First meeting of the semester – 9/25/18 recap

We had an awesome kickoff meeting yesterday! We had great turnout, and made some plans for the rest of the semester. A few items: We decided to move to a monthly meeting format. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 23rd. We will continue to do our postcard sessions on alternating Tuesdays. Great news on …

Engaging undergrads in SciComm found to have big benefits

Universities nation-wide are taking steps to prepare undergraduates to be better science communicators.

Congressional Visits Day, Part 2: Visits on the Hill

Part two of a post about a member's visit to DC to lobby Congressional staffers to increase federal science funding.

Congressional Visits Day, Part 1: Preparation and Training

A member of Austin Science Advocates went to DC to lobby Congressional representatives to increase federal science funding. Here she summarizes what she learned during her preparation.

How to Deal with Reluctant Audiences, Part 4: Halting the Spread of False Information.

In this last post of our blog series, we discuss solutions for major issues in the media, and we offer advice on stopping the spread of fake news and false information.

How to Deal with Reluctant Audiences, Part 3: The Rise of Fake News and Misinformation

Fake news and sloppy journalism are threats to both the scientific community, and the world at large. In this blog post, we discuss how these sources of false information arise and why they feel so prevalent right now.

How to Deal with Reluctant Audiences, Part 2: Having Empathetic Conversations

Talking across the political divide requires some understanding of human psychology and a lot of respect and empathy. Here we provide some techniques to help you have conversations with people who oppose your viewpoint.

How to Deal with Reluctant Audiences, Part 1: Why More Information Isn’t Enough

Why do people believe false information? Why is it so hard to convince them otherwise? We try to explain these phenomena.

The Journey of the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act Demonstrates Conflicting Opinions on the Role of Government-Funded Basic Research

Shortly before President Obama left office he signed into law S.3084, the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA), ending a multi-year partisan battle between House and Senate proposals.  The bill touches on many issues important to preserving and improving the research enterprise of the United States (U.S.), including provisions to maximize basic research, reduce regulatory …

A Short History of National Science Foundation Funding

Before the NSF was founded in 1950 under the National Science Foundation Act, the US Department of Defense (DOD) funded much of the nation’s scientific research. In fact, the first incarnation of the Internet was created with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The National Science Foundation (NSF) gave academics a voice …