Welcome
Welcome!
The 10th annual ComSciCon Flagship Workshop will take place on August 4-6, 2022 in Cambridge, MA. The workshop will be in-person, hosted by MIT, and we cover all costs related to travel and housing.
Follow us on Twitter and tweet with the hashtag #ComSciCon22.
For more information, please contact comscicon22@comscicon.org.
About ComSciCon 2022
ComSciCon provides graduate student attendees with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to meet early career leaders in Science Communication, learn from and interact with a remarkable group of invited experts, and produce an original work communicating complex technical concepts from science and engineering to a new audience.
At ComSciCon’s Flagship Workshop, participants build communication skills that scientists and other technical professionals need to express ideas to their peers, experts in other fields, and the general public.
Ample time is allocated for networking with science communication experts and developing science outreach collaborations with fellow workshop participants. Workshop participants will produce an original piece of science writing and receive feedback from workshop attendees and professional science communicators, including journalists, authors, public policy advocates, educators, and more.
Founded in 2012 by graduate students at Harvard University, MIT, and the University of Colorado at Boulder, nearly 3000 graduate students nationwide have already participated in ComSciCon programs, including our annual Flagship Workshops and Franchise Workshops which have been started by ComSciCon alumni across the US and Canada. Attendees have founded new science communication organizations in collaboration with other students at the event, published over 80 articles written at the conference in popular publications with national impact, and formed lasting networks with our student alumni and invited experts.
We are grateful to all ComSciCon’s sponsors who are making our 2022 Flagship event possible. Those include the MIT Office of Graduate Education, the American Astronomical Society, the American Chemical Society, the Burroughs Welcome Fund, and University of Maryland.
ComSciCon 2022 Flagship Workshop Sponsors
Apply to ComSciCon-Flagship 2022
ComSciCon 2022 will be held from August 4-6, 2022.
The application for the 2022 flagship workshop is published and can be found here. Deadline for the application is April 1st on 23:59 EST.
The workshop will be in-person, hosted by MIT, and we cover all costs related to travel and housing.
A description of how we review applications can be found here.
Eligibility
Attendance at ComSciCon is limited to current (or recently graduated) graduate students in residence at US or Canadian institutions. International students who study at US and Canadian institutions are gladly welcomed. Recent graduates must have graduated no earlier than December 2021.
ComSciCon applications are competitive and we encourage applicants to prepare their responses with care.
Application, registration, and attendance at the workshop is free of charge for accepted applicants. Attendees to ComSciCon are required to complete pre-workshop requirements, and to attend the entire 3-day workshop.
We encourage women, minorities (minoritized identities), and members of the LGBTQIA+ communities to apply. ComSciCon is committed to diversity and equity, and encourages all people to apply to the conference. Accommodations can be provided upon request for people with disabilities. We will provide opportunities to request specific accommodations after the selection process for attendees is complete.
Please see our Code of Conduct below.
Pre-workshop Requirements
ComSciCon’s National Workshop is a highly interactive and cooperative event. For instance, several of the sessions include group workshopping of already-developed science communication pieces.
All accepted attendees to ComSciCon 2022 are expected to complete the following in advance of attending the workshop. Keep checking back for additional details of each requirement.
Write-A-Thon
Through the “Write-A-Thon”, ComSciCon attendees develop science communication pieces and workshop them extensively with fellow attendees and science communication experts. Many of these pieces are later published in major science communication outlets. We will be accepting additional submission formats this year (video, comic, podcast, other) in addition to written submissions.
Poster (Optional)
We are excited to announce that this year, ComSciCon is hosting an ePoster (i.e., virtual poster) session!
Poster sessions are an ideal way to share a science communication endeavour you’re involved with, and they are great opportunities to network and collaborate with other attendees. Many fantastic new projects and initiatives have sprouted from discussions begun at previous ComSciCon poster sessions.
Note that these posters should NOT be on your scientific research. They should be on a project, initiative, or organisation involving science outreach, advocacy, education, etc.
You can see examples of successful abstracts from 2016’s program here: http://comscicon.com/files/comscicon/files/comscicon2016_poster_abstracts.pdf.
Accepted abstracts will be notified by Monday July 12, 2022. Please note that there are no charges or fees for submitting or presenting an ePoster.
If your abstract is accepted, you will be given further instructions. You can present in any format/way you think is best (whether that is through videos, a traditional one-slide poster, multiple slides, or something completely different).
We encourage all ComSciCon 2022 attendees to apply for a poster slot!
Evaluation Surveys
ComSciCon is interested in learning more about how best to improve science communication training. We evaluate our performance through surveys before, immediately following, and 6-months after the workshop.
Details : The pre-workshop survey will be available upon acceptance to ComSciCon 2022.
Program
Full PDF Program
Schedule
ComSciCon 2022 (MIT, Cambridge MA) Program:
| Day | Start | End | Event |
| Aug 4 | 8:30 | 9:00 | Breakfast |
| 9:00 | 9:30 | Welcome to ComSciCon Flagship 2022! | |
| 9:30 | 11:00 | Diversity in SciComm Asma Bashir, Gb Kim, Huei Sears | |
| 11:00 | 11:15 | Break | |
| 11:15 | 12:45 | Controversial Topics Shannon Geary | |
| 12:45 | 1:45 | Lunch | |
| 1:45 | 2:15 | Pop Talks | |
| 2:15 | 4:15 | Disability in STEM Gabriella Serrato Marks | |
| 4:15 | 4:30 | Break | |
| 4:30 | 6:30 | Create-A-Thon Expert Review | |
| 7:30 | 9:30 | Banquet Dinner | |
| Aug 5 | 8:30 | 9:00 | Breakfast |
| 9:00 | 11:00 | Create-A-Thon Peer-to-Peer Roundtable | |
| 11:00 | 11:15 | Break | |
| 11:15 | 12:00 | Poster Session 1 | |
| 12:00 | 1:00 | Lunch | |
| 1:00 | 1:45 | Poster Session 2 | |
| 1:45 | 2:15 | Pop Talks | |
| 2:15 | 4:15 | Science Policy Saud Anwar, Pam DiBona, Claudia Ward-de Leon, Ed Weisbart | |
| 4:15 | 4:30 | Break | |
| 4:30 | 6:30 | Combating Misinformation Workshop Matt Heid | |
| 7:00 | 9:30 | Dinner | |
| Aug 6 | 8:30 | 9:00 | Breakfast |
| 9:00 | 9:30 | ComSciCon Info Session: How to Get Involved with Your Local Chapter | |
| 9:30 | 10:00 | Pop Talks | |
| 10:00 | 11:30 | Keynote Lecture: “Alone In The Dark Room: Leaving Academia For SciComm” Madeline Sofia | |
| 11:30 | 12:30 | Snack/Lunch | |
| 12:30 | 2:30 | SciComm Careers: Roundtable Discussion Diana Chien, Jacqueline Goldstein, Susan Heilman, Ashley Smart, Emily Zhang | |
| 2:30 | 3:00 | Conclusion |
Venue and Accommodation
Location
The workshop will take place at MIT in the Stratton student center. The dormitories are right next door in the Maseeh Hall (Maseeh Hall, 305 Memorial Drive, Building W1, Cambridge, MA 02139.).
To locate Maseeh Hall or any other point on campus, please reference the interactive campus map at whereis.mit.edu.
Getting there:
By plane — From Boston Logan international airport, take the Silverline 1 bus to Boston South station. Transfer to the redline in the direction of Alewife and get off at the “Kendall/MIT” stop. From there it’s about a 12 min walk.
By car — Parking is provided at the MIT Westgate lot (see image above) for those who requested it. If ComSciCon provides your accommodation, your parking pass will be left at the check-in desk of your accommodation. Otherwise you can pick up your parking pass at the conference registration in the Stratton student center. Please contact the organizers at comscicon22@comscicon.org if you have any questions about this.
By bus — Most buses will arrive at the Boston South Station. follow the same instructions as listed above under ‘by plane’, starting from South Station.
Check-in information
Check in at the front desk between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM daily.
After-hour arrivals, will need to call Operations at 617-253-1500; they will let guest into room for the night but will not provide a key. Guest should retrieve their key the following morning, once a desk worker is on duty.
Be prepared to show a photo identification to the front desk staff upon check-in.
Check-out is no later than 11:00 AM.
All keys must be returned to the front desk. The front desk staff may be able to hold guest’s luggage for a short time after check-out.
Accommodation information
Guests are provided with sheets, blanket, pillow, and towels. Toiletries are not provided.
The traditional residence hall is not air-conditioned and has shared bathroom facilities on each floor.
Rooms are serviced prior to arrival but not daily.
There are common lounge areas in the residence hall for informal gathering; refrigerators are located in some of these areas.
Housing Policies
By accepting a housing reservation on the MIT Campus, all guests agree to comply with the rules, policies and procedures of MIT Summer Program & Conference Housing found at this link.
MIT Wireless network
To log onto the internet anywhere on campus, open a browser and select “MIT Guest.” No password is necessary.
Organizing Committee
Programming Committee
Nicolas Scrutton Alvarado
PhD Candidate, Neurobiology, Northwestern University
Dana Boebinger
PhD Student, Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard-MIT
Emily Costa
Emily Costa (she/her) is a cancer biologist based in New York City.
Mike Foley
PhD Candidate, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Harvard University
Julie Fornaciari
Julie Fornaciari (she/her) recently graduated from University of California, Berkeley in chemical engineering.
Elena YH Lin
PhD Student, Biomedical Sciences, UC San Diego
Elena (they/she) is a Taiwanese-Canadian PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences at UC San Diego studying T cell immunology. Informed by their…Read moreabout Elena YH Lin
Jamie Moffa
MD/PhD Student, Washington University
Jamie is a queer, nonbinary MD/PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis.
Cadence Payne
Cadence Payne (she/her) is a PhD candidate at MIT in the department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Victoria Russell
Outreach Coordinator, Center for Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry
Bill Smith
PhD Student, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University
Dr. Teodora Stoica
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Arizona
Ralph White III
PhD Candidate, Pharmacology, University of Minnesota Medical School
Logistics Committee
Lauren Girouard-Hallam
PhD Student, Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville
Gus Beane
PhD Student, Astronomy, Harvard
Gus is an astronomy graduate student at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
Mike Foley
PhD Candidate, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Harvard University
Leanna Kalinowski
University at Buffalo
Claire Lamman
PhD Student, Astronomy, Harvard
Nadia Lana
PhD Student, Cognitive Science of Language, McMaster University
Björn Lütjens
PhD candidate, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT
Björn is currently a PhD candidate at the Human Systems Laboratory, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT.
Gloria Marino
PhD Candidate, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Cadence Payne
Cadence Payne (she/her) is a PhD candidate at MIT in the department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Victoria Russell
Outreach Coordinator, Center for Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry
Alexia Simon
Graduate student, Center for Astrophysics |Harvard & Smithsonian
Lieke van Son
PhD Student, Astronomy, Harvard
Invited Experts
Saud Anwar
State Senator Saud Anwar was first elected to the Senate in February 2019 to represent the residents of the 3rd State Senate District towns of East Hartford, East Windsor, Ellington and South Windsor.
Dr. Asma Bashir
Neuroscientist
Founder, Her Royal Science
Dr. Diana Chien
Program Director, MIT Communication Lab
Pam DiBona
Activist, Extinction Rebellion and Scientist Rebellion
Rodrigo Garcia
Rodrigo has completed a Ph.D. in Neuroscience where he studied how astrocytes contribute to sensory processing.
Shannon Rose Geary
Science Journalist and Illustrator
Dr. Jacqueline Goldstein
Astrophysicist
Science Communication Trainer
Instructional Designer, MIT Communication Lab
Pinar Gurel
Pinar Gurel grew up in North Carolina and obtained her B.S. in Chemistry from UNC- Chapel Hill in 2009. She pursued her PhD in the Higgs lab at Dartmouth,… Read moreabout Pinar Gurel
Matt Heid
Senior Communications Strategist, Union of Concerned Scientists
Dr. Susan Heilman
Educator, Museum of Science Boston
Susan Heilman, PhD (she/her) is a life-long STEM learner and educator.
Gourav Khullar
Gourav Khullar is an extragalactic astronomer, who works on understanding the assembly of mass in distant galaxies.
Gb Kim
Visual Artist
Scholar
Dr. Gabi Marks
Partner, Stellate Communications
Rahi Patel
Rahi Patel is a science communicator based in Boston, MA.
Julie Rorrer
Dr. Julie Rorrer is an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Fellow of the Communication Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Huei Sears
PhD candidate, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern University
Ashley Smart
Associate Director, Knight Science Journalism Program, MIT
Senior Director, Undark magazine
Madeline Sofia
Scientist
Journalist
Founding Host, Short Wave
Claudia Ward-de León
Claudia Ward-de León is a nationally published writer with more than a decade of experience distilling scientific and technical information for public consumption and writing about complex subjects for the general public.
Dr. Ed Weisbart, MD, CPE, FAAFP
Chair & National Board Member, Physicians for a National Health Program
President, Consumers Council of Missouri
Emily Zhang
Producer, Veritasium
Emily is a producer at the science YouTube channel Veritasium.
Code of Conduct
ComSciCon is committed to providing a safe, hospitable, and productive environment for everyone present, regardless of race or ethnicity, religion, ability, socioeconomic status, age, physical appearance, economic or professional status, country of origin, sex, gender or gender expression, or sexuality. A conference where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not productive, nor tolerable. Accordingly, ComSciCon prohibits intimidating, threatening, or harassing conduct during our conference and is committed to creating and maintaining a safe environment for everyone during the workshop. This policy applies to speakers, organizers, expert reviewers, and attendees, and by participating in ComSciCon, you agree to adhere to this policy.
ComSciCon expects that participants will:
- Be considerate and respectful to all community members.
- Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior, materials, and speech (more below).
- Speak up if they observe anything at an event that conflicts with this Code of Conduct. If you are being harassed or feel uncomfortable, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the ComSciCon organizing team immediately.
Unacceptable behavior from any community member will not be tolerated. Unacceptable behavior includes, but is not limited to:
- Intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory, or demeaning speech, materials, or conduct by any Participants of the event and related event activities. Many event venues are shared with members of the public; please be respectful to all patrons of these locations.
- Violence, threats of violence, or violent language directed against another person.
- Failure to obey any rules or regulations of the event venue.
Harassment of participants will not be tolerated in any form. Harassment includes:
- Offensive verbal or written comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion, national origin, affinity group, etc.
- Viewing or sharing sexual images in public spaces.
- Deliberate or perceived intimidation, stalking, or following.
- Harassing or non consensual photography or recording.
- Sustained disruption of talks or other events.
- Inappropriate physical contact.
- Unwelcome sexual attention.
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harassing behavior, ComSciCon organizers will take any action they deem appropriate, ranging from a verbal warning to expulsion from the conference, to contacting local authorities.
ComSciCon organizers may take action to address any behavior disrupting the conference or making the environment hostile for any participants. We expect participants to follow these rules at all conference events and ComSciCon-related social activities.
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the conference staff immediately at the designated confidential address: comscicon22-coc@comscicon.org. Organizers will be available to assist anyone experiencing unacceptable behaviour and will work to help you feel safe for the duration of the event. All reports will be held as confidential by ComSciCon event organizers.
We value your attendance, and want to make the conference experience as educational, productive, and fun as possible.
COVID-19 Policy
Vaccination
All ComSciCon attendees, organizers, speakers and panelists must have received all doses of the Covid-19 vaccine (plus booster shots when eligible), or have received an exemption from vaccination in order to participate in the ComSciCon 2022 Flagship workshop. People who wish to receive an exemption should contact the organizing staff. A list of accepted COVID-19 vaccines can be found in the CDC guidelines. All participants are furthermore expected to follow all MIT policies.
Testing
All participants are required to take a Covid test within 48 hours before entering the workshop venue and dormitories for the first time. Participants will be asked to attest that they have received a negative result. You must provide your own test for this purpose (both PCR and rapid antigen tests are acceptable).
Additionally, all participants will be required to take a rapid antigen test each morning of the workshop before arriving at the venue. ComSciCon will provide these daily tests to participants upon arrival, and each morning participants will be asked to attest that they have received a negative result.
Masks
All participants are required to wear a N95, KN95, or FFp2 mask at all times when indoors. ComSciCon will provide KN95 masks to participants upon arrival.
Reporting symptoms
If at any time during the workshop, participants develop symptoms of COVID-19, they should isolate and get tested. The organizing staff will have additional rapid tests available for this occasion.
In case of a positive test
If a participant tests positive, they should isolate and inform an organizer as soon as possible. If a participant is experiencing symptoms and/or has tested positive, they will be given the option to attend ComSciCon workshop activities via Zoom. Grad student attendees will have the option to complete their 5-day quarantine in the Maseeh Hall dorms. If the attendee is in a double occupancy dorm, then the person who tested positive will be moved as soon as possible to another room with a designated bathroom.
ComSciCon will be able to support three nights of accommodation for all attendees – payment for any additional nights that attendees need to spend in the MIT dorms must be made to ComSciCon via check. Requests for exceptions will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Eating & drinking
Participants are encouraged to take their food and drink outdoors, to the large grassy area and picnic tables just outside of the MIT Stratton Student Center. If meals must be consumed indoors (e.g. in the event of bad weather), all windows will be opened and participants will be asked to only remove their masks when actively eating or drinking.
Ventilation
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, MIT undertook an extensive assessment of the ventilation systems in all on-campus spaces (including bathrooms and elevators), and has updated them accordingly. More details about this process can be found here. Additionally, the venue for ComSciCon 2022 has large external windows which will be kept open (weather permitting) to further increase air circulation.
ComSciCon 