BB 405H

BB 405H "Scientists in the Public Eye" is a course aimed at teaching students how to effectively employ scientific communications in their professional lives. Aimed at students who will be applying to professional schools, the course consists of weekly discussions and interview practice sessions. The course times will be evenly divided between an instructor-led discussion (one period per week) and students polishing communication skills in an interview format (one period per week). Student performances will be videotaped and the tapes will be used for analysis and enhancement of student communication skills. Student communication skills will be focused appropriately on the career interest of each student - professional schools, biotechnology industry, government agency, etc.

Discussion sessions will cover recent high-profile science news. For example, in the past few months, these have included the alleged cloning of humans, numerous health advances/setbacks in the biotechnology industry (for example, problems with genetic therapy for bubble baby children, death of a gene therapy patient at Penn, several advances in treating heart disease, etc.). Older examples include cold fusion, the human genome initiative, etc. The course will focus on timely news events as they unfold.

Mock interview sessions will be interactive, with direct feedback to students of their performance in interviews, followed by after class meetings one-on-one with the instructor. Student-instruction sessions will involve reviewing videos for further observations and opportunities for improvement. Mock interviews will be formatted appropriate for the discipline of the student's interest. A final oral examination will cover the topics discussed during the term.

Grading:
Discussion 20%
Mock interview performance 30%
Final Oral Exam 30%
Professionalism (timeliness, participation) 20%

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