Q: Can you tell us about your educational and professional background? A: I have an eclectic education! An undergraduate degree in Physiology (BSc Hons), a PhD in Health, and most recently, a Master’s with Distinction in Film. I thought I was going to be a bench scientist, but a disability and orthopedic surgeries stopped me […]
A Science Blog
A Science Blog
Do you have something to say about science communication and looking for a good forum? Please see our pitching guide and then email blog@sciencecomm.org with your pitch and we’ll discuss the details.
Connecting Research and Practice: Colors in Data Visualizations
You have a fascinating dataset, and you want to create an eye-catching, easily understandable visualization—how do you choose a color palette? In addition to using a colorblindness simulator to ensure accessibility, you can use best practices revealed by research in cognition and psychology. You’ve likely seen countless visualizations that represent continuous data using a rainbow colormap, with colors spanning […]
Connecting Research and Practice: Where to Find Scicomm Research
The social science of science communication is a vast field of research, with new papers constantly being published on topics such as science misinformation, people’s perceptions of risk, climate change communication, and more. How can you keep up to date with it all? Many of the strategies you might use to keep up with physical […]
Connecting Research and Practice: How to Handle Misinformation
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it an explosion of new misinformation, leaving many science communicators wondering why people believe false information and how to counter its spread. Even before COVID, social scientists were finding answers to these very questions. A 2019 PNAS piece by Dietram Scheufele and Nicole Krause provides a good overview, starting with the blurry line between […]
Connecting Research and Practice: Strategic Science Communication
You’ve got a great idea for a new scicomm project—but before you dive in, you should ask yourself a set of strategic planning questions. What are the long-term goals of your project, in terms of changes to your audience’s attitudes and behaviors? What are the short-term objectives of each individual piece of communication? And what are the tactics that you can […]
Connecting Research and Practice: Framing Climate Change as a Health Issue
When talking about climate change, you might emphasize the economic benefits of climate action, our moral responsibility to future generations, the importance of regulations, the importance of individual actions…the list goes on. A wise choice of emphasis frame can resonate with people’s values and foster support for pro-climate policies. One promising but underused option is a public […]
Volunteer Spotlight: Tamara Poles, ASC Accessibility Director
ASC volunteers represent a wide variety of science communication paths: editing Wikipedia, responding to foodborne illness complaints, designing museum exhibits, and more. Today we’re featuring someone who has trained hundreds of scientists to communicate about their science with broad audiences. Scott Hershberger (ASC’s newsletter editor) spoke with Tamara Poles, ASC’s accessibility director, about her full-time […]
Building the SciComm community with your input for Science Talk ’25!
Science communications is a broad banner that includes many specializations, AND many people at various points in their careers, all with unique perspectives. So, how does one small conference accommodate everyone? The answer is by building a community. Your community – with your input. What is Science Talk? Science Talk is the annual conference for […]
Speaker Spotlight: Dr. Rayvon Fouché
ScienceTalk 2024 is just around the corner! We had the honor of chatting with one of our keynote speakers, Dr. Rayvon Fouché, about his career in science communication and what he’s looking forward to at this year’s conference. Q: What is your background in science communication? A: I get very excited about science, and I […]
Volunteer Spotlight: Amy Nippert, ASC Blog Editor
In previous ASC volunteer spotlights, we’ve featured science communicators who plan our annual conference, coordinate our year-round course offerings, and lead our marketing and communications team. This time, we’re featuring our blog editor, Amy Nippert. Scott Hershberger (ASC’s newsletter editor) talked with Amy about her lab research on chronic pain, her involvement in science communication […]
Visualizing A Sustainable Energy Future
We are in the early stages of a seismic energy transition. Such transitions coincide with major shifts in human well-being and the health of the Earth’s natural systems. The main storyline of improvements in the overall human condition since about 1800 has two concurrent threads. The first is the massive increase in the extraction and […]
Public Engagement Training In America: Now At Your Fingertips
A new online tool allows anyone to discover and compare public engagement training programs to meet their academic or professional needs. This resource, called the Training Initiatives for Scientists in Public Engagement (TISPE) Dashboard, is an interactive tool meant to compile and categorize the public engagement training opportunities that exist around the country. Who Can Use […]
Volunteer Spotlight: Bre Kelsey, ASC Program Director
The Association of Science Communicators’ growth over the years has been made possible in large part by our passionate long-time volunteers. For our third volunteer spotlight, we’re featuring Bre Kelsey, ASC’s Program Director and a member of our executive board, who has been involved with ASC since 2018. Scott Hershberger (ASC’s newsletter editor) spoke with […]
Increasing Health Literacy in the World of Adult Entertainment
The sun was just starting to come up as I took off my heels, organized stacks of my ones, and laughed with the other dancers about the previous night. “See you tomorrow!” I say as I leave the dressing room and head to my little red car. The early morning hours of March 17th, 2020 […]
Volunteer Spotlight: Sky Hatter, ASC Marketing & Communications Director
The Association of Science Communicators’ volunteers are central to our efforts to serve the scicomm community. For our second volunteer spotlight, we’re featuring Sky Hatter, ASC’s marketing and communications director and webmaster. Scott Hershberger (ASC’s newsletter editor) spoke with Sky about her work as an artist and graphic designer, her experiences in museum exhibit design, […]
Volunteer Spotlight: Amanda Pluntze, ASC Course Coordinator
As a volunteer-run professional society, the Association of Science Communicators depends on our vibrant community for our success. Our volunteers help with conference logistics, community engagement, partnership development, and much more. For our first volunteer spotlight Q&A, we’re featuring Amanda Pluntze, ASC’s course coordinator. Scott Hershberger (ASC’s newsletter editor) spoke with Amanda about her work […]
ASC Q&A: Giving a Voice to Science–Key Takeaways from Science Talk ‘23
The Association of Science Communicators (ASC) hosted its 7th annual Science Talk Conference last month and the evolution of science communication was on full display. This year’s theme centered around “Giving a Voice to Science” and participants saw that message echo through keynote presentations from leaders in the community, panel discussions pulling back the curtain […]
Learning from the policy world to give a voice to science
If we’re to give a voice to science and society, we mustn’t forget the role of lawmakers – and the communication lessons they can provide. I’ve blogged a lot about science policy and how to get involved at the Fancy Comma blog. I’ve talked about being a scientist in politics, ways scientists can get involved […]
Finding our Common Thread through Conversation
What does it mean to “give science a voice?” Scientists develop an interest in science communication for many reasons (Besley et al., 2015), which can include informing people’s decision-making on forefront issues in their fields. Scientists, regardless of their specific areas of expertise, often find themselves in the role of advocates for science more generally […]
Study Underscores Lack of Diversity in Stock Photography Sites
A new study finds that the majority of images related to health topics on stock photography sites are of light-skinned people within a fairly narrow age range, making it more difficult – and expensive – for organizations to create health education materials aimed at reaching other groups. The findings are significant because using images relevant […]
Adapt and Adjust
It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself. – Charles Darwin Our dive boat bounces through another choppy wave, showering […]
Science Needs More Science Communicators in 2023
ASC is personally asking our community to take two-minutes to review and digitally sign the below open letter, committing to 2023 as the year we build wide-reaching trust in science. If you are looking for more information about our reasoning behind the letter, please visit this link. Science has been politicized to the detriment of […]
Singing my way through grad school
Anyone who has been in a grad program (or still is), knows the feeling of gnawing doubt. Unsure how you ever got into the program. Unsure how to do science. Unsure if you even still like science. Fortunately, when I was in grad school, I got the opportunity to participate in a stand-up comedy workshop […]
Guest Q&A: How to Unlock a Full-Time SciComm Freelance Career
Interest in full-time scicomm careers is skyrocketing, but landing a full-time position that matches your experience and interests can be harrowing. And navigating a freelance career can seem overwhelming without a guide. After hearing her present at Science Talk ‘22, the Association of Science Communicators (ASC) reached out to Marley Parker, freelance science writer, photographer […]