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Council for the Advancement of Science Writing
Created at the dawn of the space age, the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW) has sought for 50 years to enhance the quality of science journalism for the general public. Led by distinguished journalists and scientists, this nonprofit U.S. educational organization develops and supports a wide range of programs and resources designed to increase public understanding of science. It seeks to provide reporters, editors, and writers from all media a better understanding of important science and technology developments and to promote best practices in communicating those findings and their significance to a wide audience.
Its initiatives include an annual 4-day program for journalists and other science writers on cutting-edge science, travel fellowships for journalists, stipends for graduate science journalism education, efforts to improve local science coverage, an annual medical science-reporting prize, and programs on science journalism for the scientific community. In doing so, CASW works closely with other journalism organizations.
For its efforts to raise “the quality of science news” that reached the public, the council in 2003 received the prestigious Public Service Award from the National Science Board, which oversees the U.S. National Science Foundation.
CASW History
The explosion of science and technology in the 1950s created new challenges for journalists faced with explaining how polio vaccines work, what the structure of DNA is, and why satellites do not fall from the sky. While major publications had long had specialty science writers, the Soviet launch of the first Sputnik satellite in late 1957 triggered tremendous public demand for coverage of the space race, and the ranks of journalists assigned to this beat suddenly expanded. A small group of leading U.S. science writers recognized the need for better training of journalists covering not only space exploration but also other new developments in science and technology to improve the quality of their news and feature stories.
To realize that ambition, the CASW was incorporated as a nonprofit educational organization in 1959 and held its first meeting in early 1960. Its founders were active in the National Association of Science Writers (NASW), a professional membership group started in 1934. However, the council's independent, nonprofit status allowed it to raise the resources needed to support enhanced programs to educate science writers and thereby improve public understanding of science. Foundations, scientific institutions and societies, government agencies, corporations, and individuals have provided financial support over the years. But CASW's programs stay close to its journalistic roots and remain under the sole discretion of its strong professional staff and governing council. The council is comprised of about 15 prominent journalists, educators, and public information officers, with leading scientists serving in an advisory role.
New Horizons in Science Briefing
The centerpiece for carrying out CASW's educational mission is New Horizons in Science, an annual program for journalists that draws upon the world's leading scientific minds to present the most promising developments across diverse disciplines, including physical and environmental sciences, biomedical research, and technology. The program's organizers seek to identify potential advances before they hit the headlines, along with scientists able to clearly explain their work and its potential societal impact.
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- Associations and Organizations
- Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow
- American Association for Public Opinion Research
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- American Medical Association
- American Medical Writers Association
- Association for Communication Excellence
- Center for Science in the Public Interest
- Council for the Advancement of Science Writing
- Environmental Defense Fund
- ETC Group
- Greenpeace
- International Science Journalism Associations
- National Association of Science Writers
- Physicians for Social Responsibility
- Public Communication of Science and Technology
- Royal Society
- SciDev.Net
- Scientists' Institute for Public Information
- Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
- Sigma Xi
- Society for Risk Analysis
- Society for Technical Communication
- Society of Environmental Journalists
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Audiences, Opinions, and Effects
- Active Audiences and Science
- Attentive Public
- Audiences for Science
- Children's Television and Science
- Communicating Science to Children
- Gender Representations of Scientists
- Health Literacy
- Interpretive Communities
- Knowledge Gap Hypothesis
- Popular Science and Formal Education
- Public Understanding of Research
- Public Understanding of Science
- Role Models in Science
- Science Indicators, History of the NSB Project on
- Science Literacy
- Scientist—Journalist Relations
- Surveys
- Technological Literacy
- Trust and Attitudes
- Challenges, Issues, and Controversies
- Abortion
- Alien Abduction
- Alternative Medicine
- Asteroid Impacts
- Bioterrorism
- Climate Change, Communicating
- Cloning
- Colonizing Other Worlds
- Creationism
- Digital Divide
- Drug Advertising
- Food Irradiation
- Intelligent Design in Public Discourse
- Invasive Species
- Maverick Science and Journalism
- NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard”)
- Nuclear Power
- Nuclear Waste
- Nuclear Weapons
- Pseudoscience
- Scientist—Journalist Conflicts
- Skepticism
- Stem Cell Controversy
- UFOlogy
- Vaccines, Fear of
- Changing Awareness, Opinion, and Behavior
- Alcohol, Risk Communication for
- Anti-Drug Campaigns
- Anti-Smoking Campaigns
- Breast Cancer Communication
- Cancer Prevention and Risk Communication
- Communication Campaigns in Health and Environment
- Computer-Tailored Messages
- Evidence-Based Medicine
- Fear Appeals
- Food Safety
- Health Communication and the Internet
- Health Communication, Overview
- Highway Safety
- HIV/AIDS Prevention and Communication
- Resource Mobilization
- Social Marketing
- Critical Influences and Events
- Global and International Aspects
- Africa, Science in
- Australia, Science in
- Canada, Science Communication in
- East Asia, Science Communication in
- Europe, Research System in
- European Space Agency
- India, Science and Science Communication in
- Latin America, Science Communication in
- Mexico, Science Communication in
- National Development, Science and Technology in
- Government Agencies (U.S.)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.
- Department of Agriculture, U.S.
- Department of Energy, U.S.
- Environmental Protection Agency, U.S.
- Food and Drug Administration, U.S.
- House Science Committee, U.S.
- National Academies, U.S.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S.
- National Institutes of Health, U.S.
- National Science Foundation, U.S.
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S.
- Office of Science and Technology Policy, U.S.
- Office of Technology Assessment, U.S.
- Public Health Service, U.S.
- Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S.
- Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S.
- Surgeon General, U.S.
- History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science
- Actor-Network Theory
- Deductive Logic
- Inductive Logic
- Invisible College
- Land Grant System, U.S.
- Logical Positivism
- Peer Review
- Postmodernism and Science
- Science and Politics
- Science, Technology, and Society Studies
- Scientific Consensus
- Scientific Ethos
- Scientific Journal, History of
- Scientific Method
- Scientific Societies
- Technological Determinism
- Tenure System
- Two Cultures
- Understanding Expertise
- Visible Scientist
- Important Figures
- Asimov, Isaac
- Attenborough, David
- Carson, Rachel
- Carver, George Washington
- Clarke, Arthur C.
- Crick, Francis
- Darwin, Charles
- Dawkins, Richard
- Dewey, John
- Einstein, Albert
- Feynman, Richard
- Franklin, Benjamin
- Galilei, Galileo
- Gould, Stephen Jay
- Hawking, Stephen
- Kuhn, Thomas
- Latour, Bruno
- McClintock, Barbara
- Mead, Margaret
- Mendel, Gregor
- Merton, Robert K.
- Muir, John
- Nelkin, Dorothy
- Nye, Bill
- Oppenheimer, J. Robert
- Popper, Karl
- Sagan, Carl
- Snow, C. P.
- Teller, Edward
- Venter, J. Craig
- Watson, James D.
- Journal Publications
- Key Cases and Current Trends
- Agricultural Biotechnology
- Alternative Energy, Overview
- Architecture, Sustainable
- Astrobiology
- Astronomy, Public Communication of
- Avian Flu
- Biofuels
- Bioinformatics
- Bovine Somatotropin (BST or BGH)
- Fuel Cell Technology
- Gene
- Gene Therapy
- Holography
- Low-Level Radiation
- Nanotechnology
- Nutrigenomics
- Nutrition and Media
- Obesity Epidemic
- Pandemics, Origins of
- Recombinant DNA
- Reproductive Medicine
- Satellites, Science of
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
- Solar Energy
- String Theory
- Sustainability
- Synthetic Biology and Genomics
- Toxicogenomics
- Wind Power
- Law, Policy, Ethics, and Beliefs
- Big Science
- Bioethicists as Sources
- Censorship in Science
- Clean Air Act
- Clean Water Act
- Community “Right to Know”
- Conflicts of Interest in Science
- Embargo System
- Endangered Species Act
- Environmental Impact Statements
- Environmental Justice
- Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues (ELSI)
- Eugenics
- Food Libel Laws
- Gene Patenting
- Institutional Review Board
- Nanotechnology, Regulation of
- Planetary Protection
- Precautionary Principle
- Religion, Science, and Media
- Research Ethics, Overview
- Risk Analysis
- Risks and Benefits
- Science Communication and Indigenous North America
- Social Justice
- Technology Assessment
- Toxic Substances Regulation
- Major Infrastructural Initiatives
- Practices, Strategies, and Tools
- Professional Roles and Careers
- Agricultural Journalism
- Beat Reporting
- Career Paths, Medical Writing/Medical Journalism
- Career Paths, Science/Environmental Journalism
- Crisis Communication
- Disaster Coverage
- Environmental Journalism
- Freelancing
- Government Public Information
- Medical Journalism
- Public Relations and Science
- Scientist—Journalist Relations
- Social and Behavioral Science Reporting
- Technical Communication
- Weather Reporting
- Public Engagement Approaches
- Theory and Research
- Agenda Setting and Science
- Conversation and Science Communication
- Cultivation Theory and Science
- Deficit Model
- Diffusion of Innovations
- Digital Rhetoric and Science
- Discourse Analysis and Science
- Evaluation of Science Communication
- Framing and Priming in Science Communication
- Information Seeking and Processing
- Information Society
- Information Subsidies
- Opinion Leaders and Opinion Leadership
- Optimistic Bias
- Planned Behavior, Theory of
- Psychometric Paradigm
- Rhetoric of Medicine
- Rhetoric of Science
- Social Amplification of Risk Framework
- Social Epistemology
- Spiral of Silence and Science
- Third-Person Effect
- Uncertainty in Science Communication
- Venues and Channels
- Internet, History of
- Media Convergence
- Newspaper Science Pages
- Online Media and the Sciences
- Popular Science, Overview
- Science and the Giant Screen
- Science Centers and Science Museums
- Science Circus
- Science Documentaries
- Science Fiction
- Science in Advertising
- Science in Magazines
- Science in the Movies
- Science in Virtual Worlds
- Science Magazines
- Science on Radio
- Science Shops
- Science Theater
- Scientific Publishing, Overview
- Television Science
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