WHY SCICOMM?
We distinguish between scientific communication and science communication (scicomm). Scientific communication is science knowledge presented and exchanged among scientists, typically in academic, regulatory, or industrial settings. Scicomm is the exchange, use, and even co-production of science knowledge among scientists and engaged stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, civilians, etc.). Our RCN focuses on scicomm because the vast majority of UBE students do not pursue academic careers, yet should be able to use their skills to communicate science in numerous professional and civic settings. Furthermore, scicomm integrates diverse facets of UBE and facilitates important impacts of biology beyond academia (see below). UBE+scicomm facilitates and accounts for three important domains of UBE impact: (1) Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice elements of teaching and public engagement; (2) enhancing science teaching and learning within and beyond academia; (3) repairing public trust in and use of science. In our UBE courses, students practice various modes and methods of scicomm. Pictured here are students practicing social media and photography (a-b), learning to use visual scicomm to teach (c), designing workshops for other students (d), writing op-eds (e), designing posters to address local problems (f), and presenting a department-wide poster session (g).