News and Events
September 23, 2008
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and UCI's Office of Research Development for the Natural Sciences hosted NSF Chemistry Division's first ever Highlights Writing Workshop. 36 participants from across the UCI campus registered for this intensive two-day workshop on Monday, Sep 15 and Tuesday Sep 16 to learn about effective communication of their research to various audiences. NSF does this primarily through “Highlights”, 3 single page Powerpoint or pdf slides targeted towards specialists, general scientists, and the public, respectively, and also uses web articles and press releases. Workshop topics included the value of publicizing research to other scientists, the agency, congress and the public, and hands-on work on a set of Highlights for each participant's research. A panel discussion on media outreach was also included in the Tuesday afternoon session, where NSF and UCI media relations and research development professionals discussed tips and techniques for interacting with the media, described UCI's process for research result publicity, and shared lessons learned from recent experiences on and off campus. By the end of the Workshop, participants had interactively created a set of Highlights for their own research.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…" With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion, it is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.
More info on the NSF Highlights process, including a Highlight from UCI's Chemistry department that is being circulated nationwide by the Chemistry Division as the 'model', can be found online here.
