Friday, December 2

New Sci-Comm Grad Course: Professional Research Presentation (PIBS 721), Winter 2017

Dear PhD students and mentors:

Please forgive this second announcement, but we've gotten a lot of questions about PIBS 721 (Professional Research Presentation), so we thought we’d clarify some details about this brand-new course.

Frequently asked questions about PIBS 721

Q: How will PIBS 721 be graded?
A: S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory). Students who show up and who try to improve will get an S.

Q: Which PhD students can enroll?
A: PhD candidates in scientific disciplines can enroll. We’re not accepting pre-candidates because we don’t want to interfere with other coursework or preparation for qualifying exams. Elyse and Scott are life scientists, but candidates in other scientific and engineering disciplines are very welcome.

Q: What if I’m a doctoral pre-candidate now, but will be a candidate in the Winter term?
A: No problem, just send me your UMID # and we’ll give you special permission to enroll. 

Q: What about postdocs, MS students, undergrads, faculty, and other folks?
A. For this first year, we’re limiting the course to PhD candidates, but let us know if you want us to expand the course to other trainee groups in future years. The survival and expansion of this course will depend on people expressing interest.

Q: What will be covered in the course?
A: Some highlights are covered in the original announcement (see below), but here is a list of class topics and sci-comm projects:

Class Topics, Winter 2017
Intro to audience; Structure of research communication
Your central message
Telling a scientific story: narrative, framing, & audience connection
Giving and receiving feedback; Language basics
Figure design
Adobe Illustrator tutorial: Making your own schematics
Voice and non-verbal communication
Orally presenting posters
Structure of a research talk
Designing a slide deck
Starting and finishing; flow; Q&A
Speaker-audience relationship; connecting with diverse audiences
Communicating in other professional contexts
Communicating with public audiences

Assignments (with class feedback), Winter 2017
Elevator Pitch
Abstract
Visual abstract
"Data-blitz" short talk
Research poster
15 min research talk

Q: How can I help you spread the word about the course?
A: Aww, thanks for asking! A PDF flyer is attached to this message: please print, post, and share.

For other details, see the flyer or the original announcement (below). Let us know if you have any other questions. We hope to see you in January!

-Scott & Elyse