Before the Alda Center was founded in 2009, Alan Alda — actor, author, citizen scientist, and philanthropist — wrestled with a simple yet deceptively nuanced question: Why do brilliant scientists become unclear precisely when they need to be most understood?
Over Scientific American Frontiers' eleven-year run, Alda worked to answer that question as host of the show. After years of helping innovative thinkers tell their stories, he discovered a pattern emerging across hundreds of interviews. The most compelling scientific moments didn’t happen during formal presentations or even when the cameras rolled, but in spontaneous conversations behind the scenes — when scientists spoke with curiosity, conviction, and joy rather than speaking from clinical-like detachment.
In completely unscripted discussions, he saw technical minds explain complex ideas with clarity and remarkable empathy, ensuring the urgency of their research and findings were not lost upon anyone in the room.
This is when Alan Alda recognized that clarity and empathy in scientific communication was not only necessary for public understanding but imperative to buy-in for scientific solutions. And he also discovered something equally powerful: clarity and empathy aren’t innate gifts — they are teachable skills. The two are pillars of communication that must be built up and strengthened, working in tandem to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and public action.
That insight led him to Stony Brook University. In a legacy-defining moment, Stony Brook had the institutional courage and foresight to complement its STEMM programs with a flagship science communication platform. The result was the founding of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, now one of the most powerful science communication hubs in the nation.
Learn more about The Alda Method of science communication training
Our History at a Glance
2026
- Center is featured in the June 4th edition of the Wall Street Journal
- Center's Executive Director Laura Lindenfeld is featured on the June 10th episode of the Brian Lehrer show
- Partnership established with the RhetAI Center at the University of Tübingen in Germany to explore AI and communication
- Center’s Executive Director Laura Lindenfeld provides the closing keynote at the European Science Engagement Association conference in Luxembourg
2025
- Center's Executive Director Laura Lindenfeld and co-authors launch Science Communication for Scientists: Linking Strategy with Creativity, Practice, and Respect, the first of its kind open-access textbook on science communication
- Center launches the SUNY Research Leadership Academy, a year-long initiative to cultivate a new generation of research leaders with support from the Henry Luce Foundation
2024
- Center's Executive Director Laura Lindenfeld presents to the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for the Engineering Advisory Committee to discuss strengthening communication about engineering
- Faculty discuss intersections of AI and science communication on Swedish Research Council podcast
2023
- Center launches a Courtroom Communication program to prepare forensic experts to give courtroom testimony
- Faculty publish research exploring artificial intelligence, science learning, and social media effects, among others
- Science on Stage returns to Stony Brook with support from the Alda Center
- Executive Director Laura Lindenfeld moderates panel at the Nobel Prize Summit and serves on the Golden Goose Award committee
- Center welcomes Stony Brook faculty to affiliates program
2022
- Center hosts the US Department of Defense Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellows at Stony Brook
- Faculty receive a $0.5M grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study how to engage and protect vulnerable populations from extreme weather
- Faculty receive a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services to refine and test a program with Stony Brook Medicine focused on building resilience among healthcare providers
2021
- Master of Science in Science Communication program launches in partnership with the Department of Communication at Stony Brook
- Center launches Women in STEM Leadership Program with support from Ann and Andrew Tisch
- Center launches Climate Communication program
2020
- Center expands signature in-person programming to virtual platforms
- Center selected to host a Rita Allen Civic Science Fellow in Chronic Pain, a position that will study and develop effective communication about the condition that affects 10 million Americans
- Advanced Graduate Certificate in Science Communication program launches in partnership with the Department of Communication at Stony Brook
2019
- Center celebrates its 10th anniversary
- Center hosts Applied Improvisation Network conference to discuss and share the diverse uses of improvisational theater in society
- Center publishes its first annual report
- Alan Alda receives an honorary doctorate degree from Stony Brook University during May commencement ceremony
2018
- Center receives support from the Simons Foundation, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Paustenbach Foundation, Gates Foundation, and David & Lucile Packard Foundation among others
- Center establishes research partnership with George Mason Univeristy's Department of Communication to study the Alda Method®
- Center receives funding in collaboration with Virginia Sea Grant to hire a postdoctoral associate
- Center launches The Alda Medical Experience
- Final Flame Challenge, "What is Climate?" is held
2017
- Center receives donations from Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Kavli Foundation, Andrew and Ann Tisch Foundation, Zuckerman Institute, and Rich Reise among others, to expand programming
- Research partnerships are established with Michigan State University, the University of Texas at Austin, ScienceCounts, and others
- Center hires a postdoctoral associate in health communication to revise the Center's health communication program
- International workshops are offered in Scotland
- Flame Challenge competition answers the question, "What is Energy?"
- Alan Alda publishes If I Understood You, Would I Have this Look on my Face? a NYT bestseller about his journey to bring empathetic communication to the world
2016
- Laura Lindenfeld, PhD is named the Center's Executive Director
- Center programming expands
- Center begins collaborations with science communication researchers to contribute research and best practices to a growing body of literature
- MJS Foundation and others support ongoing program expansion
- First international workshop is held in Australia
- Flame Challenge tackles "What is Sound?"
- Science Unplugged web show launches and transitions to become a graduate-level course for scientists to present their work to local high school students
2015
- Center launches Boot Camp, a 5-day residential program at Stony Brook
- Workshop bookings increase rapidly
- Flame Challenge answer's the question, "What is Sleep?"
- The National Academy of Sciences and National Science Foundation host Center programs
2014
- Center begins communication pilot program with NASA
- Scientists explain "What is Color?" to students from around the world in the Flame Challenge
2013
- The Kavli Foundation begins its partnership with the Center with a grant and a three-day workshop at Cornell University.
- Center launches the Alda-Kavli Leadership Workshop Series for university leaders and researchers nationwide
- Stony Brook Gala raises $2 million for the Center
- Alan Alda gives his name to the Center for Communicating Science
- Children ask "What is Time?" in the second Flame Challenge
- Center begins working with physicians and other health care professionals to improve patient-provider communication through a medical training program
2012
- Center hosts the inaugural Flame Challenge, "What is a Flame?" Scientists competed to explain common but complex concepts to children during the program, sponsored by the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
2011
- Center begins to offer multi-day workshops to help scientists and researchers explain their work clearly and vividly
- Frst Summer Institute launches to bring together universities and institutions interested in science communication
2010
- Center's first faculty are hired and freelance instructors are trained
- Stony Brook University begins to offer graduate courses in science communication
- Faculty begin traveling to offer training programs around the country to expand the reach of the Alda Method®
- US Department of Education awards the Center $250,000
2009
- Center for Communicating Science is established at Stony Brook University as part of the then School of Journalism through a partnership including Alan Alda, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Elizabeth Bass, MPH is named the Center's Director
- Center for Communicating Science's applied improvisation team is established
- Stony Brook graduate students take pilot courses in science communication