BERKELEY -- MEDIA ADVISORY
ATTENTION: Science, medicine, environment and technology writers, editors and broadcast producers

WHAT
A conversation between Chris Mooney, author of "The Republican War on Science," and Matthew Nisbet, a communications professor from American University, about how scientists can best engage the public on critical policy issues, from stem cells to evolution.

The University of California, Berkeley, is one stop on a nationwide lecture tour, "Speaking Science 2.0: A New Paradigm in Public Engagement," during which Mooney and Nisbet will seek to educate scientists on ways to pierce the political and media-saturated environment to influence policy and legislation, and the nation's future.

The event is free and open to the public.

WHEN
5-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 11

WHERE
UC Berkeley's Dwinelle Hall, room 155. A campus map is online at: http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/CD34.html.

WHO
Participants will include:

• Chris Mooney, a journalist who writes about the intersection of science and politics and is the author of two books: "The Republican War on Science" (2005) and "Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics and the Battle over Global Warming" (2007)
• Matthew Nisbet, professor in the School of Communication at American University and an Osher Fellow at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

DETAILS
Nisbet and Mooney have embarked on this speaking tour to launch an ongoing dialogue about how scientists and proponents of science might best communicate information to politicians, the media, and the American public.

The two will discuss how scientists and educators can "reframe" old debates about issues such as global warming and embryonic stem cell research, remaining true to the science, but taking advantage of a fragmented media environment to connect with a broader American public.

The public seminar is co-sponsored by donor Robert Mendez and by the Department of Integrative Biology, the Berkeley Natural History Museums, the College of Letters & Science and the Division of Biological Sciences at UC Berkeley.

Note: To read more about this and other UC Berkeley news, visit the Berkeley News Center at: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu.