Experts
Matthew C. Nisbet
Professor of Communication, American University
On Tuesday, May 22, I delivered a lecture as part of the National Academies' Sackler Colloquium on the "Science of Science Communication," reviewing the role of the media in science policy debates. The video of the lecture along with those of my fellow panelists Dominique Brossard and William ... Read More
In this week's edition of the New Scientist magazine, I have a commentary article on the UK controversy over genetically modified wheat and the lobbying efforts in the U.S. to label food containing GM ingredients. Below is an excerpt: CONTROVERSY over genetically modified wheat is building ... Read More
On Tuesday, May 22, I will be delivering a lecture as part of the National Academies' Sackler Colloquium on the "Science of Science Communication," reviewing the role of the media in science policy debates. Below I have included a reading list specific to key subjects covered. UPDATE: The video ... Read More
MSNBC's Morning Joe is one of the few places on cable news where you can find genuine ideological cross-talk. It's not surprising then that the program hosted this week University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and co-author of the new book "The Spirit of Compromise: Why Governing Demands ... Read More
--Guest post by Declan Fahy, AoE’s Science and Culture correspondent. Can popular science writing help diagnose a medical condition? It did for me. Since I was a teenager I had been suffering occasionally from crippling headaches that made me nauseous and bed-bound, sometimes for days. Before ... Read More
As part of the American University project documenting the history of investigative reporting, School of Communication professor Charles Lewis asked Bob Woodward to reflect on the Bush administration's ability to influence the press, specifically on the topic of weapons of mass destruction. You ... Read More
To say that we tend to demonize oil companies is an understatement. And for good reason, given the role in the past of companies like Exxon Mobil in sowing doubt around the science of climate change. But I also believe that the demonization strategy may often distract us from considering policy ... Read More
My brother Erik Nisbet, a professor of communication at The Ohio State University, will be giving a free webinar today on climate change communication, sponsored by the Changing Climate project at Ohio State. Details are below and you can sign up for the Webinar here. Up Next: Framing Climate ... Read More
As I wrote last week, the Breakthrough Dialogues launched in 2011 as one of America's top new thought leader forums, in part because of the cross-cutting ideological discussion and mix of speakers and attendees that were featured at the inaugural "Modernizing Liberalism" event. To highlight those ... Read More
On Saturday, the Obama 2012 campaign officially launched with rallies held at Ohio State and Virginia Commonwealth University. Amy Gardner and Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post offered details on the Obama campaign's strategy in targeting and recruiting college students: Like many of ... Read More
If President Obama is re-elected in the Fall, he is likely to face a Congress even more polarized than today, with the ideological divide greater than at anytime since before the Civil War. Those are among the conclusions of political scientist Keith Poole and colleagues who have been using a ... Read More
TED meetings, Aspen Institutes, SXSW, and Sundance are all billed as “thought-leader gatherings” where “rock stars” emerge from their “silos” to learn about “disruptive” ideas that have been carefully “curated,” as New York magazine recently described. Yet in America's polarized culture, are these ... Read More
Tim Caulfield, author of The Cure for Everything, and who spoke at American University last week, has some terrific insights over at the Huffington Post on common health myths that most of us believe but few of us stop to consider critically. Here is a list of the first few and you will need to go ... Read More
In his 2010 book "The Audacity to Win," Obama 2008 campaign director David Plouffe explained that the goal of the campaign was not only to ensure high participation and turn out from the Democratic base but also to expand the size of the electorate by mobilizing first-time voters among young adults ... Read More
Two recently published books caught my eye today at the World Bank bookstore here in Washington, DC and I've put both at the top of my list to read and discuss here at AoE. Amy Gutmann & Dennis Thompson, The Spirt of Compromise: Why Governing Demands It and Campaigning Undermines It. If ... Read More
At the Chronicle of Higher Education this week, the Open University's Martin Weller has a very strong essay on why blogging for many should be a central part of a scholar's overall portfolio of work. As Weller notes, there are not only may advantages for the scholar, but also for their ... Read More
At the Washington Post's The Fix, Chris Cillizza has this to say about Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein's must read op-ed from the Sunday Post: The truth of the matter though is that most House Members — Republicans and Democrats — are not (nor do they aspire to be) inspirational leaders. What ... Read More
--Guest post by Kathrina Maramba, American University graduate student. Most of us know what we fear about nuclear energy. We fear its perceived unpredictability, its potential utility in weapons creation, and its capacity for uncontrolled disaster. In the event we do find ourselves in short ... Read More
Ari Phillips -- a graduate student in journalism at the University of Texas -- has started a unique project documenting the story of climate change in the U.S. Southwest via Kick Starter. Below he describes the project and I am hoping he will provide periodic guest posts at AoE over the coming ... Read More
In September 2011, Pew released the latest in its annual "Views of the News Media" survey, showing that Democrats have moved closer to Republicans in their dissatisfaction with the performance of the news media. Across questions asked, of particular note were the trends above that showed that ... Read More
About Matthew C. Nisbet
Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the School of Communication at American University, Washington, D.C. and writer of the Age of Engagement blog at Big Think.
As a social scientist, Nisbet studies strategic communication in policy-making and public affairs, focusing on debates over complex policy problems like energy and climate change. Nisbet holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Communication from Cornell University and an AB in Government from Dartmouth College.
He is the author of more than 35 journal articles and book chapters, and he serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Press/Politics and Science Communication. His scholarship has been cited more than 500 times in the peer-reviewed literature and in more than 150 books.
At American University, Nisbet co-led a team of faculty which founded the Doctor of Philosophy program in Communication, an interdisciplinary curriculum designed around the intersections of media, technology, and democracy. The program combines social scientific and humanistic approaches to the study of communication, analyzing the complex interactions among the news media, entertainment media, digital communications, nonprofit organizations, government, and business. Visit the program's web site for more information and to apply.
Nisbet's research on the climate change and energy debates is funded by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is also an inaugural member of the Google Science Communication Fellows program. A 2011 editorial at the journal Nature recommended Nisbet's research as "essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in the climate change debate."
At American University, Nisbet directs the Climate Shift Project, an initiative producing interdisciplinary research and independent media examining the climate change and energy debates. Climate Shift’s network of social scientists, scholars and professionals work with a diversity of organizations and agencies; train students, researchers and leaders; and convene forums and events that engage the Washington, D.C. community.