Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science Celebrates 10 Years of Leadership, Expands Into Engineering

The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University is celebrating 10 years under the leadership of Executive Director Laura Lindenfeld.

Since its launch in 2009, the Center has spent more than 15 years helping experts in the sciences communicate their work. Now three years out from its 20th anniversary, the Center, under the stewardship of Lindenfeld, is continuing to build on its original vision.

The Alda Center has trained more than 40,000 scientists, engineers, healthcare professionals, and researchers worldwide. Its partners include AstraZeneca, Google DeepMind, NASA, Stanford University, The New York Climate Exchange and universities across the globe.

Lindenfeld's 10th anniversary marks a year of major milestones. In June, The Wall Street Journal featured an Alda Center experience at the University at Albany, where facilitators Josh Rice and Kim Stauffer led professors of atmospheric science, biology, engineering and quantum physics through Alda Method® exercises, which are rooted in improvisational theatre and communication strategy. Lindenfeld told the Journal that workshops often have a waiting list of several months.

The Center was also featured on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show, where Lindenfeld discussed the impact of the Center's evidence-based training in the fields of science and engineering, and the crucial role that communication plays in speeding up societal adoption of scientific research and new technology.

In October, CBS News aired a profile of the Center's founder Alan Alda. Speaking with Jon LaPook, Alda discussed his life and career, including the Center's founding at Stony Brook to help scientists and healthcare professionals speak in a language the public can understand. Alda credits Lindenfeld with widening the Center's reach.

"Laura's leadership over the past 10 years has produced extraordinary results. She's extended our mission from teaching better communication to scientists to training healthcare professionals, engineers, and even to those studying the skills of leadership itself. I'm grateful for Laura's energy and devotion to extending the reach of the Alda Center both here and abroad, and I look forward with great anticipation to the years ahead," said Alda.

Lindenfeld launched four initiatives in the past year: an engineering communication partnership with the National Academy of Engineering, an international Distinguished Scholars Network led by the Alda Center, and the SUNY Research Leadership Academy.

Engineering communication with the National Academy of Engineering

Engineers are the Center's newest audience. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Alda Center launched a multi-year initiative on engineering communication with support from the National Science Foundation's Engineering Directorate. Pilots ran in 2026. In 2027, the partnership will expand training to NAE members, engineering leaders across the United States, and select informal education partner sites, helping engineers share their work with public audiences. Alda introduced the partnership in a video message.

Founded in 1964, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) advances the welfare and prosperity of the nation by providing independent, objective advice to the U.S. government whenever called upon to do so, and by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering.

The SUNY Research Leadership Academy

The SUNY Research Leadership Academy is a year-long leadership and communication program for research faculty across the State University of New York system. SUNY and the Alda Center run the Academy with SUNY's Office of Research, Innovation and Economic Development. Its first cohort of 33 faculty reported significant gains in communication competence and in their intention to collaborate across campuses. The second year began in September 2026 and added Summer Accelerators for emerging researchers and one-day Alda Method® workshops on select SUNY campuses.

The Distinguished Scholars Network

The Alda Center's Distinguished Scholars Network expands research and cross-disciplinary work on communication strategy in the United States and abroad. Members include Olaf Kramer, who leads the RHET AI Center at the University of Tübingen in Germany with Markus Gottschling. Lindenfeld and the Alda team led workshops at the Center in 2026.

Alda Research and Education

Lindenfeld's scholarship shapes how the field is taught. Science Communication for Scientists: Linking Strategy with Creativity, Practice, and Respect (Routledge, 2025), which she co-authored with John C. Besley, Xia Zheng, Anthony Dudo, and Todd P. Newman, gives graduate and undergraduate students a research-based guide to communicating science. The open access textbook has been downloaded more than 100,000 times.

What comes next for the Alda Center

The Center plans to bring the Alda Method® to more fields where science and technology shape daily life.

"Many of the decisions that will shape the next decade are being made in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, biotechnology and climate. We want to partner with the organizations and researchers leading these areas and help them connect their work to people," said Lindenfeld.

Lindenfeld said the Center's approach is what sets it apart in facilitating that connection between experts and society.

"More information rarely changes anyone's mind. What changes a conversation is how you listen, how you respond, and whether you can step out of the technical weeds long enough to connect. If we want trust as a society, we need Method®s rooted in research on what motivates people and how they behave. Pair that research with the Alda Method® and its roots in improvisational theatre, and we're doing something radical. We see a multiplication effect: buy-in, partnership, and growth in the people we work with. They keep coming back to tell us, 'This works.'"