Career Development
Come join an interactive workshop co-led by BASF, where facilitators will discuss concrete ways to connect with audiences of varied backgrounds and to translate scientific research for them. They will use case studies and video clips to illustrate effective strategies for identifying bridging points, distilling out unnecessary detail, explaining through metaphors, and engaging through emotion.
The ultimate impact of our scientific work, beyond our immediate research environment, is highly influenced by our ability to communicate its findings and significance to non-expert audiences. Both in academia and industry, conveying complex ideas to diverse and often mixed audiences - of scientists, students, administrators, managers, and business teams, for example - is critical to the progress of new discoveries and to organizational productivity. In this interactive workshop co-led by BASF, facilitators will discuss concrete ways to connect with audiences of varied backgrounds and to translate research for them. They will use case studies and video clips to illustrate effective strategies for identifying bridging points, distilling out unnecessary detail, explaining through metaphors, and engaging through emotion. Representatives from BASF will highlight a variety of real-world examples of communication challenges and opportunities from their own experiences in industrial R&D. Participants will also be able to engage in small group exercises, led by the BASF reps, to workshop their own short research pitches tailored to non-expert groups.
This workshop is sponsored by the BASF California Research Alliance (CARA) annual meeting at UCSB. Scott Shell (Chemical Engineering, UCSB) will lead the program with workshop facilitators from BASF.
About CARA: CARA - California Research Alliance by BASF brings together researchers from widely varied science and engineering disciplines at many California universities to work shoulder-to-shoulder with their BASF counterparts in order to make new materials with unprecedented precision to bring about a revolution in the functionality and performance of materials as well as develop methods and create influencing tools for tailoring the interaction between chemicals and biological systems.
Monday, April 23rd
12:20-1:50pm, Loma Pelona Center 1100
*Pizza lunch provided*