UNO science educator Dinah Maygarden leads a boat tour of the state's coastal wetlands.

The University of New Orleans will host Louisiana Sea Grant's third SciComm Summit Nov. 14-15. The two-day science communication event – organized by graduate students, for graduate students – is designed to enhance research communication skills. 

Sessions will focus on effective mentorship, grant writing, fellowship applications, communicating through social media, community engagement and co-production, science and art, pitching a story to the media, approaching policy makers, discussing controversial topics, working with interpretative centers, improvisation, data visualization and science storytelling.

Seventy-three graduate students from universities around the state, including 11 students from UNO, will participate. Disciplines represented range from engineering, chemistry and environmental sciences to public health, urban forestry and psychology. Thirty-six speakers from 25 organizations will engage with the students. UNO biology doctoral student Amanda Kirkland, who is a 2024 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, will share her fellowship experience with attendees.  

The Louisiana SciComm Summit is the culmination of a years-long groundswell movement. What began as a handful of Louisiana graduate students grew into a state-wide conference. While science communication is often a subject mentioned at academic conferences, it is seldom a focal point. Given the multitude of digital platforms and a greater interest in outreach from funding agencies, students are eager to learn more about how to engage the public in their research.

“The catalyst for these workshops since 2020 was a need expressed by many graduate students,” said Vanessa van Heerden, Louisiana Sea Grant engagement specialist. “While graduate students learn to communicate to other scientists, they often don’t receive training on how to communicate with the public or other audiences. Many have expressed a desire to get better at this, and we wanted to help them in this pursuit.

“SciComm Summit helps develop and practice strategies for communicating their research in a clear, concise manner. The topics and speakers were all identified by the graduate student planning committee. The planning committee was really the engine behind this effort, we just helped get them going,” van Heerden said.

Since its establishment in 1968, Louisiana Sea Grant (www.laseagrant.org) has worked to promote stewardship of the state’s coastal resources through a combination of research, education and outreach programs critical to the cultural, economic and environmental health of Louisiana’s coastal zone.