Cultivating Scientific Communication Skills through Professional Development Course Series for the Graduate Curriculum

Britney Russell; Antigoni Konstantinou; Ayah Abdallah; Fayekah Assanah

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Graduate Studies Division (GSD) Technical Session 5: Skill Development in Graduate Education
Tagged Division: Graduate Studies Division (GSD)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47099

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Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, 260 Glenbrook Road, Unit 3247, Storrs, CT 06269-3247.

Dr. Fayekah Assanah is an Assistant Professor in Residence in the Biomedical Engineering Department. She leads multiple initiatives in the university's undergraduate and graduate curriculum and directs the Professional Development Course Series for all engineering graduate students. Assanah's research focuses on synthesizing hydrogels to mimic the mechanical behavior of the brain matter and investigate the cellular response to injury.

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Abstract

Over the past few decades, effective scientific communication has become a critical skill to develop for graduate students across all engineering disciplines. A robust publication record in reputed journals, embellished with outstanding conference presentations, is a benchmark for a productive graduate degree that translates to job opportunities and visibility in the engineering field. In addition, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) ranks communication skills as one of the top core competencies for college graduates nationwide. As such, graduate students must communicate their research in an articulate style to audiences at all levels so that scientific knowledge is shared and understood by society at large.

Engineering schools emphasize technical writing and presentation for their undergraduate curriculum through junior writing, capstone, and senior design in every field. Such resources are limited and often need to be more organized for the graduate curriculum, needing a systematic approach to address the diverse aspects of communicating science effectively to different audiences. Besides, the diverse and multilingual backgrounds of graduate students should be noticed when students are expected to present and publish their work in the field. Therefore, there is a need to infuse the graduate engineering curriculum with well-designed scientific communication courses to ensure the productivity of students.

The University of Connecticut identified this significant gap in providing structured support to the graduate student community in scientific communication. This evidence-based practice paper describes the implementation of a unified “Professional Development” (PD) course series to support the success of graduate students. This PD program features a course to enhance the students' verbal scientific communication skills through a practical, feedback-driven, and peer-reviewed format. A scientific writing course, a course complementary to scientific communication, is being developed to help students improve their writing skills. A key objective of both these communication courses is to teach graduate students how to use storytelling in speaking and writing to make their scientific findings clear and engaging for all audiences. It also explains how storytelling can be a tool in their career proficiencies and further strengthen the NACE Career Competencies. The university's initiative underscores its commitment to bolstering scientific communication and is a model for other institutions.

Citation
Format

Russell, B., & Konstantinou, A., & Abdallah, A., & Assanah, F. (2024, June), Cultivating Scientific Communication Skills through Professional Development Course Series for the Graduate Curriculum Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47099

TY - CPAPER
AB - Over the past few decades, effective scientific communication has become a critical skill to develop for graduate students across all engineering disciplines. A robust publication record in reputed journals, embellished with outstanding conference presentations, is a benchmark for a productive graduate degree that translates to job opportunities and visibility in the engineering field. In addition, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) ranks communication skills as one of the top core competencies for college graduates nationwide. As such, graduate students must communicate their research in an articulate style to audiences at all levels so that scientific knowledge is shared and understood by society at large.

Engineering schools emphasize technical writing and presentation for their undergraduate curriculum through junior writing, capstone, and senior design in every field. Such resources are limited and often need to be more organized for the graduate curriculum, needing a systematic approach to address the diverse aspects of communicating science effectively to different audiences. Besides, the diverse and multilingual backgrounds of graduate students should be noticed when students are expected to present and publish their work in the field. Therefore, there is a need to infuse the graduate engineering curriculum with well-designed scientific communication courses to ensure the productivity of students.

The University of Connecticut identified this significant gap in providing structured support to the graduate student community in scientific communication. This evidence-based practice paper describes the implementation of a unified “Professional Development” (PD) course series to support the success of graduate students. This PD program features a course to enhance the students&#39; verbal scientific communication skills through a practical, feedback-driven, and peer-reviewed format. A scientific writing course, a course complementary to scientific communication, is being developed to help students improve their writing skills. A key objective of both these communication courses is to teach graduate students how to use storytelling in speaking and writing to make their scientific findings clear and engaging for all audiences. It also explains how storytelling can be a tool in their career proficiencies and further strengthen the NACE Career Competencies. The university&#39;s initiative underscores its commitment to bolstering scientific communication and is a model for other institutions.

AU - Britney Russell
AU - Antigoni Konstantinou
AU - Ayah Abdallah
AU - Fayekah Assanah
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Cultivating Scientific Communication Skills through Professional Development Course Series for the Graduate Curriculum
UR - https://peer.asee.org/47099
ER -

Cultivating Scientific Communication Skills through Professional Development Course Series for the Graduate Curriculum

Paper Authors

Britney Russell University of Connecticut orcid.org/0009-0000-4722-8940

Antigoni Konstantinou University of Connecticut

Ayah Abdallah University of Connecticut

Fayekah Assanah University of Connecticut

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