Historical Context

In 1998, the Space Science Laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., chartered a working group to identify the most compelling questions still to be answered by the academic science and technology communications research community and to compile examples of best practices in science and technology communications programs. The laboratory planned to use the committees findings to determine high-priority communication research areas for future funding and to apply lessons learned from other organizations to improve its own communications programs.

The Research Roadmap for Communicating Science and Technology in the 21st Century working group (dubbed the R2 Group) included science communicators, communications researchers, journalists, and scientists. The panel met eight times over the next three years. Each meeting was hosted by a different research organization.

Science communicators, journalists, and researchers from government laboratories, universities, newspapers, foundations, non-profit organizations, public relations firms, and museums, were invited to make presentations to the committee. The meetings were open to journalists and the public.

The R2 Group also used part of its NASA Marshall funding to sponsor original research, including a comprehensive review of the science and health communication research literature, a study of U.S. public attitudes toward biotechnology and their implications for improving science communications, a review of communications programs conducted by federal research organizations, and a study of how public information officers broker information exchange between scientists and journalists.

The R2 Groups major findings and recommendations were published in a special issue of the research journal Science Communication (Vol. 23, No. 2, Dec. 2001, pp. 194-211).

With the research agenda portion of its mission complete, the R2 Group had planned to host a major peer-reviewed conference to feature model science and technology communications programs. Funding constraints at NASA Marshall, however, forced postponement until 2001, when the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science and NIST agreed to co-sponsor the conference. The steering committee for the conference included many members from the R2 Group, as well as new members selected to ensure that the committee could competently review proposals from a wide variety of institutions and ensure that results from the conference would be effectively disseminated to DOE national laboratories.

Panel and conference leadership

*+ Deborah Blum, University of Wisconsin
*+ Rick Borchelt, The Whitehead Institute (R2 chair)
+Joe Culver, National Energy Technology Lab
* +Lynne Friedmann, Friedmann Communications
* Martin E. Glicksman, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst.
*+Earle M. Holland, Ohio State Univ. (Conf. co-chair)
* John Horack, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
+Greg Koller, Pacific Northwest National Lab
+Robert Logan, Missouri School of Journalism
* Paul Lowenberg, Lowenberg Communications
* Charles McGruder III, Western Kentucky Univ.
*+ Jon Miller, Northwestern University Med. Sch.
+Mary Miller, Exploratorium
*+ Gail Porter, NIST
+Joann Rodgers, Johns Hopkins Med. Inst. (Conf. co-chair)
*+ Carol L. Rogers, University of Maryland
+Diana Steele, committee science writer
* Debbie Treise, University of Florida
*+ Barbara Valentino, Evolving Communications
* Mike Weigold, University of Florida
* Greg Wilson, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
*+ Kris Wilson, University of Texas at Austin

* R2 panel member
+Conference steering committee

Return to NASW homepage.

Return to NASW Members' Lobby.

Return to ScienceWriters Newsletter homepage.