- Serve as an information resource regarding extraordinary claims.
- Provide extraordinary evidence that skeptics are cool.
- We present free
monthly public events
with speakers knowledgeable on a variety of topics each year
from September through May. For what we've done in the past,
see our Shadow
of a Doubt
bulletins.
- We also present annual
special events
such as weekend workshops or all-day information programs on particular
topics and issues. Our most recent special event was "April
Anti-Fools", with an entertaining focus on frauds and
swindles. Many of these special events are chronicled in our Skeptical
Eye newsletters.
- We maintain an on-line
Library of full-text documents on topics
of skeptical interest,
most of which
were compiled by NCAS and not available elsewhere. These
include the out-of-print
1968 Air Force/University of Colorado report on UFOs, the 1989
Department of Energy report on Cold Fusion, the 1887 University of
Pennsylvania report on "Modern Spiritualism", and others. This is an
on-going project, with more such documents in the pipeline.
- Members receive our monthly bulletin, Shadow
of a Doubt, which announces our
upcoming public event, plus brief news items.
- Members also receive our quarterly newsletter, the Skeptical
Eye, with articles on
subjects of skeptical interest. We include accounts of our most
recent events, articles written
by members and guest authors who have done individual projects
and investigations, as well as contributions from the publications of
other local skeptics groups.
- We provide a members-only
email
list service for sharing information
and coordinating projects.
- We provide volunteer judges
for school science fairs in the area. At each fair, we
provide prizes in addition to those awarded by the school
system, to
encourage students developing critical thinking and science skills.
- We collaborate
with other, like-minded organizations, locally and nationally.
- We also socialize. From time to time we get together for fun and food, perhaps with a movie we can laugh about or discuss -- just to remind ourselves that "Skeptics are cool !".