UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

Jessica Thomas, American Physical Society

“How to Tell a Great Story about your Research”

I’m a former condensed matter physicist who left research to work in science publishing and communication. Today, I run Physics (physics.aps.org), an online magazine for the American Physical Society that features stories about newsworthy papers in the society’s journals (i.e. the Physical Review.) I’ll give some insight into how we decide which papers to cover and what goes into crafting a good story about them. I’ll also offer some general tips for communicating your research to a broad audience, whether it’s for writing a clear paper and a standout cover letter, or for giving a talk, defending your thesis, or chatting with journalists. Finally, I’ll share my experience as a one-time Ph.D. who chose a career outside of research.