The LASERs (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) are part of a national program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversation with an audience. The Stanford LASERs are jointly sponsored by the Office of Science Outreach and the Stanford Arts Institute. Each evening event, free of charge and open to the public, presents four artists, scientists, thinkers, inventors and scholars who are working on paradigm shifts. Each evening also allows the audience to socialize and encourages people in the audience to briefly introduce their work. The LASER series was started in January 2008 by cultural historian Piero Scaruffi on behalf of the Leonardo International Society for the Arts and Science (ISAST). Sister series are held at the University of San Francisco, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, and the National Academy of Sciences.