Author: mkuchner
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Marketing Your Science? Keep it Real: An Interview with Congressman Robert Walker, Part II
(This piece was originally published in Scientific American) When I speak to scientists about marketing, I like to say how important it is to “keep it real”. Pardon me while I say that again in business-speak. I like to emphasize the importance of developing long-term relationships with your customers. That means being as honest as…
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Flame Challenge Faces Challenge: Negative Stereotypes of Scientists
(This article was originally published in Scientific American) Scientists are aloof and socially inept. That seems to be part of the message of the video that won the Flame Challenge, a science communication contest run by the Center for Communicating Science. The winning video, made by Ben Ames, was just announced on June 2 at…
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Interview with Former Congressman Robert Walker, Science Committee Chair, Part I
Congressman Robert Walker represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1977 to 1997. He’s has taken an interest in helping scientists understand Congress, and he invited me to his marble office building on K Street in Washington DC to interview him. That’s what I am lucky enough to offer…
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How Do Scientists Make Decisions?
The original version of this article appeared in The Scientist magazine. A group of researchers led by Stanford University neuroscientist Brian Knutson ran an experiment in 2007 to study how shoppers decide what to buy. Their discoveries startled me and left me wondering: how do scientists make decisions? Knutson’s team placed experimental subjects in front of a computer…
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What Do Your Colleagues Want to See On Your Website? Captions, Passion and Generosity
This article was originally published in Optics and Photonics News. Have you ever wished you could know what your colleagues think when they look at your website? I have. I know from experience that our peers judge us partly by our presence on the Web. Hiring committees often search online to learn more about job…
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Entertainers’ Sticking Up for Science: The Help We’ve Been Pleading For?
This article was originally published in Scientific American. In magazine reporting (and maybe science blogging), they say three events suffice to indicate a trend. So let me announce a new trend: popular entertainers are sticking up for science. Here are three trendsetting entertainers turned notable science advocates. Actor Alan Alda wrote an editorial in Science last week launching…
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The Open Science Paradox
This article was originally published in Scientific American. Scientists, I just read and enjoyed Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science, a new book by Michael Nielsen, recently reviewed by Bora Zivkovic. The book tells how science is undergoing a revolution where new global online collaborations face off against secretive old-school researchers and profit-hungry journal…
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Top Five Science Marketing Hits of 2011
Scientists, To help ring in the new year and wrap up the old, I thought I’d post a list of my top five favorite science marketing successes of 2011, based on discussions on the Marketing for Scientists Facebook group. #5. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Wed, October 26. Stewart and his writers did a…
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Marketing for Scientists: The Book
In 1995, the Endangered Species Act was in deep political trouble. The House of Representatives was considering a bill that would cut sixteeen million dollars from the endangered species activities of the Fish and Wildlife Service and completely abolish the National Biological Service. The speaker of the house, Newt Gingrich, was saying that it made…