About Us

Leadership

Diverse representation from the SCTN community is important on our leadership team. If you are interested in getting involved with the SCTN at the leadership level (we have room for low- to high-commitment roles), please contact us at SciCommTrainersNetwork@gmail.com.


Current members of the Working Board are:

Dr. Jac Goldstein (she/her) is the Instructional Designer for the MIT School of Engineering Communication Lab, where she trains researchers in technical communication and peer-coaching best practices. She is particularly interested in using inclusive communication to foster scientific understanding and identity in higher education. She is also a founder of SciCommBites, a research summary blog dedicated to digesting the latest research on science communication.

Jessica Rohde is a PhD Candidate developing monitoring and evaluation tools to improve science communication and enhance its benefits to society. She primarily uses qualitative, realist, action research, with a side of quantitative analysis and data vizualization. She has ten years experience leading community engagement for research organizations in which I applied a range of media on various platforms to cultivate cross-sector collaboration and include more diverse publics in the process of science.

Dr. Virginia Schutte (she/her) is an award-winning storyteller, consultant, and trainer who is unstoppably and loudly enthusiastic about how science makes life better. Since earning her Ecology Ph.D. in 2014, she has worked to diversify how people interact with science online. She has created and led digital engagement programs, designed communications strategies, and trained scientists to identify and meet their communications goals.

Dr. Marissa Weiss (she/her) is a science communication trainer, communicator, and researcher. She is currently a Climate Fellow at the USDA. She is a co-author of the "rainbow figure" for inclusive scicomm. She was a 2010 AAAS Mass Media Fellow, and a co-founder of the inaugural scicomm class for grad students and postdocs at Cornell University in 2007.

History

Initial work to convene the field to form a network was led by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, COMPASS, the Kavli Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative at events in 2018 and 2019. The convenings were designed and facilitated by Converge, a group that supports the formation of collaborative networks of individuals and organizations for social and environmental impact. At the 2019 Summit, which officially launched the SciComm Trainers Network, the 40 participants discussed and refined the SCTN's purpose and principles. An inaugural working group also agreed to shepherd the emerging Network through its first post-launch year.

The SCTN was launched with seed funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Kavli Foundation.