Calling STEM Grad Students: Apply now for ComSciCon 2016!

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Since 2013, ComSciCon has helped over 300 graduate students improve their science communication skills through workshops across the country. ComSciCon 2016 will be the 4th annual National Workshop, hosted in Cambridge, MA, from June 9-11.

Applications are now open for the Communicating Science 2016 workshop, to be held in Cambridge, MA on June 9-11, 2016!

Graduate students at US institutions in all fields relating to science and engineering, are encouraged to apply. The application will close on March 1st.

Click here to apply!

Since the first ComSciCon national convention in 2013, we’ve received well over 3000 applications from graduate students across the country, and we’ve welcomed about 300 of them to three national and local workshops held in Cambridge, MA. You can read about last year’s workshop to get a sense for the activities and participants at ComSciCon events.

While acceptance to the workshop is competitive, attendance of the workshop is free of charge and travel support will be provided to accepted applicants.

Participants will build the communication skills that scientists and other technical professionals need to express complex ideas to their peers, experts in other fields, and the general public. There will be panel discussions on the following topics:

  • Communicating with Non-Scientific Audiences through Media Outlets
  • Communicating through Policy and Advocacy
  • Communicating through Creative Outlets and Storytelling
  • Communicating through Education and Outreach
  • Communicating with Diverse Audiences

In addition to these discussions, ample time is allotted for interacting with the experts and with attendees from throughout the country to discuss science communication and develop science outreach collaborations. 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.

ComSciCon attendees have founded new science communication organizations in collaboration with other students at the event, published more than 40 articles written at the conference in popular publications with national impact, and formed lasting networks with our student alumni and invited experts. Visit the ComSciCon website to learn more about our past workshop programs and participants.

Attendees, organizers, and panelists gather for a group photo after ComSciCon 2015.

Attendees, organizers, and panelists gather for a group photo after ComSciCon 2015.

This workshop is sponsored by Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Colorado Boulder, the American Astronomical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, and Microsoft Research.

About Ben Cook

I'm a second year astronomy grad student at Harvard and currently study the merger and accretion histories of galaxies in simulations. I'm also interested in data science, and how machine learning can be used in Astronomy. I received my bachelor's degree from Princeton, where my senior thesis investigated the distribution of baryons in a large range of dark matter halos.

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