AppSciComm Storytelling Panel: Joys & Challenges of Science Communication

Join our panelists in a discussion about challenges and joys of being a science communicator in Appalachia and beyond!

Wendy Welch is the executive director of the Southwest Virginia Graduate Medical Education Consortium and the author, coauthor, or editor of six books, including her latest, Masks, Misinformation, and Making Do: Appalachian Healthcare Workers and the COVID Pandemic (from Ohio University Press). She advocates for social justice in health care and other critical areas of development across Appalachia.

Matt Shipman is the assistant director of research communications for North Carolina State University's News Services office. He spent 10 years as an environmental policy reporter, was a regular contributor to Health News Review, and is the author of the Handbook for Science Public Information Officers (University of Chicago Press, 2015). He currently serves on the board of the National Association of Science Writers.

Nikki Forrester is a freelance science journalist based in the mountains of West Virginia. She loves writing about ecology, conservation, and the culture of science. She also publishes an independent outdoor magazine called Highland Outdoors.