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Matthew C. Nisbet
Associate Professor of Communication, Northeastern University
Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Public Policy, and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. Nisbet studies the role of communication and advocacy in policymaking and public affairs, focusing on debates over over climate change, energy, and sustainability. Among awards and recognition, Nisbet has been a Visiting Shorenstein Fellow on Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, a Health Policy Investigator at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a Google Science Communication Fellow. In 2011, the editors at the journal Nature recommended Nisbet's research as “essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in the climate change debate,” and the New Republic highlighted his work as a “fascinating dissection of the shortcomings of climate activism."
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Over the summer, a few stories have appeared speculating about a new “twitter effect” on movie box office success. The technology is thought to speed-up and amplify the traditional word-of-mouth […]
Last year I gave a strong recommendation to the CBC series by David Caylay “How to Think about Science” which provides listeners with a fascinating introduction to the field of […]
I have long argued that Francis Collins would make a strong candidate to head the NIH, considering his scientific credentials, his past administrative experience, and his ability to communicate effectively. […]
As I wrote last week, deliberative forums and town hall-type meetings are one of the major innovations in science communication and engagement. Whether forums are focused on climate change or […]
Last week I pointed to two edited books released in 2008 that do an outstanding job of synthesizing the relevant issues and research on science communication and public engagement. Here […]
If you don’t already subscribe to the daily round up and real time “peer review” of science coverage assembled by Charlie Petit at the MIT Knight Science Journalism Tracker, you […]
The New York Times led their Sunday edition with an article by John Broder focusing on recent Defense department conclusions on the national security risks of climate change. Here’s the […]
Last week I participated in a two-day workshop at NSF on climate change education. The meeting brought together researchers in science education, communication, and informal learning; representatives from government agencies […]
I recently received copies of two relatively newedited volumes on science communication and public engagement. The volumes include research and perspectives from an interdisciplinary collection of mostly European scholars. I […]
1 Wired Science – Wired Blog 2 Watts Up With That? 3 Climate Progress 4 Environmental Capital 5 Dispatches from the Culture Wars 6 TierneyLab – New York Times blog […]
As I noted when the Pew science survey was released last month, there was a disturbing tendency among some bloggers and commentators to seize upon the findings as yet more […]
One of the overlooked findings of the Pew survey of U.S.-based scientists is that roughly 51% say that they either believe in God (33%) or a higher power (18%) and […]
At the WPost today, Dan Morgan contributes an excellent analysis of what he calls the “agracrats,” Democratic members of Congress from traditional farm states such as Iowa or Minnesota. As […]
About 400 people packed the classic AFI Theater last night for the NIH-sponsored screening and discussion of Inherit the Wind. Here are a few follow-up notes, especially for attendees logging […]
Tomorrow night, watch Spencer Tracy argue in defense of evolution.For readers in the DC area, tomorrow night at 7pm, the NIH Office of Science Education and the American Film Institute […]
As I noted last week, the Pew survey of scientists finds that more than 50% self-identify as liberals compared to just 20% of the public. Which then leads to the […]
When I was in graduate school at Cornell, David Kirby was a course mate while he was working on a post-doc in science studies. Kirby was re-training from his former […]
Over at the liberal blog site Daily Kos, the anonymous “Dark Syde” reviews the book Unscientific America. The review, unfortunately, echoes the all-too-common “fall from grace narrative” about the place […]
Over at MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Tracker, the wise Charlie Petit has a great round-up of coverage of yesterday’s Pew science survey. On what I described earlier today as a […]
When I was invited by the Pew team earlier this year to make suggestions about items and questions to measure in their recently released survey on science and the public, […]