The course led to a letter in Science providing information for the 120,000 plus readers of that journal. The 25 students in last year`s course have now continued on to be science writing interns at Cornell and elsewhere. \n\nThe model has now become a regular course at Cornell, and has been adopted by and adapted to at least one other institution--a science and natural history museum in North Carolina. In addition, inquiries have been received from around the United States and from other countries about how to develop similar courses.
impact statement issue
Many calls have been issued for scientists to be more actively engaged in communicating their science to non-scientists. However, there is rarely time in a science training program for a full course on communication, and most courses are not tailored for the needs of science graduate students. We sought to address this problem.
impact statement response
We developed a semester-long, two-credit course that provides practical experience in authoring press releases and blogs, creating podcasts, conducting interviews, and other aspects of science communication.
impact statement summary
In 2006-2007, we developed a new model for teaching science communication and outreach skills to science graduate students.
Other federal funding
National Science Foundation
Other private funding
Biogeochemistry IGERT\nCornell University internal funding
