Dr. Brandon Moore, assistant professor of biological sciences in Louisiana Tech University's College of Applied and Natural Sciences, has been named an Environmental Health Sciences' 2011 Science Communication Fellow.
Moore was selected as one of only ten 2011 Fellows from a distinguished pool of international candidates, representing a number of chemical and environmental science disciplines.
The Environmental Health Services' Fellows program trains scientists to more clearly articulate research results and explain their relevance in an effort to deepen public understanding of issues related to environmental health and green chemistry.
"Communication is at the heart of effective teaching for the critical task of a teacher is to impart new knowledge to others," said Moore. "Be it either information from existing literature and texts or the results of you own laboratory research, if you cannot successfully convey your mastery of the subject matter to others, you will not provide your students or the general public the opportunity to use and benefit from the knowledge."
Moore joined Louisiana Tech at the beginning of February after serving as a post-doctoral fellow at Tulane University. He holds a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Florida, a Bachelor of Science in life sciences from Arizona State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Duke University.
Moore's research focuses on vertebrate reproductive biology in the context of variable environmental quality. His research employs wildlife species to investigate how environmental contaminant exposures alters development and function of the female and male reproduction tract, including gonads, ducts, and copulatory organs.
According to Environmental Health Sciences, the 2011 Fellows will spend the next year polishing their communication skills and learning effective ways to inform journalists and the public about new research findings in environmental health and green chemistry. They will work with editors and writing staff at Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) to produce original research reviews and commentaries on media coverage.
Additionally, they will be available as sources to journalists seeking information for stories related to these important and burgeoning fields. One of the unique aspects of this Fellowship program is that it involves scientists who identify findings that shed light on links among the environment, human health and chemistry.
"In my teaching at Louisiana Tech, one of my challenges is to connect with and inspire all of my students," Moore said. "This fellowship will improve my abilities to summarize and convey complex scientific subject matters in a way that is accessible to all. I welcome this challenge and look forward to this professional growth."
The 2011 Fellows represent a wide range of academic and research interests and experiences. They come from universities throughout the U.S., Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and bring a commitment to educate the public about the connections between chemicals and human and ecological health.
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