Posts by: Sarah Sunu

“I can't be a pessimist because I am alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter. So, I am forced to be an optimist.” —James Baldwin We have had many dark days this year. There have been days when it has, both figuratively and literally (on the West Coast at least), been hard to see any light at all. Humans di...

The Heartwired to Love the Ocean Messaging Guide was released last year, and is the result of a multi-year collaboration to improve communications around ocean issues. The Guide is aimed at conservation advocates and activists, but contains valuable ideas and methods for scientists too. COMPASS staff served on the Ocean Messaging Project Advisory Group that helped ...

Practice is core to our work. Our trainings revolve around hands-on exercises and feedback in a supportive setting, and are unique in that the practice and feedback comes from trusted partners from other fields, such as journalism, policy, and community leadership. These experts work closely with scientists in small groups and one-on-one as they practice communicat...

It’s hard to believe that 2020 is just around the corner! It’s going to be a significant year for COMPASS— we'll be celebrating our 20th anniversary!   Many organizations never make it this far. Nonprofits work with limited resources on big, complex topics in a big, complex world. That COMPASS has reached this milestone is a testament both to our visi...

Dr. Carlos M. De León-Rodríguez recently completed an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) post-doctoral fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His research focused in developing diagnostic tools to differentiate between the Zika and dengue virus infections, which have similar early symptoms and are both mosquit...