At the 2025 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS25), one the largest general scientific meetings in the world, Comm Lab Fellows displayed their skills as peer coaches.
They offered pop up coaching to attendees looking for feedback on their CVs and résumés, while showcasing the Comm Lab to the greater scientific community.
Comm Lab Fellows Kasey Love (Biological Engineering Comm Lab) and Pallavi Ballavada (Biological Engineering Comm Lab) reflect on their experiences attending and learning from this cross disciplinary opportunity.
Kasey Love
Biological Engineering Communication Lab Fellow
I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend the 2025 AAAS conference! Held in Hynes Convention Center just across the river from MIT, this large conference facilitated a wide variety of conversations revolving around the theme of “Science Shaping Tomorrow.” Beyond the many booths in the expo hall—where we represented the MIT Communication Lab and provided pop-up coaching—there were flash talks, student posters, scientific sessions, lectures, workshops, and more. This diversity of session types was new to me, and I appreciated the ways these formats fostered discourse and participation. In particular, the “scientific sessions” grouped three speakers around a shared topic. While this format is common in my field, typically the contents of 3-6 talks are only loosely related, and the moderator serves primarily as a timekeeper. The rapid pace of isolated presentations leaves little room for reflecting on common themes. In contrast, the AAAS session structure excelled in drawing connections between the talks. After some brief introductory remarks from the moderator, each speaker presented for about ten minutes, and then the moderator asked a few broad questions directed toward multiple speakers before opening the floor to the audience. The moderator’s engagement before and after the presentations was essential to tie the talks together in service of their shared theme. With this format, I was better able to integrate multiple perspectives and work toward a broader understanding of a topic. I would love to see conferences in my field be structured this way—I imagine talks would be more memorable and impactful if part of each session was devoted to drawing explicit connections between the presentations.
Comm Lab Fellow Kasey Love coaches a client at the AAAS25 booth.
One session with this format that I attended at 2025 AAAS was titled “Preparing Future Scientists and Engineers to Solve Complex Global Challenges.” Three speakers from US universities presented efforts funded by the NSF Innovations in Graduate Education Program that work to equip graduate students with skills essential for impactful careers. The speakers reported on a graduate minor in team-based creative thinking; a program for interdisciplinary research tackling complex problems with training in global competencies; and a co-creation toolkit to teach STEM students to incorporate participatory tools in humanitarian contexts. These curricular and co-curricular programs promote skills complementary to technical research, including leadership, teamwork, science communication, and ethics. The speakers reported successes in student engagement and feedback but at times faced challenges getting faculty and others to recognize the value of the programs. It was interesting to reflect on the MIT Communication Lab’s similarities and differences to these programs, and to hear about other approaches to help graduate students build competencies outside of their technical research field. I appreciate that the AAAS conference provides a space for these discussions and that I was able to attend through the Communication Lab!
Pallavi Balivada
Biological Engineering Communication Lab Fellow
Comm Lab Fellows Kasey Love and Pallavi Balivada provide coaching at AAAS25.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to attend the 2025 AAAS Annual meeting! I attended scientific talks exploring topics ranging from spatial thinking in STEM education to the marine ecosystem of the Arctic. In addition to fulfilling my broader scientific curiosity, these sessions illustrated how speakers from different fields explained their technical work to a more general scientific audience. I noted a few strategies that I could suggest during my coaching sessions for the Communication Lab, including incorporating elements of storytelling and acknowledging the human aspects of doing science.
One of my favorite sessions was a panel on science journalism which featured journalists working across different media including TV, long-form articles, and YouTube. Public-facing scientific communication can feel like a game of telephone, and as a scientist-to-be, I found it fascinating to hear what parts of a research story stick with journalists after they’ve interviewed other scientists. Memorable stories and personal connection were the predominant themes of the conference, which were reinforced during my experience networking at the Communication Lab booth. I highly recommend sending fellows to this conference in the future!