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Center for Communicating Science - teal and orange logo
Center for Communicating Science - teal and orange logo
Applying collaboration & arts practices to help scientists and others learn to tell their stories and connect across differences:
35,000 people impacted through our courses, workshops, presentations, and outreach.
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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.
Communicating Science Mission Words: Personal
Build trust and learn through connection and engagement. Share stories, values, and emotions.
Communicating Science Mission Words: Direct
Drop your field-specific jargon; avoid acronyms; find a language in common with your audience.
Communicating Science Mission Words: Spontaneous
Learn relaxation and rehearsal techniques to build confidence in your ability to explain your research.
Communicating Science Mission Words: Responsive
Who is your audience? What do they need? What can you learn from them? How do you connect?
What's happening at the center?
July 31, 2025: Pandemic Science in a Nutshell Games: A Night of Curiosity, Connection, and Community
2025 Pandemic Science in a Nutshell Games Flyer
July 31 at 5:00 PM | Boeing Auditorium - Virginia Tech Academic Building One, 3625 Potomac Ave., Alexandria, VA 22305
Ever wonder how scientists see a pandemic coming—before the rest of us do?
On Thursday, July 31, we found out — together. In the Boeing Auditorium of Virginia Tech’s beautiful Academic Building One in Alexandria, VA, researchers took the stage to share their work in ninety seconds or less. Each talk offered a glimpse into the worlds of pandemic preparedness, prediction, and prevention — and into the hearts and minds of the scientists behind the research.
Hosted by the National Science Foundation’s COMPASS Center and Virginia Tech’s Center for Communicating Science, this fast-paced, family-friendly evening invited our local community to explore how science and society connect through storytelling, creativity, and curiosity. After, guests enjoyed a lively reception and the chance to meet speakers and neighbors alike.
August 28 — Science on Tap, Rising Silo Brewery, 5:30 p.m. at Rising Silo Brewery. Join us to learn from Alasdair Cohen, from Virginia Tech's Department of Population Health Sciences, about the links between our drinking water and our health. Science on Tap is free and open to the public.
September 25 — Flip the Fair, a flipped science fair at which graduate students present science fair posters and fifth grade children from Roanoke's public schools act as judges. Held at the Melrose branch of the Roanoke Public Library System, this event will bring 450 young scientists to interact with Virginia Tech science trainees. Watch for participant registration information!
October 23 — Nutshell Games, 5:30 p.m., Virginia Tech's Center for the Arts. In this fun, fast-paced, family friendly event, graduate student researchers share their work with the community in just 90 seconds each. Watch for participant registration information!
You can read about these events on our events page, and, for a more in-depth view at some of the Center for Communicating Science's latest activities, read our newsletter.
Here's some of what we've been up to recently:
7/31/2025 Pandemic Science in a Nutshell Games, Alexandria, Virginia
7/24/2025 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Prescott Vayda: How do we place early animal fossils on the tree of life?)
7/22/2025 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program: Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER) workshop
7/16/2025 Communicating Science Series workshop for COMPASS Center (Community Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to Societies) faculty
7/15/2025 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program: Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER) workshop
7/14/2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows workshop
7/9/2025 Communicating Science Series workshop for COMPASS Center (Community Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to Societies) faculty
7/8/2025 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program: Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER) workshop
7/2/2025 Communicating Science Series workshop for COMPASS Center (Community Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to Societies) faculty
7/1/2025 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program: Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER) workshop
6/26/2025 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Kevin Kochersberger: From the Wright Brothers to Advanced Air Mobility: 122 Years of Flight)
6/25/2025 Communicating Science Series workshop for COMPASS Center (Community Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to Societies) faculty
6/24/2025 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program: Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER) workshop
6/23/2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows workshop
6/21/2025 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer program staff workshop
6/18/2025 Communicating Science Series workshop for COMPASS Center (Community Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to Societies) faculty
6/17/2025 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program: Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER) workshop
6/14/2025 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer program staff workshop
6/13/2025 Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity summer program staff workshop
6/11/2025 Communicating Science Series workshop for COMPASS Center (Community Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to Societies) faculty
6/10/2025 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program: Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER) workshop
6/9/2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows workshop
6/3/2025 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program: Students Transforming Energy and Environmental Research (STEER) workshop
5/19/2025 Whole Health Consortium 's "Whole Health, Whole Communities" symposium, Roanoke, Virginia (World Cafe facilitation)
5/13/2025 Communicating science faculty intensive
5/7/2025 Communicating science all-conference workshop, Southeastern Sustainability Directors Network annual meeting, Richmond, Virginia
4/24/2025 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Karyn Schy, Briann Brown, Jack Browning, Alana Hutchinson, and Alexis Mann: Neuroscience Night)
4/14/2025 "Distilling Your Message for Teaching and Outreach: Brief and Compelling Interactions with the People You Need to Talk to," an online CETL/CIRTL/TLOS workshop
4/3/2025 "Science on Tap New River Valley: A Successful Outreach Program Since 2017," poster presentation at Science Talk '25, Maria DeNunzio and Amy Hagen
3/27/2025 "Building a Communicating Science Ecosystem at a Land Grant University: Sharing Lessons." Panel discussion at Science Talk '25
3/27/2025 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Brogan Holcombe: Fitbits for black bears in Virginia?)
3/24/2025 "Improv Skills for Science Communicators." Workshop at Science Talk '25 facilitated by Jon Catherwood-Ginn, online format.
3/5/2025 "Picture a Scientist" and "Reel Talk" panel discussion with Virginia Tech faculty and students about the status of women in the STEM professions
3/4/2025 The Faculty Nutshell Talks!
3/3/2025 Faculty Nutshell Talks preparatory workshop, Part 2
2/28/2025 Fralin Fridays, hosted by the Center for Communicating Science
2/27/2025 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Noel Naughton: How does an octopus control its arms?)
2/14/2025 Tailor Your Message to Your Audience (workshop for Science Outreach course)
2/7/2025 Cultivating Science Communicator Identities (ICAT Playdate)
2/4/2025 The Art of Communicating Science (Virginia Cooperative Extension winter conference workshop)
1/31/2025 Faculty Nutshell Talks preparatory workshop
1/23 Science on Tap, New River Valley (Maria DeNunzio: Food for Thought: How Retail Spaces Shape Our Choices and the Planet)
1/23/2025 Learning to Listen and Listening to Learn (workshop for honors course on developing assistive technologies)
Center for Communicating Science - teal and orange logo
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