IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0320372.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Benefits of a non-traditional science communication and internship experience based on research from the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship at a Research Intensive University

Author

Listed:
  • Sukanya Dasgupta
  • Tayler Schillerberg
  • Haven Cashwell
  • Chandana Mitra
  • Karen S McNeal

Abstract

Effective science communication and stakeholder engagement are crucial skills for climate scientists, yet formal training in these areas remains limited in graduate education. The National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) at Auburn University (AU) addresses this gap through an innovative program combining science communication training with co-production approaches to enhance climate resiliency of built, natural, and social systems within the Southeastern United States (US). This paper evaluates the effectiveness of two novel graduate-level courses: one focused on science communication for non-technical audiences and another combining co-production methods with practical internship experience. Our research employed a mixed-methods approach, including a comprehensive analysis of course catalogs from 146 research-intensive universities and qualitative assessment of student experiences through surveys and descriptive exemplars. Analysis revealed that AU’s NRT program is unique among peer institutions in offering both specialized science communication training and co-production internship opportunities to graduate students across departments. Survey data from 11 program participants and detailed case studies of three program graduates demonstrated significant professional development benefits. Key outcomes included enhanced stakeholder engagement capabilities, improved science communication skills, and better preparation for both academic and non-academic careers. These findings suggest that integrating structured science communication training with hands-on co-production experience provides valuable preparation for climate scientists. The success of AU’s program model indicates that similar curriculum structures could benefit graduate programs nationwide, particularly in preparing students to effectively communicate complex scientific concepts to diverse audiences and engage with stakeholders in climate resilience efforts.

Suggested Citation

  • Sukanya Dasgupta & Tayler Schillerberg & Haven Cashwell & Chandana Mitra & Karen S McNeal, 2025. "Benefits of a non-traditional science communication and internship experience based on research from the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship at a Research Intensive University," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(4), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0320372
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0320372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0320372
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0320372&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0320372?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keeney,Ralph L. & Raiffa,Howard, 1993. "Decisions with Multiple Objectives," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521438834, Enero-Abr.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. KARRI PASANEN & MIKKO KURTTILA & JOUNI PYKÄlÄINEN & JYRKI KANGAS & PEKKA LESKINEN, 2005. "Mesta — Non-Industrial Private Forest Owners' Decision-Support Environment For The Evaluation Of Alternative Forest Plans Over The Internet," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(04), pages 601-620.
    2. Gerd Gigerenzer, 1997. "Bounded Rationality: Models of Fast and Frugal Inference," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 133(II), pages 201-218, June.
    3. Shuang Liu & Kirsten Maclean & Cathy Robinson, 2019. "A cost-effective framework to prioritise stakeholder participation options," EURO Journal on Decision Processes, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 7(3), pages 221-241, November.
    4. Smith, Chris M. & Shaw, Duncan, 2019. "The characteristics of problem structuring methods: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(2), pages 403-416.
    5. Chorus, Caspar & van Cranenburgh, Sander & Daniel, Aemiro Melkamu & Sandorf, Erlend Dancke & Sobhani, Anae & Szép, Teodóra, 2021. "Obfuscation maximization-based decision-making: Theory, methodology and first empirical evidence," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 28-44.
    6. Xingli Wu & Huchang Liao & Chonghui Zhang, 2024. "Importance-performance analysis to develop product/service improvement strategies through online reviews with reliability," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 342(3), pages 1905-1924, November.
    7. Perrels, Adriaan & Molarius, Riitta & Porthin, Markus & Rosqvist, Tony, 2008. "Testing a Flood Protection Case by Means of a Group Decision Support System," Discussion Papers 449, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Ahrens, Heinz & Kantelhardt, Jochen, 2007. "Integrating Ecological And Economic Aspects In Land Use Concepts: Some Conclusions From A Regional Land Use Concept For Bayerisches Donauried," 81st Annual Conference, April 2-4, 2007, Reading University, UK 7986, Agricultural Economics Society.
    9. Baudry, Gino & Delrue, Florian & Legrand, Jack & Pruvost, Jérémy & Vallée, Thomas, 2017. "The challenge of measuring biofuel sustainability: A stakeholder-driven approach applied to the French case," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 933-947.
    10. J-B Yang & D-L Xu & X Xie & A K Maddulapalli, 2011. "Multicriteria evidential reasoning decision modelling and analysis—prioritizing voices of customer," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(9), pages 1638-1654, September.
    11. Lupo, Toni, 2015. "Fuzzy ServPerf model combined with ELECTRE III to comparatively evaluate service quality of international airports in Sicily," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 249-259.
    12. Guo, Mengzhuo & Zhang, Qingpeng & Liao, Xiuwu & Chen, Frank Youhua & Zeng, Daniel Dajun, 2021. "A hybrid machine learning framework for analyzing human decision-making through learning preferences," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    13. Yuval Rottenstreich & Alex Markle & Johannes Müller-Trede, 2023. "Risky Sure Things," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4707-4720, August.
    14. Viral Gupta & P. K. Kapur & Deepak Kumar, 2019. "Prioritizing and Optimizing Disaster Recovery Solution using Analytic Network Process and Multi Attribute Utility Theory," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(01), pages 171-207, January.
    15. Florian Methling & Rüdiger Nitzsch, 2019. "Thematic portfolio optimization: challenging the core satellite approach," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 33(2), pages 133-154, June.
    16. Rogerson, Ellen C. & Lambert, James H., 2012. "Prioritizing risks via several expert perspectives with application to runway safety," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 22-34.
    17. Figueira, Jose & Roy, Bernard, 2002. "Determining the weights of criteria in the ELECTRE type methods with a revised Simos' procedure," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(2), pages 317-326, June.
    18. P. S. Nagpaul & Santanu Roy, 2003. "Constructing a multi-objective measure of research performance," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 56(3), pages 383-402, March.
    19. Robin Gregory & Ralph L. Keeney, 2017. "A Practical Approach to Address Uncertainty in Stakeholder Deliberations," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 487-501, March.
    20. Kadziński, Miłosz & Wójcik, Michał & Ciomek, Krzysztof, 2022. "Review and experimental comparison of ranking and choice procedures for constructing a univocal recommendation in a preference disaggregation setting," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0320372. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.