This course is part of a partnership with the Semester in Environmental Science (SES) Program of Marine Biological Laboratories (MBL). This program is open to students who have completed courses in chemistry, biology, and mathematics. Students accepted to this program will spend the fall semester at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA. Please see here for more information on the SES program: https://www.mbl.edu/education/undergraduate-programs/semester-environmental-science. Prior to submitting your application to MBL’s Semester in Environmental Science program, you must meet with the Chair of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics department to discuss your interest and get permission to apply to this program. Since applications to the MBL SES program are due mid-March, you must meet with the Chair in the Fall semester or by the first week in February. Once you have received approval from the Chair you must submit an application to MBL’s Semester in Environmental Science program. This required course is one of five courses in the semester-length SES program. Three decades ago, Carl Sagan wrote, “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.” This sentence still rings true today. There are many factors you could blame: the education system, U.S. politics, social media, misinformation, the TV news cycle, or increasingly siloed scientific fields. In reality, all of these factors play a role. Here’s another to add to the list: scientists are trained to explain their work to other scientists, but not to the public at large. The goal is to help students understand how scientific work can be made more accessible to the public, and to produce writing that engages readers as well as educates them. Students will interview pre-eminent scientists, learn to write short news stories, and work to produce a long-form feature of their choice as a final project. Along the way, they'll learn from podcast producers, documentary filmmakers, investigative journalists and institutional science writers who can share their experience and expertise in this diverse field. With this and other programs at the Marine Biological Laboratory, we hope to begin training a new generation of writers who can communicate critical scientific and environmental issues with the public. This 1-credit course does not satisfy requirements for the Interdisciplinary Science major or minor. Permission required to register for this course.