One of the university’s most famous professors will be in the spotlight as a Registered Student Organization prepares the first-ever festival in his honor.

The Fuller Future Festival is scheduled to run Thursday through Saturday and will feature guest speakers, presentations and interdisciplinary workshops for those interested in Richard Buckminster Fuller’s life and teachings.

Fuller, a prolific designer, speaker and futurist, became famous for his works on various eco-friendly inventions such as the Dymaxion car, a fuel-efficient car developed in the 1930s, and the geodesic dome, a lightweight and durable structure meant for cost efficient housing. One example of Fuller’s work, the Fuller dome, can be seen north of campus on South Forest Avenue.

Fuller also was known for his peaceful worldview, promoting the ideas of co-humanity and resource conservation as the next means to ultimately stabilize human society.

Brent Ritzel, Buckminster Fuller Future RSO president and a graduate student in the Public Administration Program, advanced energy and fields management, said the festival’s main focus is to promote the peaceful ideals Fuller practiced in his life.

“The festival is meant to help promote interdisciplinary studies,” he said, “Fuller was what people call a generalist, he focused on humanity, not just one specific study, and I think a lot of people are losing that ability to apply their talents to society, and that is what this festival is trying to get across.”

Janet Donoghue, Fuller Future Festival RSO co-director and a Speech and Communications department alumnus, said she hopes the festival will help students understand the rich history Fuller left behind.

“What we want to do is have this become a center for Bucky’s studies; to really get his ideas out there and inspire other people to use and forward his research,” Donoghue said.

Donoghue said the festival will feature events ranging from guest speakers such as Steve Brant, who has been involved in international housing development work with non-profit organizations, and author Steven Sieden, who will have a presentation of Fuller’s teachings and its connection to Bodhisattva and the Buddhist religion. During his last fifteen years of life, Fuller dedicated his time to traveling the world and sharing his humanitarian beliefs and views on how to conserve natural resources.

“I think meeting all these kinds of interesting people, especially seeing an array of people influenced by Bucky, is really what has kept me involved in this for so long,” she said. “Some are artists, some are doctors, there is such a wide spectrum of people who do all of this great work, and he is a big influence on what they do.”

Steve Gariepy, a graduate student in outdoor education from Branton, said he quickly joined the Fuller RSO once he heard about it.

“I think that Bucky is something Carbondale can really be proud of, because at one point he was probably one of the biggest men in the world and I wanted to be involved with an organization that would focus on a great man like Bucky,” Gariepy said.

Gariepy said he, along with his mentor Curt Carter, will hold workshops on the campus lake that lets attendees have hands-on experience with canoes.

“As a kid, Bucky loved to be a part of nature,” he said. “He lived on an island in New York, and I feel the experience of being on the water and being under the stars are important to a lot of Bucky’s philosophy.”

Donoghue said the festival is not all about educational events. One events she looks forward to is the parade that will go through campus 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Fuller’s humanitarian views looked to unify all cultures for the betterment of society. Donoghue said she hopes through the parade, as well as a presentation that includes an African grey parrot that can speak more than 100 words, people will experience the culture of the festival.

“I want people to look at Bucky’s work and be inspired by the great things he did here,” Donoghue said, “I hope everyone who comes to the festival learns something new, but even if they do not, I hope they walk away with a new perspective.”

Ritzel said Fuller was one of the few people in the last century who has publicly produced a dialogue on the nature of reality, such as how architectural designs come together and the practicality of working with a project, not against it.

“Fuller was creating a four dimensional structure when most of us build on a three dimensional scale,” he said. “His structures almost had sympathy with nature, he worked with physics and I think that is why you still see a lot of his geodesic domes still standing today.”

Gariepy said Fuller’s message ultimately was about working with the world around us and striving for a peaceful planet, as well as the betterment of humanity as a whole.

“Some of us think that Bucky’s ideas are crazy, specifically the idea of being able to imagine and visualize a better way of living, but promoting Bucky and helping to keep those dreams alive are important,” Gariepy said.