Did You Know: Rice University has launched a new center for science communication called SCOPE?

Did you know there is a growing collection of efforts around the world to train scientists to engage with broader publics with their science? One of the newest additions that launched this past summer is the Center for Science Communication and Public Engagement – also called SCOPE– at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

When we at the Civic Science Media Lab discovered this center, we added it to our growing archive, and had the following questions:

1. Through its offerings, what set of skills in science communication will the center specialize in? Why? Science communication has diverse skillsets (speaking, social media, inclusive scicomm, writing, visual communication, ethics) and no one workshop, course or center can cover them all. 
2. How will the Center track the impact of all its training?
3. Better yet (and you know this was coming), how does SCOPE define impact?  Is there a specific outcome they are hoping to achieve through providing the training to their students, faculty and staff?

So we did some digging to get a little insight into some of our initial curiosities.

The SCOPE Center aims to train their STEM students to effectively communicate to broader audiences so they can move with the fast-paced changes in society as AI and social media are on the rise. This isn’t just a certificate program though. As inaugural director Dr. Scott Solomon puts it in their announcement, “The SCOPE Center is for everyone. We’re doing events and workshops and activities for the campus community.. And also for the broader community, including folks in Houston and beyond.”

So this is a great plan and opportunity, but why does this matter? At the minimum, scientists should ideally receive training to communicate their research to other researchers. Yes that’s important, and is essential to train academics to converse with other academics. Buuut how about communicating and engaging the broader publics? One can even argue that it’s even more important. SCOPE and many other training initiatives, like these, are creating opportunities for scientists to do just that. Ultimately, training scientists to step outside their labs to bidirectionally engage broader audiences is an important element of building and maintaining trust in science.

Did you know about SCOPE at Rice University? Well, now you know!

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Jacinda Taggett

Jacinda is a neuroscience-trained science writer and journalist, editor-in-chief of a science publication and founder of a neuroscience platform with 1,000+ monthly readers. She is currently working toward a Master of Science in science communication at Stony Brook University.