Welcome
The ComSciCon 2016 National Workshop is currently taking place, Thursday June 9 through Saturday June 11 of 2016 in Cambridge, MA.
Download the Condensed Schedule PDF
This will be the fourth in ComSciCon’s flagship series of annual workshops for graduate students nationwide. Our ComSciCon workshops support graduate students engaged in and committed to leadership in the communication of research throughout science and engineering to broad and diverse audiences.
The structure and format of the workshop will be similar to past ComSciCon national workshops, like ComSciCon15. Attendees will interact with graduate student leaders in science communication from around the country, learn from expert professional communicators including journalists and educators, and will produce original works of science communication for publication.
Graduate students from all fields of science and engineering at all US institutions are invited to apply. The workshop is free to attend, and accepted applicants will receive travel reimbursement and housing at Harvard University facilities. As in past years, the workshop will be held at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center.
You can download flyers for the workshop here:
ComSciCon16 K12 Session Educator Application
K-12 educators: please use this form to apply to attend the ComSciCon16 K-12 session.
K-12 educators and specialists from any Massachusetts or nearby state school (public, private, etc.) are invited to apply for the June 2016 Communicating Science Workshop K12 session! This session will take place Saturday, June 11th from 8:30am – 5pm at Microsoft’s 1 Cambridge Center location in Cambridge, MA.
This unique professional development experience will provide educators with a fantastic opportunity to meet young leaders in science communication. The workshop attendees will work with graduate students in STEM disciplines to produce an innovative lesson using current cutting edge research and data. This event is an exciting opportunity for educators to work directly with scientists to develop methods for communicating complex technical concepts to a K12 audience. Our goal is for you to walk away with something you can use in your classroom.
Application, registration, and attendance to the workshop is free of charge for accepted applicants. Please note that we are unable to provide travel support this year. In order to attend you must cover your own transportation costs.
Selected applicants will receive a $250 stipend.
ComSciCon16 Program & Details
Full Program and Condensed Schedule
The complete digital program is available for download. This includes the full schedule; abstracts and scheduling of poster presentations; schedule of pop talks; biographies of panelists, speakers, and facilitators; and interactive session groups.
A condensed version of the schedule is also available online, and physical copies are available at the workshop registration desk.
Importable Google Calendar
The full schedule can be imported as a Google Calendar (click the bottom right of the page to import).
Program description
The ComSciCon16 workshop for graduate students takes place June 9-11th, 2016 and will feature panel discussions with expert science communicators including leading journalists, fiction and non-fiction authors, public policy advocates, educators, and more discussing the following topics:
- Keynote Panel: Communication in Action: A Case Study in Flint, Michigan
- Panel 1: Communicating through Media Outlets
- Panel 2: Communicating through Policy and Advocacy
- Panel 3: Communicating through Creative Outlets and Storytelling
- Panel 4: Communicating through Education and Outreach
- Panel 5: Communicating with Diverse Audiences
Workshop participants will produce an original piece of science writing and receive feedback from workshop attendees and invited experts. Time for peer editing, revision, and expert review is built into the schedule of events in preparation for and during the workshop.
Special sessions will be held focusing on organizations and collaborative projects presented by attendees (poster session), career opportunities, storytelling, mock interviews, pitching, conference organizing, and K12 education.
In addition to these sessions, ample time is allotted for interacting with the experts and with graduate student attendees from throughout the country to develop new science outreach collaborations.
Program and Venue
All events to take place at the Microsoft facility at One Cambridge Center unless otherwise noted.
| Thursday | June 9th |
| 8:30 – 9:00 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 – 9:15 am | Welcome |
| 9:20 – 10:50 am | Panel 1: Communicating through Media OutletsWade Roush, Multimedia journalist and Outreach Officer, MIT Program in Science, Technology, and SocietyNidhi Subbaraman, Reporter at BuzzfeedLisa Grossman, Editor at New ScientistChris Berdik, Freelance Science Journalist |
| 11:00 – 12:30 pm | Panel 2: Communicating through Policy and AdvocacyBina Venkataraman, Director of Global Policy Initiatives at the Broad Institute and Carnegie Fellow at New AmericaLisa Suatoni, Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defense CouncilSuzanne Shaw, Director of Communications, Union of Concerned ScientistsErin Heath, Associate Director of Government Relations, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| 12:30 – 1:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 – 3:00 pm | Panel 3: Communicating through Creative Outlets and StorytellingPerrin Ireland, Senior Science Communications Specialist, Natural Resources Defense CouncilKishore Hari, Director of the Bay Area Science FestivalJohn J. Stein, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience at Brown Thomas L. Ricci, Audiovisual artist |
| 3:00 – 4:00 pm | Panel 3 Hands-on Session: Storytelling |
| 4:00 – 4:15 pm | Break / Discussion |
| 4:15 – 6:00 pm | Keynote Panel: Communication in Action: A Case Study in Flint, MichiganAnsje Miller, Eastern States Director at the Center for Environmental HealthnNoah Hall, Associate Professor of Law at Wayne State UniversitySiddhartha Roy, Ph.D. student in the lab of Marc Edwards at Virginia TechJoyce Zhu, Ph.D. student in the lab of Marc Edwards at Virginia Tech |
| 6:00 – 7:30 pm | Careers Mingle and Dinner at the Microsoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Drive |
| 7:30 – 8:30 pm | Video Screening by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios at the Microsoft NERD Center, One Memorial Drive |
| Friday | June 10th |
| 8:30 – 9:00 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 – 10:30 am | Panel 4: Communicating through Education and OutreachElizabeth Choe, Program Coordinator and Executive Producer, MIT+K12 Videos ProgramDavid Malan, Professor, Harvard and EdXRalph Bouquet, Outreach Coordinator, PBS NOVAMorgan Rehnberg, Graduate Student, University of Colorado at Boulder |
| 10:45 – 12:15 pm | Panel 5: Communicating with Diverse AudiencesDanielle Lee, postdoctoral researcher, Cornell, author of blog “The Urban Scientist”Lonsdale Koester, Executive Director of Science Club for GirlsKristin Finch, Program Manager for the Center for STEM Diversity, Tufts UniversityVivian Underhill, Ph.D. Student, UC Santa Cruz |
| 12:15 – 1:15 pm | Lunch |
| 1:15 – 3:15 pm | Concurrent interactive sessions:Mock InterviewsPitch Slam |
| 3:30 – 5:30 pm | Expert Review Session |
| 5:30 – 5:40 pm | Attendee group photo |
| 6:30 pm – | Conference Dinner (Elephant Walk restaurant) |
| Saturday | June 11th |
| 8:30 – 9:00 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 – 10:30 am | How to Run a ComSciCon-local Event (with discussion/breakout time) |
| 10:30 – 12:30 pm | Poster Session |
| 12:30 – 1:00 pm | Lunch |
| 1:00 – 2:00 pm | Keynote Address by Bassam Shakhashiri |
| 2:00 – 2:15 pm | Intro to Writing for a K-12 +Audience and Creating a STEM Lesson Plan |
| 2:15 – 3:00 pm | Teacher Review & Lesson Plan Creation |
| 3:00 – 3:15 pm | Break |
| 3:15 – 4:40pm | Lesson Plan Creation |
| 4:40 – 5:00 pm | Group Discussion: How was the standard tied to the science? |
| 5:00 pm | Closing remarks |
Travel and Venue
Venue
The June 2016 ComSciCon national workshop will be held at the Microsoft building at 255 Main St. (formerly called One Cambridge Center) in Cambridge, MA June 9-11th, 2016.
The Microsoft building is located at:
255 Main St
Cambridge, MA 02142
For detailed directions for car and public transportation, please visit the Microsoft Cambridge website.
Please bring a photo ID to ensure admittance.
When you arrive at 255 Main St., you will need to check in at the ground floor security desk. They will ask to see a photo ID. Please tell them you are there for a an event in the Hawthorne room and they will send you up to where ComSciCon is taking place.
This view shows the entrance to the Microsoft building, from Main St., in Google Street View:
Getting to Cambridge
By Plane
Cambridge is served by Boston Logan International Airport. The trip from Logan to Cambridge is roughly 20 minutes by taxi or 40 minutes by public transportation (the T). To travel by T, take the Silver Line bus from the airport to South Station and then transfer to the Red Line subway. Take the Red Line “inbound” towards Alewife. See directions below for accessing the workshop accomodations and venue from the subway.
By Train
Trains into Boston stop at South Station, Back Bay, and North Station. To travel by subway (the T) from South Station, take the Red Line “inbound” towards Alewife and get off at the Harvard Square Station. From Back Bay or North Station, first take the Green Line “inbound” toward Park Street and then transfer to the Red Line (see above). See directions below for accessing the workshop accomodations and venue from the subway.
Boston & Cambridge Public Transportation
Please check the MBTA website for bus and subway schedules.
Upon arrival at the Harvard dormitories, all non-local attendees will be provided with a week-long pass on the Boston-area subway system (the T) to facilitate their travel between the housing and workshop venue and elsewhere in the area.
Accommodations
For non-local attendees, a single occupancy room will be provided free of charge in the Harvard graduate dormitories the nights of June 8-11. Rooms will be in or near Perkins Hall (tentative – to be confirmed), located at 35 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA. Upon your arrival in Cambridge, please check in at the dormitory (after noon on Wednesday, June 8th), where members of our organizing committee will be ready to check you in.
Travel from Boston Logan Airport:
Get on the Silver Line bus (SL-2) at your terminal. The bus only goes in one direction and is free of charge. At South Station, you will transfer to the subway (you don’t need to leave the station or pay). Follow the signs to the Red Line subway, and take the inbound train, towards Alewife. Disembark at Harvard Square station.
To walk to Perkins Hall, see the map above (to be added) and follow these walking directions. Cross Harvard Yard to reach the intersection of Oxford and Kirkland streets, which meet at a right angle between the Science Center and Memorial Hall. Walk down Oxford until you reach the first light; Perkins is on the left.
Travel from South Station: Most long-distance trains and buses arrive at South Station. The train station separate is separate from the subway, so you will need to pay ($2.50) to enter. Follow the signs to the T and get on the Red Line towards Alewife. Follow the walking directions from Harvard Square station described above.
Travel to the Workshop Venue
Transport to and from Richards and the Microsoft building in Kendall Square will be by subway. Non-local attendees will be provided with a one-week MBTA subway pass to cover these rides. From Richards, walk to Harvard Square and get on the Red Line, inbound (towards Ashmont or Braintree, both work). Disembark at Kendall/MIT.
The Microsoft building is directly outside Kendall Station.
Write-a-thon Guidelines
One of the central activities of ComSciCon is the write-a-thon, in which you will apply the communication skills you are learning to your own writing/science communication project. To prepare for the write-a-thon, you will need to produce and submit a draft by Friday, May 20. We anticipate that most of the submissions will be written work, but we encourage you to submit a podcast segment, comic, or video if you are interested in workshopping non-written media.
Before the conference, you will work in peer-editing groups to discuss and edit your draft. Your group will then be assigned an expert panelist who will read and further critique your work. After the conference, ComSciCon organizers will help you to reach out to publication outlets if you are interested in publishing your work. You can find past examples of published attendee writing here.
Timeline for Write-a-thon:
- Friday, May 20: Written draft, podcast, or video due
- Monday, May 23: Peer editing groups assigned
- Friday, June 3: Pre-conference editorial notes within group due
- Friday, June 10: Expert review at ComSciCon
Guidelines
The goal of the write-a-thon is for attendees to practice and receive guidance on the science communication skills they have been exposed to during the workshop. The write-a-thon should help you push your own personal boundaries. Get out of your comfort zone! Try a new writing style, write about a topic you are interested in but know little about, talk to other attendees about your work, approach the panelists, but most importantly have fun!
Start by picking a topic that interests you (perhaps something related to your own research, or perhaps not), then pick a target audience (perhaps a New York Times reader, or perhaps PhD students), then pick a frame (e.g. a reason why your writing should interest the reader, or how it could affect their lives). A typical piece should be about 600-800 words (2-3 double-spaced pages), and definitely no more than 1000 words. If you are submitting a podcast or video, please keep your piece under 5 minutes. If you are submitting a comic or other graphic narrative, please limit to 5 pages.
You will receive a link to a Google Doc from us, into which you should paste your piece. In the header of your document, include your piece’s topic (include a few short phrases to help us put similar pieces together, e.g. biophysics of fly flight), intended audience, and desired publication outlet if you’re interested in publishing. If you plan to submit your piece to a magazine or other publication, consider the typical article length in that publication. At the end of your piece, include a short (2-3 sentences) biography including your research interests and degree program. For non-written media submissions, please submit a word doc including all of the above information about your topic and your biography, as well as the title and type of the file you will submit containing your non-written media piece.
You can write whatever you want (as long as it’s about science) but we have compiled a list of prompts for you here to help with brainstorming:
ComSciCon Suggested Write-a-thon Topics
1. Write about a novel instrument that you or others in your field use to make measurements. What kind of measurements does it make, and why are they interesting? How does the machine work? How many machines like it are there in the world?
2. Write about how a commonly held belief in your field of science has been challenged or overturned recently.
3. Write about a recent or seminal discovery in your field or a related field.
4. Interview and/or write about a person in your scientific community.
5. Write a concise, compelling summary of a published paper on which you are an author.
6. Put your audience in your shoes: Tell a story about what it’s like to do your lab or field work.
7. Write about the intersection of science and society (e.g. funding issues, scientific litteracy, science in politics).
8. Write about anything else that is related to science!
Attendees will receive additional information by email with instructions on how to submit your piece and begin the peer editing process.
Poster Session Guidelines
On Saturday, June 11th, we will hold a poster session highlighting the outreach, communication, and social media activities of our attendees. We hope that all attendees will apply to give a poster at the workshop.
For a fuller sense of the topics and content of ComSciCon posters, please see last year’s abstracts on the ComSciCon14 program. We ask attendees to dream big! Do you have a project which you’d like to see spread nationwide? Do you want to start something, but need collaborators? Projects might include school outreach programs, a blog, developing teaching tools, public science nights, etc.
Poster Application Process
Please fill out the attendee preparatory survey form to submit an abstract. The deadline for abstract submissions is Tuesday, May 3rd.
The poster session will utilize ePosterboards, enabling participants to embed videos/other media into your poster. For attendees whose poster abstracts are accepted, we will provide an ePosterboards poster template and you will be required to submit the final version of your poster by 11pm on Monday, May 30th (1.5 weeks before the conference) so that we can ensure technical compatibility. Please only submit an abstract if you can commit to finishing your poster by that date.
Depending on how many attendees submit an abstract, space may be somewhat limited, so we will let you know the status of your submission by Monday, May 9th.
Poster Formatting Guidelines
Please follow ePosterboards’ formatting guidelines when preparing your poster. A how-to guide and poster template is provided to assist you in making your poster using Powerpoint.
If you create your presentation on a Windows PC, please save any formulas or equations as an image, for consistent display on the ePosterboards equipment.
Please direct any specific formatting questions to ePosterboards’ tech support page.
Presenters, please upload final drafts of your presentations via the ePosterboards website. Please fill out the form, selecting the ComSciCon Workshop from the dropdown menu, attach your poster content (including multimedia files), and submit the form. Upon submission, you will receive an email confirmation.
ComSciCon16 K-12 Session Guidelines
During the K–12 session at ComSciCon16, practicing scientists (our graduate student attendees) will work together with professional educators (teachers, museum staff, and other science education specialists) to develop new curriculum materials bringing cutting edge research into classrooms and informal learning environments. This year, we will be focusing on developing materials for high school students.
Before the workshop, the graduate student attendees will draft a piece of writing targeted at a high school audience. The educators will join ComSciCon’s graduate student attendees for the Saturday session of ComSciCon. Students will have the opportunity to interact with them throughout the poster session. Saturday afternoon, the students and educators will work together to revise their writing and further develop it into an activity suitable for a high school science classroom. The output products will contribute to an online database of these pieces for teachers across the nation to use.
Preparation for teachers and educators: No preparation is required before the workshop. During the workshop, you will read and help to revise pieces written by the graduate students.
Preparation for graduate student attendees: In preparation for the K–12 session, graduate student attendees will be required to write a short piece for a high school audience. Please see examples and guidelines below.
Example
Example attendee submission (BiteScis)
Example lesson plan after working with teachers at the workshop
Requirements
Pre-workshop deadline: Wednesday, June 1st
Example: See the example above for guidance on form and content.
Content guidelines:
- Reading for students:
- Choose a specific research paper or topic related to your research (it does not have to specifically about your research, but must be in your field). Identify an interesting aspect of the paper or topic that relates to a core concept in your field. The core ideas should be something that are covered in a typical high school science class. Example, a paper on a new gene sequencing technique could relate to DNA replication and mutation. If you are unfamiliar with a standard curriculum check out the MA standards (pages 66–end) and NGSS standards (pages 65–end).
- In a few brief paragraphs (~400–600 words), using language appropriate for a 10th grade reading level, explain the research, its connection to the core concept, and its importance to your research field.
- Include relevant figures and tables. When at all possible, images/figures should be open source, original, or easily replicated by a graphic designer.
- Do your best to list the relevant NGSS and MA standards. We’ll refine the standards alignment during the workshop.
- Scientist profile: A mini-biography (about four sentences) about yourself and your research. Include a photo of you, in the lab or in the field if possible.
- Activity ideas: Each student reading will be accompanied by a lesson. The lesson plan could involve a hands-on activity, or a more “paper and pencil” activity. Brainstorm at least three ideas for demos, experiments, hands-on activities, labs, or data analysis questions that relate to your piece and include a short summary or web link to them.
Formatting guidelines:
- At the top of the student reading, please include:
- Name: Your first and last name
- Topic: The science topic(s) of your piece
- Classes: What classes you think your piece could be adapted for—high school biology, Earth science, chemistry, or physics. Also think about whether your work has a data analysis component that could be used in a math class (algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, statistics).
- Put any key words and vocabulary in bold. Be sure to clearly identify each bolded term.
- Include a reference to the original paper.
Submission: Attendees will receive instructions by email specifying how to submit and upload pieces.
ComSciCon 