Contact:

Judith M. Espinosa, 246-6410 Michael Padilla, 277-1816

March 13, 2002

UNM’s ATR Institute Recognized For Best Practices as Communicator of Science and Technology to the Public

The ATR Institute (ATRI), a transportation research organization at the University of New Mexico, has been recognized for its best practices in communicating science and technology to the public by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The ATRI was chosen for its project, the Transportation Resource Exchange Center (T-REX) website and virtual library, online at www.trex-center.org. Positioned as a public interface for public outreach, the T-REX Center is a national clearinghouse for public information regarding the transportation of radioactive wastes and materials. T-REX is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Transportation Program.

The ATRI was one of a few select presenters at the “Communicating the Future Conference: Best Practices for Communication of Science and Technology” at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD recently. The aim of the conference was to assemble a comprehensive set of “national best practices” for communicating science and technology to the public. The goals of the conference were to increase the public’s involvement in science and technology issues.

Generated by an open call for papers, the best practices papers were selected by a distinguished panel of science writers, educators and researchers. ATRI staff Nancy Bennett and Mary E. White co-authored the paper that was submitted to the best practices conference, “Using the Internet for Stakeholder Outreach: A Case Study of the Transportation Resource Exchange Center.”

The papers describe science and technology communications projects in one or more of the following program categories: direct to consumer, scientist-based, for the general media, for the specialized media, for legislators and opinion leaders and/or for children (outside of classroom instruction). The projects which typify best practices can be easily adapted by other organizations. Other criteria used to select best practice presentations included: Strategic targeting of one or more audiences; use of research before and measures of effectiveness after a communication program is conducted; involvement of technical experts in the program; and inclusion of information on both the product and process of scientific research.

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The University of New Mexico
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