SCOPE (Science Communication Online Programme) is an introduction to effective science communication designed for STEM graduate students. This NSF-funded resource is free and created for those who don’t have access to live, in-person science communication training.
Sign up to participate in the next offering of SCOPE on the registration page.
SCOPE was created by a team of expert science communicators and educators, who each designed one of the modules within the course. The overall course was envisioned and developed by Michelle Paulsen and is hosted by Byron Stewart from Northwestern’s Research Communication Training Program (RCTP).
SCOPE was developed as part of the IDEAS (Integrated Data-Driven Discovery in Earth and Astrophysical Sciences) program. IDEAS is a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program at Northwestern University supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 1450006.
If your university is interested in administering this course, please contact us at SCOPE@northwestern.edu
Curriculum Developers:
Sadie Witkowski – Introductory Materials and Project Coordinator
Kevin Grazier – Audience Awareness and Analysis
Mónica Feliú-Mójer – Speaking and Writing Without Jargon
Jenny Cutraro – From the Lab to the Layperson
Barbara Shwom – Taking a Rhetorical Approach
Paula Croxson – Scientific Storytelling
Janet Iwasa, Shraddha Nayak, and Grace Hsu – Communicating Visually
Carolyn Hall – Skillful Presentations and Stage Presence
The course is asynchronous with recorded videos, discussion boards, peer-feedback, and reading assignments. Each week of the program a new module opens, requiring approximately 2 hours to complete.
Participants in this course will:
- Practice creating data visualization based on graphic design principles
- Discuss the importance of forming a clear rhetorical argument and persuasive story in writing or speech
- Learn to identify their audience and adapt their research story to suit that group
- Discover how science journalism, university press office, and researchers fit different roles in science communication
- Develop their speaking and presentation skills
- View the complete course syllabus
- View the course evaluation report from our external evaluators.
Upon completion of all program activities, students receive a LinkedIn badge to recognize their training and hard work.
Please send any questions to SCOPE@northwestern.edu
We’d like to recognize and thank the science communication professionals who provided feedback on the course:
Kimberly McCoy (NPR Scicommers – Freelance Writer & NPR Scicommers Coordinator)
Thomas Hayden (Standford University – Journalist and Professor)
Geoff Hunt (National Academy of Sciences – Director, LabX)
JoAnna Klein (Independent – Freelance Science Journalist)
Nicole Lee (NC State University – Assistant Professor)
Joe Palca (National Public Radio – Science Correspondent)
Daniel Serrano (University of Maryland – Faculty Specialist)
Jesse Shanahan (University of California, San Diego – Graduate Student and Science Communicator)
Matt Shipman (North Carolina State University – Research Communications Lead)
Congratulations to everyone who has completed SCOPE:
Spring 2023
Srivastava Apeksha (Indian Institute of Technology IIT Gandhinagar)
Scannell Brittney (Stonybrook)
Carovillano Christy (University of Maine)
Kling Karina (University of Chicago)
Tschang Monica (University of Washington)
More Shravani (University of Bonn)
Solar Rosamaria (Universidad de Chile)
Beary (Gonzalez) Maria Amalia (Cornell University)
Donaldson Tia (University of New Mexico)
Clay Kendall (University of Georgia)
Choe Suhyeon (Stockholm University)
Spring 2023
Ramadan Abdelrehim (A&M University – Corpus Christi)
Mena Davidson (University of Michigan)
Elise LeBovidge (University of Washington)
Delfin Buyco (Northwestern University)
Tyler Lucci (Northwestern University)
Winter 2023
Jacqueline Garnett (Washington University in St. Louis)
Hector Torres Vera (University of California, Berkeley)
Fawaz Bagoudou (Shinshu University)
Shriya Grover (IIT Delhi)
Haley Hunter (University of Alberta)
Georgia Papadimitriou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Alyssa Paparella (Baylor College of Medicine)
Victoria Sayo Turner (University of California, San Francisco)
Fall 2022
Summer 2022
Spring 2022
Megan Keller (Cornell University)
Neha Nandwani (Stanford University)
Ava Polzin (Yale University)
Brenda Guerrero (Florida International University)
Gauri Bora (Northwestern University)
Kevin Fitzgerald (Northwestern University)
Vivian Hu (Northwestern University)
Caleb Lay (Northwestern University)
Brett Palmero (Northwestern University)
Winter 2022
Fall 2021
Summer 2021
Spring 2021
Samantha Rincon Sabatino (University of Miami)
Deepika Venkattu (Stockholm University)
Yolanda Katsaiti (Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Ana P. de Faria (University of Toronto)
Doris Oluwafunmilayo Oke (Northwestern University)
Antony Ndolo (Machakos University & Karadeniz Technical University)
Emily Pierce (University of Maine)
Rachel Hostetler (West Virginia University)
Susy Prieto Huarcaya (Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany)
You Cheng (University of California, Irvine)
Nivedita Biswas (University of North Dakota)
Winter 2021
Fall 2020
Sarah Anderson (Northwestern University)
Linda Corcoran (University College Cork)
Rebecca Dang
Holly Fruehwald (Ontario Tech University)
Aditya Jha (ESPCI Paris)
Shi En Kim (University of Chicago)
Gabriella Kitch (Northwestern University)
Niba Nirmal (Duke University)
Namrata Pandit (Central University of Jharkhand)
Sajini Vadivel
Neeha Dev Arun (Carnegie Mellon University)
Deep Bandivadekar (University of Strathclyde)
Sindhu Nathan (Stanford University)
Breann Ross (Hofstra University)
Meredith Schmehl (Duke University)
Chris Wittington (East Carolina University)
Toby Le (University of Manitoba)
Summer 2020
Alexandra Ciminera (City of Hope)
Carla Golden (New York University)
Cindy Cohen (University of Cincinnati College of Medicine)
Eliza Hurst (Syracuse University)
Heather Caslin (Vanderbilt University)
Keeley Mui (Columbia University)
Lauren Gandy (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Martina Bodner (Free University of Bolzano)
Steffanie Munguia (Florida International University)
Alberto Benito-Martin (Weill Cornell Medicine)
Spring 2020
Emily Costa (Cornell University)
Kristen Davenport (University of Utah)
Judah Evangelista (University of Utah)
Anastasia Madsen (University of Nebraska)
Shaimar González Morales (UT Health San Antonio)
Chloé Pasin (Columbia University)
Attabey Rodrígues Benítez (University of Michigan)
Karen Tang (Dalhousie University, Canada)
Vanessa Vieites (Florida International University)
Lauren Williams (University of Utah)
Sydney James (University of Nebraska)
Claudia Lopez-Lloreda (University of Pennsylvania)
Rubi Quiñones (University of Nebraska)
Priscila Guzman (Kansas State University)
Andrew Lee (Northwestern University)
Yangdongling Liu (Northwestern University)
Crystal Mendoza (Mayo Clinic)
Kyle Miller (Northwestern University)
Greisha Ortiz-Hernandez (Loma Linda University School of Medicine)
Neha Rana (University of Bergen)
Ally Reith (Northwestern University)
Danielle Duggins (Northwestern University)
Ali Ehlen (Northwestern University)
Stephanie Jara (Northwestern University)
Stacy Montgomery (Northwestern University)
2019
Nick Young (Michigan State University)
Jimmy Kim (Northwestern University)
Lydia Horne (University of Maine)
Christina Marvin (University of Wisconsin)
