Friday, March 18th, 2022

Moss Arts Center

 

5:30 - 7:00 PM, Dinner Reception, Lobby

 

6:00 - 7:30 PM, Opening Remarks and Community Building and Networking Event, hosted by Patty Raun and Carrie Kroehler

 

8:00 - 9:00 PM, Keynote Address, Auditorium

 

Keynote Address by Elin Kelsey, Hope Matters: Why Overcoming Doom and Gloom is Essential to Achieving Climate Justice

 

Saturday, March 19th, 2022

Moss Arts Center

 

8:30 - 9:30 AM, Breakfast and Opening Remarks, Lobby

 

9:45 - 11:45 AM, Morning Sessions, Moss Arts Center - Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology Classrooms, 2nd Floor

 

Location	Panel/Workshop Title	Presenter(s)
Moss Arts Center - ICAT Classroom	Community Engagement and Embodied Science Communication	Nicole Bracci, Ph.D. Candidate in Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences Maria DeNunzio, M.S. Student in Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech Mika Pagani, Ph.D. Student in Entomology at Virginia Tech Daniel Bird Tobin, Theatre Archaeologist and Senior Faculty Fellow in the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech
Moss Arts Center - ICAT Classroom	Applied Science Communication: Crafting Podcasts and Outreaches	Jonathan Joyce Danielle Murray, Director of Education, Science Museum of Western Virginia Paras Patel, Virginia Tech Ph.D. Candidate, Co-founder and Co-host of Big Lick of Science Rachana Somaiya, Virginia Tech Ph.D. Candidate, Co-founder and Co-host of Big Lick of Science
Moss Arts Center - ICAT Classroom	Write-A-Thon: Finding the Story in Your Science	Katie Burke, Ph.D., Digital Features Editor at American Scientist Tiffany Trent, Science Writer and Science Fiction Author

 

12:00 - 1:00 PM, Lunch, Lobby and Amphitheater

 

1:15 - 3:30 PM, Afternoon Sessions, Moss Arts Center - Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology Classrooms, 2nd Floor

 

Location	Panel/Workshop Title	Presenter(s)
Moss Arts Center - ICAT Classroom	From Climate Grief to Evidence-Based Hope: Tools for Self Care and Meaningful Action	Elin Kelsey, Ph.D.
Moss Arts Center - ICAT Classroom	Communicating Science in a Policy Space	Todd Schenk, Associate Professor, School of Public and International Affairs Members of Virginia Scientist-Community Interface Members of Science Policy, Education, and Advocacy Club
Moss Arts Center - ICAT Classroom	The Intersection of Performance Art and Science	Playwright, producers, and actors of Rhino 2020, including: Alireza Namayandeh, PhD Candidate, Department of Geosciences Rachel Nunn, MFA Candidate, VT School of Performing Arts and C. Meranda Flachs-Surmanek, MS Candidate, Urban & Regional Planning and Theatre's Directing & Public Dialogue Program, and Adjunct Instructor, Center for Communicating Science Laura Epperson, Post-MFA Fellow in Applied Performance, School of Performing Arts Maddie Betts, MS Student, Fisheries and Wildlife Science Mason Rosenthal,  Post-MFA in Applied Performance, Instructor for the School of Performing Arts, Faculty Fellow for the Center of Communicating Science

 

3:35 PM, Direct Participants to Moss Arts Center Auditorium for Nutshell Games

Mingle with fellow conference-goers, learn about their research, and become part of a community of people connecting across differences.

 

4:00 PM, Nutshell Games, Moss Arts Center Auditorium, hosted by the Center for Communicating Science

 

 

Program Description

 

Friday, March 18th, 2022

 

Keynote and Kickoff Event, 5:30 - 9:00 PM

 

Join the Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science and the Communicating Science Club for the third annual ComSciCon-VirginiaTech 2022! Friday’s evening event is an opportunity for graduate students from disciplines all across campus to begin connecting, communicating, and collaborating before diving into engaging workshops on Saturday. A short reception will be held in the Moss Arts Center lobby from 5:30pm to 7pm, with our kickoff event Keynote Speaker, Elin Kelsey, from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in the Moss Arts Center auditorium. The title of the keynote is: "Hope Matters: Why Overcoming Doom and Gloom is Essential to Achieving Climate Justice" 

Hope lies in the capacity of stories to transform," says author and scholar Dr. Elin Kelsey, and she'll be sharing stories of hope with us at 8 p.m. Friday, March 18, at the Moss Arts Center. Kelsey is a leading spokesperson, scholar, and educator in the area of evidence-based hope. Her work focuses on the reciprocal relationship between humans and the rest of nature, and she has a particular interest in the emotional implications of the narrative of environmental doom and gloom on children and adults. 

Passionate about bringing science-based stories of hope and multi-species resilience to the public, Kelsey has worked with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, and the Rockefeller Foundation. As an adjunct faculty member of the University of Victoria School of Environmental Studies, she is spearheading the development of a solutions-oriented paradigm for educating environmental scientists and social scientists. Kelsey is the author of Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical to Solving the Environmental Crisis. Join us for Kelsey's message of evidence-based hope and engage with her during the question-and-answer period following her talk.

 

Saturday, March 19th, 2022

 

Morning Sessions, 9:45 - 11:45 AM

 

Community Engagement and Embodied Science Communication

Join us to learn about Science on Tap and their efforts to engage the Blacksburg community in science. Also, at this workshop you will learn to distill your research into a 90-second summarized talk that is accessible to non-scientific audiences. This interactive workshop will involve games, practice techniques, and feedback to help boil their research down to the nutshell. By the end of the workshop, you will have created and practiced a description of your research perfect to share with a grant reviewer, future employer, fellow graduate student, or even at Science on Tap.

 

Applied Science Communication: Crafting Podcasts and Outreaches

Too often, our own interests as science communicators drive our work. For science to be relevant, actionable, and practical, we need to think more deeply about how communities are (or could) use the information we share. Applied science communication puts science into the hands of people who can use and apply it in their daily lives and professional work. Join us for a workshop focused on crafting messages and resources guided by community needs and designed to be put into action.

 

Write-A-Thon: Finding the Story in Your Science

How do scientists craft the stories that appear in publications like American Scientist and Discover magazine? First, they have to find the "story" of their research, a method that enables non-experts to more easily understand the scientific method and process. Our workshop leader will guide you in storyboarding your own research to create a narrative you can develop into a science story. You will have the opportunity to pitch your ideas and write a piece suitable for publication.

 

Afternoon Sessions, 1:15 - 3:30 PM

 

From Climate Grief to Evidence-Based Hope: Tools for Self Care and Meaningful Action

With the existential threat of climate change, it’s only natural to feel overwhelming emotions of anxiety, fear, or anger. But at the same time it is critically important to find evidence-based sources of hope that are achieving positive results that we can amplify. In this workshop, author and scholar, Elin Kelsey explains the importance of being hopeful and offers tools for self care and meaningful action. For Kelsey, hope is a “brave political act” that requires courage and commitment in the face of uncertainty.

 

Communicating Science in a Policy Space

Do you ever wonder how you can be involved in translating your basic science research to something relevant to the public? In this interactive session, you’ll get a chance to hear from an expert panel about skills needed and opportunities available to connect your research to policy and advocacy work. 

 

The Intersection of Performance Art and Science

We will discuss the intersection of Science and Performing art during this meeting. We will use a new play, Rhino 2020, by Ali Namayandeh as an example to discuss how to use art to promote a discussion around scientific issues. This play deals with the environmental crisis and social extremism and will be produced as a staged reading by two student organizations at Virginia Tech, Art for Environmental Justice and Grad Art Council, during Communicating Science Week on March 15th and 18th. We will have a panel discussion with the playwright, producer, and actors to discuss their experience in producing this play.