Approaching SciComm with the end in mind: what impact do you want?

SciComm—shorthand for science communication—is a term we’re hearing more and more these days. Classes in SciComm are offered in university settings; new professional societies are emerging around the topic; large organizations, like AAAS and AGU, offer tools and training to build communication skills; and more scientists are valuing the role science communication can play in their own work, especially outside of academia.

Timing is everything: ShakeAlert comes to Washington May 4

A hand holds a phone lock screen with an emergency alert that reads Earthquake detected! Drop, cover, hold on. Protect yourself -USGS ShakeAlert

It could happen any time, any day. Multiple seismometers — scientific instruments that measure ground motion — detect a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Washington, Oregon or California. Seismic waves move fast, but seismometers move faster: The data zips from seismometer to processing center at the speed of light (670,616,629 mph), where algorithms calculate the area and intensity of shaking and sound an emergency warning to phones moments before shaking arrives: Drop.

‘Forgetting Nature’: Peter Kahn offers warning in short documentary film

The documentary film is brief but its message is powerful: We humans are losing our connection to the natural world, at our great peril. “In some sense, we think we are the most advanced culture — we take such pride in technology and advancement,” says Peter Kahn, University of Washington professor in the Department of Psychology and the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

Making our science communication inclusive and equitable: a conversation with Sunshine Menezes

Many scientists and researchers are spending more time than ever thinking about how to make their work, laboratories, and classrooms equitable, accessible, welcoming, and inclusive to others. The same is happening in the world of science communication, causing scientists to reflect on what it means to embed inclusive practices into their communication pathways. At the most recent Amplify: Conversations about Science Communication event, UW College of the Environment Dean Lisa Graumlich welcomed Metcalf Institute at the University of Rhode Island Executive Director Sunshine Menezes to talk about inclusive science communication (ISC).

Emeritus professor Robert Edmonds pens history of forestry science at the UW

Saving Forest Ecosystems: A Century Plus of Research and Education at the University of Washington book cover

In a new history of forestry science education and research at the University of Washington, Robert Edmonds covers the field from its early logging days to the preservation of old-growth forests and the current era of climate change. In 1973, past UW president Henry Schmitz published a history titled “The Long Road Traveled,” tracing the then College of Forestry from 1907 to the mid-1960s.