When the magazine Science published an editorial in January urging better outreach training for scientists, Cornell graduate students Dana Warren and Marissa Weiss were already on it.

Now, four months later, they're considering writing a response. It might start something like this:

"Great idea. We did that. Here's what we learned."

Warren and Weiss just finished leading more than 30 fellow graduate students in a two-credit Science Communication workshop, offered through the Department of Biogeochemistry and Environmental Biocomplexity. With an interactive style that included field trips to newsrooms, practice giving on-air interviews, crafting and critiquing press releases, and tips for newspaper, magazine and Web writing, the course was designed to put students in the heads -- and shoes -- of the journalists who might someday be covering their work.

When the two came up with the idea at a retreat last year, it sounded pretty simple. "We thought, we'll just get a couple of speakers to come in," Warren said.

Then they started asking for suggestions. And every media expert they talked to had one -- or two, or three. "It grew remarkably quickly into a lot more."

In the end, they tackled the media industry from the perspective of scientist, public affairs officer, print reporter, editor, broadcast journalist, blogger and filmmaker. For their final projects they took on freelance writing gigs (one even became a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle) and produced films and podcasts. And in learning more about how society gets its news, they started recognizing how their own science could be newsworthy.

"It's really helped me think more about how my research ties in to things that matter to people," said horticulture graduate student Meagan Schipanski. "I can talk about improving efficiency of fertilizer use on farms; I can save farmers money. Or I can show how, if we farmed differently and used less fertilizer, there would be fewer dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico."

Opening such dialogues is vitally important for scientists, said Science executive publisher Alan Leshner in his editorial, because while the public has a generally favorable view of science, many see a growing tension between scientists and nonscientists based on such issues as stem cell research, genetically modified foods and the teaching of evolution.

"If science is going to fully serve its societal mission in the future," Leshner wrote, "we need to both encourage and equip the next generation of scientists to effectively engage with the broader society in which we work and live."

In other words: Be clear, direct and proactive. David Wolfe, horticulture professor and faculty adviser for the class, learned those things through years of experience -- but he hopes the workshop (which may be offered again, though there is no definite plan yet) will give the students a head start.

"[For] a lot of the students, their research will get more play in the media after being in this course," Wolfe said. "They will all have more confidence in reaching out to the media and general public -- which was the main goal."