Certificate in Science Communication
Certificate in Science Communication
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Program Overview
Students completing the Certificate in Science Communication at Rollins will be equipped with the necessary skills to enhance public understanding of valuable scientific information, ultimately contributing to improved health outcomes across all populations.
Science communication is crucial for counteracting misinformation, addressing public concerns, and promoting informed decision-making to improve health outcomes and address health equity gaps. Troubling trends such as reduced life expectancy in the U.S., rising maternal mortality rates, and widening health equity gaps along with the increasing challenges of vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine sentiment emphasize the need for robust science communication across many public health domains.
Public health practitioners are the front-line workers in public health, managing and addressing health issues within communities. They must be skilled in synthesizing and translating complex data into accessible, actionable information. This includes:
- Understanding health literacy
- Developing advanced writing skills
- Leveraging social media
- Creating infographics
- Employing data visualization techniques
- Mastering broader communication strategies
Training in these areas ensures that public health professionals are well-equipped to engage with diverse communities in their roles and use various tools and methods to disseminate critical health information effectively.
Certificate Competencies
The Certificate in Science Communication comprises the following competencies that students are expected to master:
- Describe why we need to clearly communicate scientific and public health information to the public and the consequences when we do not
- Combat science and health misinformation and disinformation
- Describe the criteria that will help tailor messages to the intended audience
- Simplify written messages with everyday words, active voice, short sentences and paragraphs, and one main message
- Demonstrate how to use a story or narrative to share research
- Demonstrate cultural humility when sharing health information
- Develop science and health communication products that increase accessibility and interpretability of health information
- Communicate effectively with public health stakeholders
Curriculum
Certificate Courses
To receive a Certificate in Science Communication, students complete:
- Two required courses
- 4 credit hours of electives
- An APE and ILE relevant to science communication
Required courses include:
- EPI 503 Fundamentals of Public Health Communication (2 credit hours)
- EPI 580 Critical Evaluation of Scientific Communication: Science in the News (2 credit hours)
Elective Courses
Provides students with an overview of concepts and strategies used in social marketing and public health information campaigns. Emphasis is placed on developing skills to create consumer-oriented public health intervention efforts. These skills include formative research, audience segmentation, and channel analysis, and the application of behavioral theory.
Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences
Introduces the study of public health communication including its theoretical foundations, organizational models, and strategies for intervening at multiple levels with diverse populations.
Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences
Prerequisites: BIOS 544 or BIOS 545. This course will teach students to use data visualizations to analyze public health, medical, and biological sciences data and communicate information derived from these data to various audiences. Students will learn key concepts and methods in creating data visualizations and put them into practice with hands on assignments creating data visualization and critiquing public health visualizations. Multidisciplinary review and feedback on student designs can help to improve the quality and effectiveness of student visualization, therefore students will often work in pairs or groups.
As our climate continues to warm, threats to public health will intensify. Translating climate science for various audiences is key to promoting understanding and acting on climate change. Climate change communication seeks to understand the influences on audiences' perception of climate change and how these perceptions promote or inhibit action. In this course, students will learn how to employ public health communication theories, skills, and strategies to create a climate change communication campaign plan that includes key audiences and messages, products, and evaluation plan.
Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health
Additional Requirements
Students’ APEs should be relevant to public health science communication and will be approved by the certificate directors.
Students must proactively seek out ILEs that afford opportunities to integrate science communications as a component of their thesis or capstone experience.
The certificate directors will offer guidance on ways to adapt ILE work to incorporate science communications skills.
Admissions
Students can apply to the certificate by submitting the Science Communication Certificate Application. The application asks students to answer specific questions to gauge the student’s interest and desire to complete the Certificate in Science Communication.
Apply now! Admitted students can apply here. The application is open until June 30, 2025.
Please note: Students are responsible for enrolling in required and elective courses each semester prior to add/drop/swap ends. Additionally, the department is unable to increase enrollment capacity.
Contact
Get in Touch:
Jodie Guest, PhD, professor and senior vice chair, Department of Epidemiology
Elizabeth Mendes, associate dean of communications
Brenda L. Hardy, associate director of academic programs