This weekend workshop trains researchers in the sciences (including natural sciences, engineering, experimental social sciences, etc.) to communicate effectively with nonscientists such as policy makers, political stakeholders, the media, and the general public. A public panel discussion on Opportunities in Science Communication kicks off the COMM 5660 course and is held Friday 4:30-6:30pm. The Friday session is open to the public.

Learn about the range of opportunities for public engagement and ways to integrate public engagement with your other professional activities. The speakers will share how they got into science communication, reasons why they continue to do so, opportunities and challenges of integrating communication activities with other professional activities, specific skills to work on that are useful elsewhere, and goals they have for future science communication activities. There will be opportunities to ask questions of the panelists and informal discussion will follow.

To participate in the full weekend workshop, you must register for the COMM 5660 course

Friday, 22 March

4:30 pm Panel: Opportunities for public communication of science

• Allasandra Valdez, PhD student, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and host of The Happy Botanist podcast and related materials
• Amelia Greiner Safi, Professor of Practice, Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, College of Veterinary Medicine
• Michelle Kortenaar, executive director of the Sciencenter
• Others TBA

6:00(ish) pm    Informal discussion supported by pizza and veggies

9-5 Saturday COMM 5660 continues with writing science for the public, developing and writing your own stories, a presentation on Integrating communication with your graduate research, discussion of pictures and video, and learning about the science communication system

9-5 Sunday COMM 5660 continues with re-writing press releases/blog posts following critique, developing and delivering media messages with guest speaker from Cornell Media Relations, being interviewed, science policy

Accessibility Requests

We strive to make our events accessible to all community members. Individuals who would like to request accessibility accommodations should contact gradcareers@cornell.edu. We ask that requests be made at least one week in advance to help ensure they can be met.

Starting with a public panel discussion on Opportunities for Public Communication of Science, this weekend workshop trains researchers in the sciences (including natural sciences, engineering, experimental social sciences, etc.) to communicate effectively with nonscientists such as policy makers, political stakeholders, the media, and the general public. Training activities may include role-play, mini lectures, reading/discussion, hands-on writing blog posts and other outreach materials, real-time practice being interviewed for the media, and discussion with invited speakers. Several guest speakers will be featured throughout the weekend. The below public panel discussion on Opportunities in Science Communication kicks off the COMM 5660 course and is held Friday 4:30-6:30pm. The weekend workshop runs 9-5pm Saturday and Sunday. Lunch is on your own. Must attend all three sessions for credit.

Learning Objectives:

After participating in this workshop, students will be able to:

Discuss science communication opportunities, both within traditional scientific careers and as standalone careers
Begin identifying characteristics of potential audiences for science communication
Write drafts of short texts (such as blog posts, tweets, and similar items) for non-scientific audiences
Begin planning for media interviews
Discuss social, ethical, and scholarly issues associated with science communication
Credit:
To get credit for the class you must attend all sessions. Enroll now via class roster. If past the add/drop deadline, please email Susi Varvayanis (sv27@cornell.edu) with your Cornell netID.

Testimonial:

“One of the most engaging Careers Beyond Academia/BEST experiences for me was a science communication workshop that I attended taught by Bruce Lewenstein. This was an excellent crash course on science communication and forced me to think through how the public receives and perceives scientific news and how I could best communicate my own work to the public without over complicating it.”-Felicity Emerson, Biomedical and Biological Sciences

Supported by Cornell’s Department of Communication and Careers Beyond Academia in the Graduate School.