Advocate for Science via Op-Eds with Help from Science Homecoming

This post is adapted from a message from Science Homecoming.

Science Homecoming is a grassroots nonprofit science organization led by two cognitive neuroscience professors from Carnegie Mellon University and UC Berkeley, Jessica Cantlon & Steve Piantadosi.

The Science Homecoming site provides free tools, templates, and volunteer editor support for scientists to write short hometown op-eds and highlight how science impacts everyday life.

With help from Science Homecoming, scientists author an op-ed highlighting their connection to their hometown, how their hometown shaped the scientists they became, their scientific discoveries, and how science directly benefits that community. Science Homecoming helps the scientist authors edit their articles and place them in local news publications.

Local newspapers reach between 8 and 15 million people per day — a wider audience than the New York Times and Washington Post combined. Moreover, local news outlets reach different communities than major urban newspapers, connecting with readers in small towns and rural areas nationwide. Local news offers a powerful and underused path to rebuild public engagement with science nationwide. Research shows that people are more likely to trust the information in their local news and to see it as personally meaningful.

You can learn more and get started here: https://sciencehomecoming.com/

You can also connect with Science Homecoming on Bluesky: @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social