Summer at the Museum, Science Communicator Interviews and more!

It's official: I am in North Carolina at the Nature Research Center of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences for the summer! My internship, which is tied into my curriculum as a Ph.D. student at the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication, involves anything and everything science communication. I am working for David Kroll, Director of Science Communications at the Nature Research Center, and will be helping writing museum science news, collecting material for the "Science News: Your Views" exhibit at the museum, and more!

When you arrive at the Nature Research Center, cross the first floor and take some time to explore the Science News, Your Views exhibit.

We update this exhibit weekly with excerpts from our favorite science stories from newspaper, radio, and even blogs.

In order to receive Ph.D. curriculum credit for my internship, I will also be conducting several research studies this summer, with resources provided by LSU as well as David Kroll at the museum. The first study involves qualitative elite interviews with science communicators throughout the Raleigh-Durham area. I am looking to conduct interviews with science and/or environmental science PR practitioners, journalists and bloggers - all science areas welcome! I am interested in learning from science communication experts how they go about connecting with non-specialist audiences. If you are interested in being interviewed, please contact me at pbrow11@tigers.lsu.edu, @FromTheLabBench or 317.201.0092! I offer a Starbucks gift card or other small reward for your time.

The interviews are informal, will probably last about 1 hour, and can be held either in a conference room provided on the 4th floor of the Nature Research Center downtown Raleigh or in your (science communicator) office space, quiet coffee shop corner, or other relatively quiet space. I need interviewees for June, July and August, so please let me know if you are interested! Your participation will further our understanding of how science communicators engage public audiences, and your responses will be kept anonymous for publication purposes.

What else? Pictures of course!