TV show host and entrepreneur gives talk on science communication

Chuck Pell has built his career on making the complicated language of science accessible to the general public.

Pell is host of the 2018 Emmy Award-winning public science TV show Xploration Earth 2050, CSO of the surgical robotics company Physcient, Inc. and founder of five start-up companies.

Pell brought his knowledge of science communication to University of Cincinnati students, faculty and staff during a presentation March 14. His talk was hosted by UC's McMicken College of Arts and Sciences and supported by a Group/Interdisciplinary Award from the Office of the Provost.

The seminar reflected UC’s commitment to academic excellence, a platform of the university’s strategic direction Next Lives Here.

Pell, a self-described “congenital science freak,” said his work in science communication started with physical models.

Physical models surprise us with the insights they give us into a scientific phenomenon, he said. Because they can visually tell a story, models are a staple for both learning about a system and communicating how that system works. Models, however, run counter to what many scientists get bogged down in, and what many non-scientists don’t understand: jargon.

“Jargon allows you to develop precision in language,” said Pell, “but to anyone who is not initiated in that world or realm, jargon sounds like gibberish.”

The goal of a good science communicator, said Pell, is to remove exclusive jargon from science while maintaining science’s factual accuracy.

“You have to abstract what you’re doing and distill it down, without distorting what you’re getting across,” Pell said. “And you have to have a way to say it that’s still cool and interesting without doing [the science] a disservice.”

The process of science communication includes many people, from researchers conducting the work to journalists reporting on their progress to editors deciding how the reports reach the public. Good science communicators recognize these different goals and tailor their communications with these interests in mind, said Pell.  

When science communication works, agencies fund research, scientists collaborate across disciplines and society is more prepared to tackle complicated problems.

Pell ended his talk at 5 p.m., the same time Hamilton County issued a tornado warning. As sirens and phones went off, attendees of the talk left the room and went down the stairs. Huddled in a small classroom in the basement, Pell used the reaction to the tornado warning as another example of good science communication.

“When disaster hits, people want science,” he said. “We’re in this room right now because we’ve learned from science how tornadoes work and what they do to buildings.”

In other words, good science communication can even save lives. 

Featured image at top: Chuck Pell gives talk on science communcation to UC faculty, staff and students. Photo/Corrie Stookey/CEAS Marketing