Podcast: On this episode of the WGNS Action Line Podcast,  host Scott Walker sits down with Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Barnes, associate professor of biology education at MTSU, to discuss the summer gathering of the Science Communication Education Research Network (SCERN), a project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Earlier this summer in Minneapolis, Barnes led a group of 30 academics who are pioneering how to teach the next generation of scientists to become more effective science communicators. With polarization around science at an all-time high, Barnes and her colleagues are working to bridge divides, strengthen cultural competence, and train undergraduates to connect meaningfully with communities about science.

Highlights from the gathering include keynote talks on bridging divides in politics and religion, moving away from the “deficit approach” to science communication, and empowering undergraduates as leaders in strengthening science-society relationships. Scholars also presented their research in a poster session, and the network collaboratively wrote an essay being submitted to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals.

Barnes also shares how her team at MTSU—including two postdoctoral researchers, two Ph.D. students, and one undergraduate—is playing a key role in shaping the new field of science communication education research.