A Communicating Science workshop just for physical sciences grad students: ComSciCon’19

This is a guest post by the organizers of ComSciCon, the Communicating Science workshop series for graduate students. ComSciCon is a not-for-profit organization founded and operated by authors of Astrobites, Chembites, Oceanbites, and other early career scientists. This is cross-posted from Astrobites.

logo American Institute of Physics and ComSciConHow could advances in quantum computing change the lives of the average person? How can universities engage more future scientists from underrepresented communities in research fields like particle physics? And why should taxpayers be interested in investing in researching planetesimals in the Kuiper Belt?

Physical scientists face unique questions and challenges in communicating about their science with their peers, with students, with policymakers, and with the general public. At ComSciCon, we believe the best way to overcome these challenges is to empower early career scientists – graduate students – to be ambassadors for their field; excellent communicators embedded in communities everywhere who are passionate about their work and its importance in society.

Thousands of graduate students from all STEM fields across the US and Canada have joined us for events in our Communicating Science workshop series since our first program in 2013. But for the first time, this September, we’re convening a conference of graduate students specifically in the physical sciences to tackle the biggest questions and challenges in communicating complex and technical concepts in physics, astronomy, optics, and other physical sciences to diverse audiences… and we want you to come!

Graduate students: Apply now for the first ComSciCon-AIP event taking place in College Park, Maryland at the American Center for Physics on September 23rd and 24th of 2019. Operated in association with the American Institute of Physics, the federation of professional societies of the physical sciences representing more than 120,000 scientists, ComSciCon-AIP will be a powerful opportunity for graduate students from throughout the physical sciences to meet, form networks and collaborations, develop skills, and produce original new work in science communication.

ComSciCon-AIP 2019 will focus on the physical sciences and the program will include panels on media engagement, policymaking, storytelling, and opportunities to network and workshop science communication pieces.

And the best part is: it’s absolutely free. There is no registration fee for accepted applicants and there is travel support available to fund your travel and accommodations in College Park.

American Center for Physics campus in Maryland

To apply, simply visit the ComSciCon-AIP web application page and fill out our short application form.

This event is funded in part by a grant from the Venture Partnership Fund, American Institute of Physics, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD: www.aip.org.

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Laura Mast

Laura Mast

I'm a PhD student in environmental engineering at Georgia Tech. Broadly, I study resource recovery: how we can look at waste products as untapped mines of valuable materials. Specifically, I develop methods to extract rare earth elements (required for everything cool/high tech/green we've made in the last 20 years, like LED screens, batteries, permanent magnets) from coal fly ash- a byproduct from burning coal for electricity. In my spare time, I run a start up called Populy, which provides electronic judging for STEM competitions, swing dance, and hang out with my dog.

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