Closing General Session, Awards, and Keynote Speaker Valeri Lantz-Gefroh, Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science
Wednesday, October 21
4:00 – 5:30 p.m.

As the centennial meeting comes to a close we will complete our presentation of awards but we will continue our focus on the future with speaker Valari Lantz-Gefroh from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University in New York.

“Distilling Your Message – Communicating Your Science”

Valeri Lantz-Gefroh

Moving cereal grain science forward cannot be done without sharing information and innovations to a broader audience. Can you effectively communicate about science with people outside of the field? Through discussions and practice, attendees will learn the fundamental skills to effectively discuss cereal grain science with the general public, the media, students, potential employers, funders, and potential collaborators.

Learn general principles in how to craft short, clear, conversational statements, intelligible to non-scientists, about what you do and why it matters. Interesting examples will address problems and solutions in public interactions as well as peer-to-peer communication, using analogies to illuminate unfamiliar concepts.

Valeri Lantz-Gefroh, MFA, is a Lecturer in the School of Journalism where she serves as the Improvisation Coordinator in the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. She teaches workshops and graduate courses at Stony Brook, and has traveled around the country teaching improvisation at other universities, conferences and labs. Val is the producer of Science on Tap, an award winning live event and web show. She is also the coordinator of Science Unplugged, where she mentors and coaches students from the Alda Center to give science talks for the public. Val is spearheading a project to train teaching assistants in Biology, Physics and Chemistry to better communicate with their students and is the lead instructor for this initiative.

Val has been a theater professional for the past 25 years as an actor, director and playwright. Prior to her move to the School of Journalism, she was a faculty member and Director of Acting for the Department of Theatre Arts at Stony Brook University where she directed and taught acting at all levels. Val also serves as the artistic director of Asylum Theatre Company, produced at Staller Center for the Arts.