Ideas

• Partner with museums, nature centers, science centers, and similar institutions to develop exhibits in science, math, and engineering.*

• Involve the public or industry, where possible, in research and education activities.*
• Give science and engineering presentations to the broader community (e.g., at museums and libraries, on radio shows, and in other such venues).*

• Make data available in a timely manner by means of databases, digital libraries, or other venues such as CD-ROMs.*

• Publish in diverse media (e.g., non-technical literature, and websites, CD-ROMs, press kits) to reach broad audiences.*

• Present research and education results in formats useful to policy-makers, members of Congress, industry, and broad audiences.*

• Participate in multi- and interdisciplinary conferences, workshops, and research activities.
  (DLP Note: This indicates that 'broader' doesn't necessarily mean non-scientists: sharing information outside your immediate field counts.)*
• Integrate research with education activities in order to communicate in a broader context.*

Resources

• The Communicating Research to Public Audiences program at NSF (NSF 03-509) provides supplements of up to $75,000 to existing grants specifically for activities that will disseminate the results and process of research to the public. No deadline, but they need at least six months for processing.

Examples

• Jack Simons at Clemson hosts a 'theoretical chemistry website', which is an excellent way to publicize not just your own research results, but your entire field to a large number of people. This is probably a great resource for teachers as well.
• James Yardley of Columbia reports an interesting public science event held in New York City. 'Events' can sometimes be the best format for people who want to concentrate their efforts, as opposed to spreading them out throughout a year. Once you do an event, it is much easier to repeat it the next year.
• If you have a theatrical bent, you can stage a science play. Gideon Frankel at Ohio State participated in a panel to discuss the play's content with the audience. It was especially nice that the play they picked showed the public a little more of the personal side of science.