About the Alda Center
International leader in science communication for 15 years
Professional development and graduate programs
Science affects everyday people, every single day.
It 
affects what we eat. What we buy. How we travel. How we stay, or get, healthy.
Yet for too many people, its significance gets lost in jargon and technical details, disconnected from their lives and experiences. Before people can understand complex information, they need to trust and feel connected to its source.
That's where the Alda Center comes in.
Our graduate and professional development programs are designed to make science engaging and accessible. We offer a different kind of learning experience: one that is collaborative, iterative and focuses on building skills and refining strategies to empower effective, engaging science communication.
our method is based on social science and developed by experts.
The Alda Method helps researchers pay close attention to their message and how others are responding to it. The Method combines the latest social science research and applied improvisational exercises to support researchers as they develop communication strategies that work for them. This combination helps people build interpersonal connections and trust across backgrounds, experiences, and expertise.
History of the Alda Center
Actor,
author, and activist Alan Alda’s lifelong passion for science spurred him to host
the PBS show “Scientific American Frontiers.” On the show, he used his theater experience
to build relationships with scientists. In talking to him, they explained their work in ways that Alan and the show’s viewers
could understand.
By building personal connections, Alda got scientists out of lecture mode and into conversation.
Alan wondered why scientists had a hard time talking to non-experts about their research. He thought exposing them to improvisation might help.
Building on an Idea
In 2009, Stony Brook University opened the Center for Communicating Science, a collaboration between Alda, the university, and the university's School of Communication and Journalism, with support from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
The idea worked. Combining applied improvisational exercises and communication strategy helps scientists share their work and its impact.
Our History at a Glance