Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

S1095 Meeting Notes from NACS – Feb. 3, 2025

Meeting called to order by Taylor Ruth at 2:47pm

In attendance:

• Taylor Ruth
• Jeff Miller
• Quisto Settle
• Rebecca Swenson
• Laura Fischer
• Jamie Greig
• Blake Colcasure
• Katie Sanders

Science Communication Objectives (Taylor's Powerpoint)

Workgroups Listed:

Crisis and Risk Comm

Media Literacy

Science Comm Pedagogy

Tech Adoption and Decision Making

Public Comm Strategies and Message Development

Introductions:

• Jamie Greig, Tennessee, Asst Prof since 2020, Workgroup Leader – Tech Adoption and Decision Making
• Blake Colclasure, Tennessee, Asst Prof, Tech Adoption and Decision Making
• Katie Sanders, NC State, Asst Prof
• Po-Ju Chen, Texas A&M, Professor, Hospitality and Hotel Management and Tourism, Editor of Journal, interested in tech adoption and decision making
• Latasha Ford, Fort Valley University, Research Administrator, Public Comm Strategies and Message Development
• Sonya Moore-Davis, Langston University, Research Comm Manager, Oklahoma
• Laura Fischer, Texas Tech University, Workgroup Leader, Public Comm Strategies and Message Development
• Rebecca Swenson, Univ of Minnesota, broad interest in Science Comm, Science Comm Pedagogy group
• Quisto Settle, Oklahoma State University, Workgroup Leader, Science Comm Pedagogy
• Linda Pfeiffer, Purdue University, not currently in a workgroup
• Tracy Rutherford, Virginia Tech, Chair, Tech Adoption Workgroup
• Jeff Miller
• Taylor Ruth
• Lisa Lundy

For our annual report, we have to submit:

• Project Outputs
  • Clear priorities for research on science comm…
  • Increase collaborative pubs…
• Project Impacts
  • Increase number of pubs…
  • Increased successful grant activity…
  • New Curriculum…
• Project Milestones
  • 2024: Research priority document…
  • 2025: Research priority doc updated…
  • 2026: Submit integrated grant proposal

Reporting

• Qualtrics survey distributed to capture info
• Workgroup Discussion and Sharing

Pedagogy Group

• Presented poster at NACS on a collaborative offering through courses at all of their universities

Public Comm Strategies and Message Development

• NACS Webinar
• Group has struggled to find its identity
• May need to split

Tech Adoption Group

• Met a couple of times
• Some want to focus on AI
• Looked for a target to focus on
• Special issue on JAC on emerging technologies in AFNR research
• Did Idea Incubator at NACS to generate interest and look at topics
• Submitted funding proposal through UT for AI work

Workgroup Discussion

• Recap major accomplishments and impacts
• Based on the PD discussion, what project ideas do you have for the next year?
• What are tangible next steps for your workgroup?
• How can S1095 leaders help you?
• Best way to do report for annual report? Just have leader submit one report?
  • Have each individual person report the work they’ve done related to this.
  • Focus on publications and presentations related to this.

Annual meeting next year?

• Decided to meet during the NACS Grad Student Lunch next year to take advantage of that time rather than going before/after the conference
• Elected Secretary for the group: Quisto Settle

Public Comm Strategies and Message Development

• Create spinoff group to focus on institutional science communication; public outreach for LGUs
  • Interviews with research communicators – what challenges are they facing? What is next? What are their experiences like? What research is needed to support their work?
  • What language are using? Or not using?
  • Start with in-depth interviews
  • Getting students to be interested in science/Outreach to the next generation/the right messaging
    • Langston is working with a lot of middle schools right now – a lot of work in Tulsa
  • Could also do a national survey to look at public trust in LGUs
• Then the other (original) group can focus on public trust
  • Commodity organizations 

Qualitative Study Outline:

• “Opportunities and possibilities”

Helpful from S1095 Team

• Specific things to accomplish
• Mid-year progress meeting – beginning of Fall semester
  • Maybe tack on to SACS Webinars at the end

 Science Comm Pedagogy

• Major accomplishment – already started implementing a sci comm intervention
• Jean Parella has taken lead
• Part of Fall data was used as NACS paper
• Working on a journal article
• Planning for curriculum development
• They meet every month or two
• Would be nice to hear what other groups are up to see if there is potential for collaboration

Tech Adoption

• Submitted Funding proposal to come to NACS – not funded
• Submitted proposal for special issue in JAC
• Looked through current/pending research to look for areas for collaboration
• Identified instrumentation development as an area for collaboration

Short-term Outcomes

In its second year, strong evidence of multistate collaboration exists among S1095 members. The Pedagogy workgroup, in particular, along with the Technology Adoption group and the Public Communication Strategies and Message Development group, have met consistently and have developed products demostrating successful collaborations including a grant proposal, a successful research abstract and poster presentation, and mulitple research articles.

Outputs

• Grant proposal to fund travel for further collaborations (unsuccessful)
• Abstract and poster accepted and presented at the National Agricultural Communications Symposium
• Five articles published by S1095 members focusing on science communication in the Journal of Applied Communications.

Activities

In the S1095's second year, three of the five established workgroups met consistently--two or more times--throughout the year to discuss and plan research efforts.  Those meeting consistently made progress. S1095 also hosted a virtual mid-year planning meeting for the entire project in addition to the annual meeting held at the conclusion of the National Agricultural Communications Symposium in Irving, TX in early February. 

Activities and accomplishments for S1095 Workgroups in the 2024-25 are listed here:

Science Communication Pedagogy

• Collaborating workgroup members presented an academic poster at NACS on a collaborative offering through courses at all of their universities (Akowuah, Parrella, Settle, Swenson, Forbes, & McCain, 2024), including Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State University, the University of Minnesota, and Purdue University
• Major accomplishment – already started implementing a sci comm intervention
• Jean Parella has taken lead
• Part of Fall data was used as NACS paper
• Working on a journal article
• Planning for curriculum development
• They meet every month or two
• Would be nice to hear what other groups are up to see if there is potential for collaboration

Public Comm Strategies and Message Development

• A collaborative webinar titled Science Communications in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources was organized and hosted by S1095 members and was presented as a part of the Society for Agricultural Communications’ webinar series.
• During the annual meeting discussions, it was discussed that this workgroup should split into two areas of emphasis in order to better facilitate collaboration.

Technology Adoption

• A subset of the group desires to focus on acceptance of AI technologies
• The concept of a special issue in the discipline’s main academic journal, the Journal of Applied Communications, was discussed. The focus of the issue would be on emerging technologies in AFNR research.
• The workgroup hosted an Idea Incubator at NACS to generate interest and look at topics
• Submitted funding proposal through UT for AI work
• Submitted Funding proposal to come to NACS – not funded
• Submitted proposal for special issue in JAC
• Identified instrumentation development as an area for collaboration

Milestones

• Develop and update research agenda for Science Communications by 2025
• Submit integrated grant proposal by 2026

2024-25 Publications

Catching, Kindle G.; Orton, Ginger; and Fischer, Laura Morgan (2024) "Overcoming Barriers: Describing Cattle Producers’ Motivations & Perceived Barriers Toward Adopting Sustainable Practices to Inform Communication Strategy," Journal of Applied Communications: Vol. 108: Iss. 3. https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.2542

McLeod-Morin, Ashley; Peterson, Hikaru H.; Baker, Lauri; Steede, Garrett; Hundemer, Sadie; Swenson, Rebecca; and McKay, Troy (2024) "Show Us Your Skills: Exploring the Science Communication Landscape in Graduate Education," Journal of Applied Communications: Vol. 108: Iss. 4. https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.2570

Orem, Morgan; Leggette, Holli; Parrella, Jean A.; Lu, Peng; Palmer, Karissa; Foster, Jamie; Neely, Haly; and Noland, Reagan (2024) "Harvesting Trust: Exploring Credible Information Sources about Soil Health Practices for U.S. Wheat Farmers," Journal of Applied Communications: Vol. 108: Iss. 4. https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.2553

Rampold, Shelli D.; Ruth, Taylor; and Greig, Jamie (2024) "If Nobody Hears Us, Do We Really Make a Sound? Investigating Agriculture Faculty Members’ Engagement in Science Communication," Journal of Applied Communications: Vol. 108: Iss. 1. https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.2513

Swenson, Rebecca and Marson, Corissa (2024) "Perceptions of Science Communication’s Domain, Practices, and Identity: What Concerns Members on the Peripheral Edge of a Community of Practice," Journal of Applied Communications: Vol. 108: Iss. 1. https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.2498