MASH star speaks on better communication

Actor Alan Alda laughs with students after his keynote speech at SUNY Poly as part of Project Fibonacci. (Photo Courtesy of Utica Observer-Dispatch)

SUNY Poly got a little star power this summer with an appearance by none other than MASH star Alan Alda, speaking at the Wildcat Field House August 3 as part of Project Fibonacci – a week long series of STEAM-themed events and speakers aimed at promoting the next wave of young scholars and productive citizens.

Alda was the keynote speaker for the series, presenting topics on The Art of Communicating Science. Aside from his long and storied career as an actor, Alda is founder of Stony Brook University’s Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and has hosted the PBS television series Scientific American Frontiers from1993 to 2005.

“The art of communication is so important, you have to bring that together with science. I thought, ‘What if we train scientists to communicate while they’re learning to be scientists?’”

As an actor, Alda has spent a lifetime communicating emotions and stories to audiences. During his time hosting Scientific American Frontiers, he helped scientists better communicate innovations in their respective fields to a wider audience. Since then, Alda has become a champion of finding better ways to communicate science to everyone, free of jargon that could otherwise go over people’s heads.

“I found out while I was doing ‘Scientific American Frontiers’ that I had something I could do to help scientists,” Alda said in a post-event interview. “I thought if we could train them so when they go out by themselves in the field, they have that open feeling that we had when we were just having a conversation would be beneficial. Now we’ve trained thousands.”