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Kate Seip of The Anterior Commissure and two of her colleagues have announced the formation of Science Communication Consortium:

There's been a good deal of recent discussion, both face-to-face amongst colleagues and friends and within the blogosphere itself, on how scientists can effectively communicate their work to mass media and journalists, science writers and educators, and politicians and policymakers. To address these issues, we have partnered with New York Academy of Sciences to develop an inter-institutional Science Communication Consortium in the greater NYC region.

This newly-minted Consortium will consist of lecture series and discussion forums on the theory and application of effective science communication to a variety of audiences and across multiple purposes. With this series, we hope to provide scientists with tools and resources for effective communication with a variety of audiences, and to promote scientific literacy and the public understanding of science in the non-scientific public.

As they write on their new blog:

We three graduate students in the sciences have teamed up with the esteemed New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) to form the first inter-institutional lecture series on science communication in the greater NYC area.

Now more than ever, scientists need to effectively communicate their work to mass media and journalists, science writers and educators, and politicians and policymakers. This lecture series is timely and extremely vital to promoting scientific literacy and the public understanding of science.

We intend to make this lecture series accessible to both scientists and non-scientists alike. Lectures will include how to effectively facilitate appropriate scientific dialogue with non-scientific audiences; exploring the roles of mass media, journalists, and science writers in science communication; and understanding how scientific communication can inform scientific policymaking and controversial decision-making processes.

Lectures will be held on a rotating basis at participating institutions, including Columbia University, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical, The Rockefeller University, New York University, Rutgers/UMDNJ, and Stevens Institute of Technology.

We intend for this blog to act as a forum for stimulating discussion on topics related to science communication, a space to announce upcoming lectures, and a suggestion board to post issues that you'd like to see incorporated or addressed in the series itself.

So, if you are in the NYC area and can help in some way - blog about it, coax people to give lectures, help with hosting, etc. - contact Kate et al. and make it happen.