Professor Jennifer Doudna speaks with CBS News reporter Dan Rather about her co-invention of CRISPR gene editing.
Professor Jennifer Doudna speaks with CBS News reporter Dan Rather about her co-invention of CRISPR gene editing. (UC Berkeley photo by Roxanne Makasdjian)

Learn how to translate and “sell” your graduate research to media outlets. A new online media training course, “Media Training for Academics Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Spotlight,” is free for all UC Berkeley students, staff and faculty. This 6-hour course is offered through Berkeley’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs and takes participants step-by-step through various methods and suggestions to work effectively with print, online and broadcast news outlets.

According to Roxanne Makasdjian, Berkeley’s director of broadcast communications, this course will be particularly useful for graduate students and faculty. “There is so much research that sits in journals and never gets communicated to the public,” Makasdjian shared. “Our mission in public affairs is to do that. We want to translate for the world all of the fantastic contributions of this campus, in terms the public can understand and, hopefully, act on — with their tax-paying dollars, with their votes and in their own professional and personal lives.”

The free, self-paced course is centered around the following topics:

  • What makes news
  • How to identify, develop and deliver your messages
  • What to do when a reporter calls
  • Preparing for on-camera interviews
  • Writing and pitching an op-ed, blog, or social media piece
  • How to set up professional-style video-call interviews

Register online through bCourses with your CalNet ID and take the course at your own pace.