Strategic Environmental Communication in the AI Era - 575.753

In the context of our digital age, this course aims to help science and engineering students develop dynamic skills for communicating environmental concepts to stakeholders, including experts in different fields, policy decision makers, and the interested public. The course covers the importance of clear truthful communication of complex scientific information for the development and acceptance of technologies, creation of public policy, and launching community-based initiatives. The course will specifically include active exploration of AI and other creative tools and their appropriate use for scientific communications. Students will learn methods of engagement, storytelling, and designing key messages for global, national, and local issues through a course project on a student-selected topic. Major types of communication media are covered, including written communication and graphics, online communications in short- and long-form media, and interactive communications such as surveys and citizen science to involve stakeholders in the creation and analysis of technical data and dispersed information. The emphasis of the course is from the point of view of an environmental or energy professional (not a marketing professional), and on developing an effective science-based communications portfolio to share complex scientific information with a broad range of interested parties through a variety of available modern tools.