Sustainable Infrastructures for Public Communication of the Life Sciences: A Workshop

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Advances in the life sciences - from the human genome to biotechnology to personalized medicine and sustainable communities - have profound implications for the well-being of society and the natural world. Improved public understanding of such scientific advances has the potential to benefit both individuals and society through enhanced quality of life and environmental protection, improved K-12 and undergraduate science education, greater understanding of human connections to the natural world, and more sustainable policies and regulations. Yet few systems of support exist to help life scientist communicators share their research with a broad range of public audiences, or engage the public in discussions about their work.

Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication is the summary of a two-part workshop convened in December 2013 and January 2014 by the National Research Council Roundtable on Public Interfaces of the Life Sciences to identify infrastructure-related barriers that inhibit or prohibit life scientists from communicating about their work and characteristics of infrastructure that facilitate or encourage scientists to engage with public audiences. The workshop featured both formal presentations and panel discussions among participants from academia, industry, journalism, the federal government, and nonprofit organizations. The presentations highlighted the motivations of and challenges to life scientist communicators, theoretical approaches to science communication, examples of different types of infrastructure to support science communication, and the need for building more sustainable science communication infrastructures. This report considers communication infrastructure across a range of life science institutions, including federal agencies, academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations and explores novel approaches to facilitate effective science communication.

Publication information

89 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-30193-9
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-30194-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/18728

Suggested citation

National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Kenneth S. Ramos

Kenneth S. Ramos is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Director of the Center for Environmental Genomics and Integrative Biology. He is a leading expert in the study of gene-environment interactions and personalized medicine. His research program integrates diverse approaches ranging from molecular genetics to population-based public health studies. Ongoing preclinical work in his laboratory focuses on the study of repetitive genetic elements in the mammalian genome and their role in genome plasticity and disease. Current clinical studies focus on the characterization of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for chronic disease and cancer to advance personalized and preventive medicine. In addition to his research, Ken has long standing interests in community outreach and engagement in the environmental health sciences. He completed a B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chemistry (Magna Cum Laude) at the University of Puerto Rico, a PhD in Biochemical Pharmacology at the University of Texas at Austin, an M.D. degree with postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center and Affiliated Hospitals.

Brooke Smith

Brooke Smith is the Executive Director of COMPASS, a nonprofit helping scientist’s find their voice and their science find its audience. Originally founded in 1999 to support ocean scientists, COMPASS now supports a broader scope of scientists working at the interface of the human and natural environment. Ms. Smith’s career focuses on being a practitioner of science communications, a sustainability leader, and a nonprofit executive. Her experiences are in ocean and environmental science, state and federal environmental policy, environmental consulting, connecting science to policy and management and nonprofit management. Brooke leads COMPASS in vision, strategy, fundraising and administration. She received her MS from Oregon State University’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, and her bachelor’s degree from Duke University. She holds a courtesy faculty appointment at Oregon State University, serves on the National Board of Directors of the Surfrider Foundation and the Board of Directors of Portland’s locally based Forest Park Conservancy, and she was recently a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow. She lives in Portland OR with her husband and their 2 daughters.

May R. Berenbaum

May Berenbaum has been on the faculty of the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign since 1980; served as head of the department since 1992; and has held the Swanlund
Chair of Entomology since 1996. Her research focuses on insect chemical ecology and practical
application of ecological principles toward sustainable management practices. In addition to her research,
May is devoted to public engagement in science; she has authored numerous magazine articles, as well as
six books, about insects for the general public and has founded several outreach and citizen-science
activities, including the UIUC Insect Fear Film Festival, Beespotter, and the UI Pollinatarium. May was
elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1994, and currently chairs the NAS Koshland
Science Museum Advisory Board, co-chairs the NAS Roundtable on Public Interfaces of the Life
Sciences, and serves on the advisory board for the NAS Division on Earth and Life Studies. She has
chaired both the National Research Council Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources and the
Committee on the Status of Pollinators in North America and has testified before Congress on issues
relating to honey bee health and pollinator decline. In 2009, she received the AAAS Public Engagement
with Science Award in recognition of her public communication efforts and in 2011 she received the
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.

Rick E. Borchelt

Rick Borchelt is Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science. He has had a varied career in science communications and public policy, including stints as media relations director for the National Academy of Sciences; press secretary for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology under the chairmanship of the late Rep. George E. Brown, Jr.; special assistant for public affairs in the Executive Office of The President during the Clinton Administration; director of communications and public affairs at The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT; Special Assistant for Public Affairs to the director of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health; and communications director for the research, education, and economics mission area of US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Rick has been active in science writing throughout his career. He was an elected member of the boards of both the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and the National Association of Science Writers, and president of the DC Science Writers Association. He serves on the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Public Interfaces in the Life Sciences, and previously served on the National Academy of Engineering committee on Developing Effective Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering. Rick is an amateur naturalist, and has done graduate work in insect systematics.

Bruce V. Lewenstein

Bruce V. Lewenstein is Professor of Science Communication in the Departments of Communication and of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA. He works primarily on the history of public communication of science, with excursions into other areas of science communication (such as informal science education). Bruce has also been active in international activities that contribute to education and research on public communication of science and technology, especially in the developing world. In general, he tries to document the ways that public communication of science is fundamental to the process of producing reliable knowledge about the natural world. From 1998 to 2003, Lewenstein was editor of the journal Public Understanding of Science. He was co-chair of a U.S. National Research Council study, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits (2009). In 2012, he was the first Presidential Fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (Philadelphia), where he worked on issues of public engagement. He was elected a Fellow of the AAAS in 2002, and in 2011 served as chair of the AAAS’s section on societal implications of science and engineering.

Stephen Palacios

Stephen Palacios is an executive vice president with the innovation consulting firm, Added Value Cheskin. He leads the company’s Hispanic practice, directing strategy on client engagements relating to new market assessment, product innovation, and communication strategy. Clients include Pepsi, Wells Fargo, Time Warner Inc., AstraZeneca. He is a leading expert in the U.S. Hispanic market having helped guide strategy for organizations such as Blue Cross Blue Shield (various regions) Meredith Corporation and the National Council of La Raza. Palacios holds a B.A. from Saint Joseph's University (PA), where he was Valedictorian and an M.A. from American University, where he was awarded a Fellowship. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has been featured in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review and AdAge, and has been featured on ABC’s Nightline and PBS’s Latino market documentary, Brown is the New Green.

Tami C. Schilling

Ms. Schilling is Director of Technology Communications at Monsanto. Tami leads a team that communicates the company’s application of crop science and technology to address societal needs with customers, scientists, industry leaders, employees and others. Throughout her career, she has focused on agriculture’s role in conservation, biotechnology and sustainability, and participated on several product launch teams and seed growth efforts. Starting with Monsanto in 1990, Tami was a sales representative in Michigan, served as a conservation tillage specialist across Illinois and Missouri, served as Customer Operations Manager, Sales Manager, and managed Corporate, State and Local Communications. Most recently she led Monsanto’s Strategic Communications and Outreach. This focused on the value and importance of dialogue with the many stakeholders created through global “Essential Conversations” around agricultural innovation and technology. Tami serves on the University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Consumer Economics and Sciences Advisory Council, National Association of Farmer Broadcasting Foundation Board, and Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation Board. She received her degree in agricultural communications from the University of Illinois.

Keegan Sawyer

Dr. Keegan Sawyer is a Senior Program Officer of the Board on Life Sciences at the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Her work addresses a wide range of research, policy, and communication questions across the broad spectrum of life science disciplines. She has special interest in the interplay of environmental conditions and human health, ecosystem health, and public engagement in science. Dr. Sawyer is Director of the National Academies' Standing Committee on Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions. She also served as the Project Director for the Roundtable on Public Interfaces of the Life Sciences and the Committee on Gene Drives Research in Non-Human Organisms: Recommendations for Responsible Conduct. She is committed to fostering discussions about research infrastructure, collaborative environments, and public engagement in science to support a healthier people and planet. Dr. Sawyer holds a B.S. in environmental biology from University of California Davis and an M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental sciences and engineering from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health.

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Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary

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