Hazel Davis September 26, 2019

Lightning Talk: Promoting scientific communication opportunities for graduate students

www.smls-nrt.org

Soft Materials for Life Sciences (UMass Amherst)

• Two year traineeship program

• Emphasis on professional development opportunities, lab modules, core

curriculum, and individual development planning

• Students from chemical engineering, polymer science & engineering, chemistry,

physics, food science, and more!

https://blogs.nottingham.edu.my/postgraduate/2016/08/17/scientific-communication/

Importance of scientific communication in graduate school

Scientists vs. public

Scientist vs. public Scientist vs. scientist

Scientific communication with the public and other scientists is the

same and different!

Strategies to incorporate scientific communication in SMLS-NRT

Lightning Talks:

• Students present 3 minute research

updates to audience of other students in

NRT, receive feedback on research

questions

• 4 students/month during lunch

The Good:

• Attendance ~ 15-20 graduate students

The Bad:

• Coordinating speakers

• “rapid fire” presentations

Strategies to Work On:

• More time to discuss research

problems

• Having feedback reviews (on

presentation style and not just

research)

Strategies to incorporate scientific communication in Polymer Science

Lunch ‘n’ Learn events:

• Students present 15 or 30 minute

research presentations to audience of

other students in PSE, receive feedback

on research questions

• Monthly during lunch, BYOL

The Good:

• Attendance ~ 30 graduate

students/visiting scholars

• Relatively inexpensive (coffee and tea)

The Bad:

• Coordinating speakers

Strategies to Work On:

• Enabling students to practice

milestones (Oral Defenses, etc)

• Having feedback reviews (on

presentation style and not just

research)

https://www.umass.edu/graduate/professional-development

Strategies to incorporate scientific communication at UMass Amherst

https://www.umass.edu/graduate/professional-development

Summary:

Strategies to Work On:

• Enabling students to practice

milestones (Oral Defenses, etc)

• Having time for students to talk

about research problems, and not

just polished work

• Having system of feedback

reviews (on presentation style and

not just research)

What We’ve Found Effective:

• Having different styles of

presentations (not just classical 15

minute conference talk, also

elevator pitches, etc)

• Meetings during food! Even if BYOL

• Mix of meetings with faculty and

without

• Presenting outside your department

Questions

Questions?

Building communication skills for the 21st century

R2R: Ridge to Reef Graduate Training at UC IrvineSteven Allison | allisons@uci.edu

NRT

Wildfire

Endangered species

Climate change impacts

Urban ecology

Restoration

Urban water use

Air quality

Marine conservationCoastal water quality

Ridge to Reef Program: Session 1, Poster #117

Communication learning outcomes

Comm Skills classFall quarter

Communicate research to a broad audience

Craft messages appropriate for specific target audiences

Design and present visual media

Address issues from an interdisciplinary perspective

Prepare for job interviews and networking

Expert panels

• Public communication• Web and social media• Job interviews

Skills workshops

• Bri McWhorter: Activate To Captivate @ActToCap

• Interpersonal comm• Distilling messages• Reaching policymakers• Oral presentations

Poster symposium

Individual coaching

• Filming a pitch• Prepping a talk

Assessment

• Video presentations pre and post• Rubric with 12 criteria

• e.g. language choice is audience appropriate

• Analysis of submissions• Challenging/incomprehensible for

average listener• Jargon particular to your field• Compound words• Administrator words

P < 0.001

Questions?

Developing a Community Outreach

Program for Science Communication

Liz Anderson, PhD

NRT Program Coordinator

DGE-1734815: NRT-UtB: Graduate Training Program in Sensory Science: Optimizing the Information Available for

Mind and Brain

September 26, 2019

Our NRT Program: CogniSense• NRT Graduate Training Program in Sensory Science:

Optimizing the Information for Mind and Brain

• Interdisciplinary graduate training program at UMN

uniting basic sensory science (vision, audition, motor

control, speech and language) with engineering,

computer science, and other technical fields.

• Research focuses on the nature of sensory loss and the

development of effective assistive technologies for

people with sensory deficits that impact their quality of

life

Visit our poster: Session 3, #318

Why is

science communication

important?• Inform the public

• Build support for science

• Encourage informed decision-making

Outreach

• Educational outreach = activities that support informal education which occur outside the classroom

• Connect with the community -- particularly

communities of older adults and those with sensory

loss. We have much to learn from them about the

experience of living with sensory loss, and much to

offer them in terms of current information on devices,

rehabilitative options, and more.

• Our goal: to engage with the public in a give-and-take

way

Abiitan Community

• Two years ago, UMN’s College of Liberal Arts invited

faculty/staff to partner with Abiitan Mill City, a unique,

non-profit senior living community

• Ages 55+, both independent living and memory care

floors

NRT/Abiitan Science Outreach: v1

• Students presented on their research to residents

• Well-received; lots of questions

• But -- how to keep going, once students have

exhausted all their topics?

• Residents’ ad hoc questions caused students to come

up with the idea of a popular-science “journal club”

format

• For each meeting, an article from the popular press is

selected, relating to sensory science.

• Questions to stimulate discussion are developed by

students

v2 -- Abiitan Science Journal Club

• Response has been very positive

• Residents not only learn about an issue or topic, but

also learn how to determine

the validity of scientific articles

• Students benefit from

residents’ perspectives

Example

Questions?

Using frequent low risk communication opportunities to provide experience

communicating around science and software

David A. C. Beck, dacb@uw.eduChemical Engineering & eScience Institute

University of Washington

Advancing data-intensive discovery in all fields

Knowledge and solutions for a changing world

Be boundless

Chemical Engineering eScience Institute

• 2016 NRT-DESE: Data Intensive Research Enabling Clean Technologies (DIRECT), #1633216– PI: Jim Pfaendtner (ChemE)

– Associate Director: David Beck (ChemE, eScience)

– ChemE, Chemistry, Materials Science & Eng., Molecular Science & Eng., Electrical Eng., Built Environment, MechE

– (Molecular) Data Science Methods

• Machine learning, Statistics, Visualization, Data Management

– Software Engineering

• Principles, design, testing, documentation, programming style

Data Science for Clean Tech

DIRECT course overview

• Three courses

– CHEME 546: Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (SEMDS)

• Winter quarter (10 weeks)

– CHEME 545: Data Science Methods for Clean Energy Research (DSMCR)

• Winter quarter (10 weeks)

– CHEME 547: Molecular Data Science Capstone

• Spring quarter (10 weeks)

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Visual block syllabus

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

SEMDS

DSMCER

AM

PMTwo courses × two 1.5 hr classes / week = 6 hrs / wk

Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (SEMDS)

Data Science Methods for Clean Energy Research (DSMCR)

Visual block syllabus

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

SEMDS

DSMCER

AM

PM

Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (SEMDS)

Data Science Methods for Clean Energy Research (DSMCR)

Project team formation

• Project based classes, one project shared by both

• Taught in active learning classrooms to encourage communication

UW Active Learning Classrooms

Visual block syllabus

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

SEMDS

DSMCER

AM

PM

Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (SEMDS)

Data Science Methods for Clean Energy Research (DSMCR)

Project team formation

• Project based classes, one project shared by both

• Taught in active learning classrooms

• “Class participation category” is 15% of grade and students get credit for showing up (low risk)

Communication opportunities

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

SEMDS

DSMCER

AM

PM

Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (SEMDS)

Data Science Methods for Clean Energy Research (DSMCR)

Project team formation

• Project proposals

– Students self select to present their nascent project ideas

Project Proposal Template

• Why project proposals?– Share your project ideas and find like interested classmates

• Should be presented in 5 minutes with one slide

• Background• What is the science driver for the project• What are the broader impacts of the science

• Project proposal• Succinct description of the project idea• What specific data sets are available to use• What prior art exists

Communication opportunities

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

SEMDS

DSMCER

AM

PM

Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (SEMDS)

Data Science Methods for Clean Energy Research (DSMCR)

Project team formation

• Student peer code reviews

– Practices in class in week 6

– Use the communication method frequently in out of class project work settings

Code Review Template

• Why code review?– Improve code quality and find bugs

• Background– Describe what the application does

– Describe the role of the code being reviewed

• Comment on– Choice of variable and function names

– Readability of the code

– How improve reuse and efficiency

– How use existing python packages

Communication opportunities

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

SEMDS

DSMCER

AM

PM

Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (SEMDS)

Data Science Methods for Clean Energy Research (DSMCR)

Project team formation

• Team technology reviews

– Software tools are rarely written entirely from scratch

– Modern software is often built using other tools, e.g. for machine learning, visualization, …

Technology Review Template

• Why technology reviews?– Evaluate a package for deployment in a project

– 10 minutes, including questions

• Background– Requirements that indicate a need for the proposed

package

• Discuss– How the package works

– Appeal of using the package

– Drawbacks of using the package

Communication opportunities

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

SEMDS

DSMCER

AM

PM

Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (SEMDS)

Data Science Methods for Clean Energy Research (DSMCR)

Project team formation

• Student standups

– Collaborative software projects require frequent, rapid communication between team members

Standup Template

• Why standups?– Communicate status and actions within and between teams

• Should be presented in 1-2 minutes with no slides

• Progress this period– How it compares with the plan

– If behind plan, how compensate to make plan end date

• Deliverables for next period

• Challenges to making next deliverables such as:– Technology uncertainties and blockers

– Team issues

Capstone course timeline

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week9 Week 10

Standup Standup Standup Standup Standup

• Alternating

– Student standups

– Professional development enrichment sessions

Stakeholder engagement

Project management

Project pitching pt. 1

Project pitching pt. 2

Informational interviews and interview skills

Communication opportunities

• Frequent (~40% of classes)

• Low risk (show up & get credit)

• Mix of communication about software & science

• Is it working?

– Evaluation by data2insight

Want more info?

• The course materials are open source (BSD)

– On Github:

– https://github.com/UWDIRECT/UWDIRECT.github.io

– Lectures, homework assignments, some videos

https://uwdirect.github.io

Sharing Science: Communicating Your Research

NSF NRT

Communication Initiatives

• Summer Bootcamp• Elevator Speeches• Communication Styles

• Action, Process, Idea, People

• Conflict Communication • Competing,

Avoiding, Accommodating, Collaboration, Compromising

• Business Communication• Interviewing

Communication Initiatives

• Fall/Spring• Sharing Science Workshop• Group Problem Solving Presentations• Research Update Presentations• K-12 Outreach• Business Etiquette Luncheon

Workshop Agenda

• 30 Second Speeches• Pair with 3 different people• Remove fillers (um, uh)

• Sequential Memory Exercise• 20 Words• Incorporate visual, auditory,

repetitive and novel words

• Basic Presentation Development• Outlining• Introductions/Conclusions

Workshop Agenda

• Communicating to general audiences• Defining complex terms/concepts

• Visual Aids• Do’s/Don’ts• Draw a Slide

• Style & Delivery

• Write & Video 30 Second Speech

Speaking Center

• Peer to peer coaching, establish trust• Practice presenting to a general audience• Discovering broader impact of their research• Judgement free space to present• Feedback from speaking center coaches • Importance of non-verbal communication

Acknowledgements

National Science Foundation NRT programTraining Next-Generation Scientists with Experimental, Theoretical, and Computational Competencies for Complex Interfaces” (INTERFACE) http://www.interface-usm.org/NSF Award #1449999

The University of Southern MississippiSchool of Polymer Science & Engineering

Kim WingoDirector Education, Outreach & Student ProgramsKimberly.Wingo@usm.edu601-266-6849

Questions

Theatrically Speaking: What Researchers Can Learn from

an Actor/Improv Teacher about

Engaging an Audience

Byron StewartAdjunct lecturer

Northwestern University

1

R C T P Research Communication Training ProgramTurning great researchers into great communicators.

S C O PScience Communication Online Programme

E

Engineering Improv I:

The Art of Allowing

Engineering Improv II:

The Art of Inspiration

Questions?