Stony Brook Communication Center Named After Alan Alda

Stony Brook University named its Center for Communicating Science after Alda Alda, who has championed a habit of study that affects all other concentrations offered at the university.

Opened in in 2009 under the purview of the School of Journalism, the Alda Center has since gone on to offer courses to nursing and medical students in an effort to promote a clear dialogue, most frequently between scientists and the general public.

“For years, I’ve been working to bring communication and science together in a more fundamental way, and now it’s happening," Alda said. "The blossoming of the Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook has been a dream come true for me.”

Alda – best known to the general public for his years on M.A.S.H. – relays a story frequently about a trip he had made in Chile, when after experiencing severe stomach pains, a doctor simply explained to him that, "Some of your intestine has gone bad. And we need to cut out the bad and sew the two good ends together," he said. While the proper medical terminology would be an anastomosis, making it simple and clear was something Alda always remembered.

He has since challenged scientists from around the world, most recently in a contest over the past two years. In December, he asked scientists to succinctly and clearly explain, "What is time?" Last year's contest asked, "What is a flame?"

Elizabeth Bass, director of the Alda Center, noted that, “Our aspiration is to become the first university in the nation to offer training in communications to all of our science and health graduate students. We think communication should be an intrinsic part of scientists’ education, not something extra tacked on at the end.”