Program

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Program description

The ComSciCon'14 workshop will take place June 12-14th, 2014 and will feature panel discussions with expert science communicators including journalists, fiction and non-fiction authors, public policy advocates, educators, and more discussing the following topics:

Communicating with non-scientific audiences
Communicating complexity and controversy
Communicating for a cause
Communicating with multimedia
Engaging diverse audiences

In addition to these discussions, ample time is allotted for interacting with the experts and with attendees from throughout the country to develop new science outreach collaborations. Workshop participants will produce an original piece of science writing and receive feedback from workshop attendees and invited experts. A special K12 outreach education session is being planned for June 15th.

Full Program Schedule

All events to take place at the Microsoft NERD Center unless otherwise noted.

Thursday
8:30	Breakfast
9:00	Welcome
9:15	improvscience session led by Dr. Raquell Holmes
11:00	Panel I: Communicating with non-scientific audiences Courtney Humphries, journalist and author most recently of Superdove Ben Lillie, Co-founder and Director of storycollider.org Phil McKenna, journalist published in the New York Times, Wired, and more Dietram Scheufele, Professor and Chair of National Academy roundtable on Public Interfaces in Life Science
12:30	Lunch
14:00	Twitter tutorial
14:30	Panel II: Communicating complexity and controversy Jen Briselli, science communication researcher Rick Fienberg, Press Officer and Director of Communications for the American Astronomical Society Lisa Song, environmental science reporter for InsideClimate News Ryan Vachon, climate scientist and videographer
16:00	Science Careers, Sparkling Cider, and Scrumptious Crudités
17:30	Peer editing preparation presentation
18:00	Dinner and peer editing session
20:00	Writing cafe (drafting time with snacks)
21:00	Return to dorms
Friday
8:30	Breakfast
9:00	Panel III: Communicating for a cause Ana Unruh Cohen, Director of Energy, Climate and Natural Resources; Senator Ed Markey David Goldston, Director of Government Affairs for National Resources Defense Council Laura Grego, Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists Sarah Smith, marine biologist and Policy Specialist for Environmental Defense Fund
10:30	Panel IV: Communicating using multimedia Alyssa Goodman, Professor of Astronomy and expert in inter-disciplinary data visualization Jeff Lieberman, roboticist and host of Discovery Channel’s Time Warp Donna Nelson, Professor of Chemistry and Science Advisor for the television series Breaking Bad Soren Wheeler, Senior Producer at Radiolab
12:00	Lunch
13:30	Panel V: Improving diversity through communication Mónica I. Feliú-Mójer, Manager of Outreach Programs for the Department of Biostatistics at University of Washington Renee Hlozek, astronomer and TED fellow John Johnson, Professor of Astronomy and academic diversity advocate Brindha Muniappan, Director of Education and Public Programs, MIT Museum
15:00	Expert review
17:00	Keynote presentation: "Advancing Science and Communicating Science" Bassam Shakhashiri, Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison; 2012 American Chemical Society President
18:15	Travel to banquet venue
19:00	Banquet dinner (at Elephant Walk restaurant)
21:00	Informal social evening
Saturday*
9:30	Breakfast
10:00	Developing a Science Communication Network
11:00	Multimedia poster session
14:00	"American Scidol" Pop Talk Competition/Outreach (at MIT Museum)
Sunday**
8:30	Continental Breakfast & Registration
9:15	Welcome and Introduction
9:30	Keynote Lecture: Dr. Todd Zakrajsek, Executive Director, Academy of Educators, UNC-Chapel Hill
10:15	Introduction to Graduate Research by ComSciCon Graduate Students in STEM disciplines
10:45	Coffee break
11:00	Prof. Donna Nelson, Professor of Chemistry, University of Oklahoma; Breaking Bad Science advisor
11:15	Justin Maher, Admissions, Harvard Graduate School of Education
11:30	Dr. Kristen Cacciatore, Addressing misconceptions and new curriculum standards
12:30	Lunch and a tour of the Universe by Chris Faesi
13:30	Prof. John Johnson, Harvard Dept. of Astronomy - What does it mean to be excellent?
14:30	Introduction to Astrobites/STEMbites and writing topic assignment
15:00	Curriculum module development
16:15	K12 “pop” presentations
16:40	Wrap up & conclusions

* The details and timing of these sessions are subject to change.
** Special K12 education session for K12 educators and interested ComSciCon graduate student participants

	comscicon2014_program_abridged.pdf	604 KB
	comscicon2014_program_full.pdf	1.11 MB
	k12_schedule_comscicon.pdf	237 KB

ComSciCon

The Communicating Science workshop for graduate students