On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Leigh Anne Tiffany. Leigh Anne is a second-year doctoral student in the Information & Media Program with a dual major in Environmental Science and Policy. She works jointly with John Besley, Ph.D., in the Department of Advertising + Public Relations, and Bruno Takahashi, Ph.D., with the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism in the School of Journalism. Her research centers on topics related to science communication and public engagement with science.

Leigh Anne’s research is inspired by her prior careers as a scientist working in wildlife conservation, a multimedia science journalist for outlets like the PBS NewsHour, NBC, and NPR, and a public relations specialist for a wildlife nonprofit in Washington, D.C. In these different roles, she experienced firsthand the current crisis of scientific findings being regularly miscommunicated to the public. She decided to get her doctoral degree to help find evidence-backed ways to combat this systematic problem.

Her research addresses science communication from the viewpoints of scientists, journalists, and public relations practitioners. She looks into why these groups want to communicate about science (and how they do so), how do these groups interact with one another when communicating about science, and the effectiveness of training programs aimed to help these groups become better science communicators.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. You can ask questions about future episodes here. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube!