We Want You to Talk during Class: A New Graduate Course on the Oral Communication of Science

As evidenced during the covid pandemic, scientific results and discoveries may be ignored or even misrepresented in public discourse (by media, political leaders, etc.), leading to less-than-ideal policy decisions and personal choices. To improve this situation, the training of scientists and engineers to communicate effectively to the general public, and not just their peers, is critical. In this work, a new graduate course on the oral communication of science will be described in which an emphasis was placed on making engaging presentations to a more general audience. This 1-credit course was offered remotely to graduate students during the covid lockdown. General course structure, topics covered, and lessons learned will be presented.