Sustaining Science and Communication: A Statement from the CapSciComm Board

The benefits of science to our society are difficult to deny.

The process of science — observing nature, testing hypotheses, collecting evidence, identifying causes and mechanisms — helps us analyze and understand our world. By applying the scientific method of critical thinking, researchers have uncovered ways to improve human health, revealed the interdependence of ecosystems and economies, and designed helpful machines and computers. Their discoveries have inspired the imagination and creativity in us all, from our children to our entrepreneurs.

For those of us who communicate science, we celebrate the process of science and acknowledge its benefits to our society. We also celebrate another process and acknowledge its benefits to society: that of communication itself.

Like science, the process of communication — journalism, in particular — also involves recording the world around us, challenging assumptions, gathering information, and discerning fact from fiction. The successful communication of knowledge — such as scientific findings — ensures that individuals, institutions, and societies can make the best possible decisions for their health, environment, and governance.

It is not trivial that science and communication both thrive under the free exchange of information. Scientists can only contribute to society when they have access to the best data and analyses available, and when their findings are left uncensored and offered for review and critique. Communicators and journalists can only contribute to society when they have access to the best expertise and archives available, and when their words are left uncensored and offered for public consumption and debate.

Embracing both science and communication as essential societal functions, we, the leadership of Capital Science Communicators, hereby reaffirm our mission and vision:

Our Mission: To connect science communicators across all professions in the Capital Region with resources and networks for professional advancement.

Our Vision: Sustained science literacy among citizens and decision makers in the Capital Region through the support of science communication professionals.

We are grateful to of all our friends and colleagues in Sacramento, Davis, and beyond, who share our mission of building community and partnerships. We stand by to serve as connectors and supporters of professional development for both scientists and communicators, from the student to the practitioner. We uphold the importance of publication and peer-review of scientific data, and a free press to disseminate human knowledge. And we join with all who celebrate the personal joys and societal benefits of science — here in California, around the United States, and throughout the world.

SIGNED, The Capital Science Communicators Board of Officers, April 12, 2017

Ben Young Landis
Executive Chair

Andrea Graffis
Managing Chair

Becky Oskin
Professional Membership Chair

Don Gibson
Student Membership Chair

Katie Rodger, PhD
Professional Development Chair

Dharia McGrew, PhD
Capitol Chair

Nick Gray
Public Science Chair

(Download this announcement as a printable PDF)