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Applying collaboration & arts practices to help scientists and others learn to tell their stories and connect across differences
At Virginia Tech's Center for Communicating Science, we create and support experiences for scientists, engineers, scholars, and health professionals to build muscles of connection, communication, and collaboration. What sets us apart from other approaches and makes our work effective is that we use the powerful tools of the arts, including embodied learning, deep listening, improvisation, role play, and storytelling.
We believe in the power of play, and we believe that we learn through experience and by reflecting on our experiences.
We aim to help researchers make their communication more personal, direct, spontaneous, and responsive.
Build trust and learn through connection and engagement. Share stories, values, and emotions.
Drop your field-specific jargon; avoid acronyms; find a language in common with your audience.
Learn relaxation and rehearsal techniques to build confidence in your ability to explain your research.
Who is your audience? What do they need? What can you learn from them? How do you connect?
What's happening at the center?
Registration for the Nutshell Games Opens September 9!
When we dreamed up the Nutshell Games back in 2016 (thank you, Lesley Yorke!), 30 courageous graduate students stepped up the challenge of explaining their research in 90-second research talks to a public audience. We did not anticipate that in 2024 we’d be opening registration for the ninth such event and that nearly 250 students would have shared their work with the world in this way. But it’s fun! – for both the audience and the presenters. And here we are: Registration for the 2024 Nutshell Games opens September 9! If you're a graduate student interested in competing, click this link to register.
September 19 — Cookies and Cider Social with the Center for Communicating Science: Bring your favorite musical instrument to play, a joke to tell, a great story to share, or just your cookie- or community-hungry self! You'll get to meet our two wonderful new faculty members, Brittney Harris and Jon Catherwood-Ginn, our two new graduate assistants, Padmaja Mandadi and Bria Weisz, and lots of old friends. We'll be on the porch and lawn of the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment (230 Grove Lane) from 5 to 6:30 p.m., so drop on by!
September 26 — Flip the Fair 2024, Melrose Branch Public Library in Roanoke, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Share your research with 5th graders from 6 local elementary schools, who will be judges for this "flipped science fair" in which graduate students make posters and kids act as judges. You'll have the opportunity to interact with approximately 360 students and 40 teachers & administrators. Details and signup form links available on our Events page. Contact Amanda Hensley (amandaah@vt.edu) with questions. Presenters and volunteers needed!
September 26 — Science on Tap, Rising Silo Brewery, 5:30 p.m. "Be the Ocean: Getting Hermit Crabs to Land." Please join us to learn about the life cycle, ecology, and conservation of land hermit crabs with Mary Akers, the only land hermit crab breeder in the United States. She'll bring some crabs for us to meet, tell us about her breeding program, and introduce the crab conservation organization she founded. Come get crabby with us!
September 27 — "How to Present Research to a Wider Audience for Greater Impact,” a panel discussion hosted by Times Higher Education and featuring Center for Communicating Science director Patty Raun along with Denise Baden, Professor of Sustainable Business at the University of Southampton, and Gregory Goldsmith, Associate Professor of Biology and Associate Dean for Research and Development at Chapman University. Online event, 11 a.m. Register at this link.
November 2 — The Nutshell Games! Save the date. If you're a Virginia Tech graduate student, you'll want to sign up to speak at this fun and fast-paced research presentation competition. And everyone else — you'll want to be in the audience! Sign up information coming soon. The event will be held in conjunction with Virginia Tech's Science Festival and will take place at the Moss Arts Center at 4:30 p.m.
You can read all about the Center for Communicating Science on our newsletter page. Here's some of what we've been up to recently:
8/22/2024 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Sally Walker and Jason Pall: Growing Glade Road Growing)
7/25/2024 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Connor Hughes: What makes a Home? Environmental modeling techniques help us understand where threatened species live)
7/23/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp Black Engineering Excellence at Virginia Tech (BEEVT) workshops
7/22/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp Black Engineering Excellence at Virginia Tech (BEEVT) workshops
7/19/2024 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research & Development in Semiconductors (UPWARDS) summer camp workshops
7/18/2024 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research & Development in Semiconductors (UPWARDS) summer camp workshops
7/17/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp Black Engineering Excellence at Virginia Tech (BEEVT) workshops
7/16/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp Black Engineering Excellence at Virginia Tech (BEEVT) workshops
7/10/2024 Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Global Teaching Scholars: Preparing Together for the Future of Higher Education (Communicating Your Research: Introduction to Applied Improvisation for Scientists workshop)
7/9/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp Computers and Technology at Virginia Tech (C-Tech^2) workshops
7/8/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp Computers and Technology at Virginia Tech (C-Tech^2) workshops
7/8/2024 Chemistry department's National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduate students program (REU), Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER), communicating science workshop
7/8/2024 Fralin Life Sciences Institute's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program, communicating science workshop
7/8/2024 2024 International Conference on Plant Pathogenetic Bacteria and Biocontrol (Community Kaleidoscope workshop)
7/3/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp Computers and Technology at Virginia Tech (C-Tech^2) workshops
7/2/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp Computers and Technology at Virginia Tech (C-Tech^2) workshops
6/27/2024 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Amy Hagen: Reading the rocks: What rocks tell us about the history of the Earth, in the NRV and beyond!)
6/26/2024 Applied Theatre Improvisation: Collaboration, Confidence, and Creativity (workshop for Black College Institute students)
6/24/2024 Chemistry department's National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduate students program (REU), Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER), communicating science workshop
6/24/2024 Fralin Life Sciences Institute's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program, communicating science workshop
6/22/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp staff workshops
6/19/2024 Applied Theatre Improvisation: Collaboration, Confidence, and Creativity (workshop for Black College Institute students)
6/17/2024 Chemistry department's National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduate students program (REU), Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER), communicating science workshop
6/15/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp staff workshops
6/14/2024 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer camp staff workshops
6/10/2024 Fralin Life Sciences Institute's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program, communicating science workshop
6/4/2024-6/5/2024 2-day communicating science intensive for graduate students at Rutgers University’s Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, part of a National Science Foundation Research Training program
5/12/2024 Communicating Science Case Competition, Egerton University, Kenya
2/16/2024-5/12/2024 Agricultural Productivity Enhancement and Communicating Science Project, a collaborative venture including the Center for Communicating Science (CCS), Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Global Program, and Egerton University in Kenya
04/25/2024 — Science on Tap (Emily Ellis: What the satellites see: Observing rivers from space)
03/28/2024 — Science on Tap (The Art, Science, and Politics of Breastfeeding, with a panel of breastfeeding experts)
03/21/24 "Distilling Your Message: Brief and Compelling Interactions with the People You Need to Talk to," a communicating science workshop for graduate student researchers in Virginia Tech's Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health program; biomedical engineering; the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; and others.
03/20/24 "Dear Science" pilot project with Carlos Evia's School of Communication senior seminar in science communication.
03/12/2024 "Communicating Science Beyond Posters, Pamphlets, and Videos," a workshop facilitated by CCS director Patty Raun for members of the Science, Health and Data Communications Research Centre at Bournemouth University in England.
03/11/2024 “The Art of Connecting Across Difference: Improvisation for Research Communication,” a workshop facilitated by CCS director Patty Raun for members of the Science, Health and Data Communications Research Centre at Bournemouth University in England.
03/06/2024 “Telling Your Research Story,” a communicating science workshop for researchers at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Facilitated by CCS director Patty Raun, the workshop is being hosted by Aberystwyth’s Dialogue Center.
03/01/2024 "Distilling Your Message," workshop for Virginia Tech's International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry's Global Women Breakfast.
1/26/2024 - 3/8/2024 "Collaborating and Connecting Across Differences," a 7-part series for faculty at California State University Northridge.
2/26/2024 "Learning to Listen and Listening to Learn: An Experiential Workshop in Understanding," a professional development workshop for graduate students in the Department of History.
2/24/2024 "Connecting Across Differences: Learning to Listen and Listening to Learn," a communication workshop for the 9th Annual Uplifting Black Men Conference
2/22/2024 Science on Tap (Matthew Reiss of Gnomestead Farm: Mushroom Cultivation in the New River Valley)
2/16/2024 Agricultural Sscience Communication Symposium and APECS Project Launch (a collaborative project with the Center for Communicating Science, CALS Global Program, and Egerton University in Kenya)
2/8/2024 Communicating with Public Audiences (communicating science workshop for the Neuroscience of Drug Addiction undergraduate course, School of Neuroscience)
2/8/2024 Distilling Your Message (communicating science workshop for the graduate-level microbial physiology course in the Department of Biosciences)
1/25/2024 Science on Tap (Jason Rutledge and Karen Snape: Hoofin' around: Keeping forestry sustainable with animal power and restorative practices)
1/9/2024 Learning to Listen and Listening to Learn: An Experiential Workshop in Understanding (communicating science workshop for graduate students at the Northeastern Weed Science Society (NEWSS) meeting , Boston, January 7-11)
1/9/2024 Connecting Across Difference: Building Skills for Communicating with the Public (communicating science workshop for the Northeastern Weed Science Society (NEWSS) meeting , Boston, January 7-11)
Center for Communicating Science
230 Grove Lane
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(Campus mail code: 0555)
Director Patty Raun
praun@vt.edu
Associate Director Carrie Kroehler
cjkroehl@vt.edu